It doesn't matter where I am, the fish eyes pull me to the water. The curse has led to some interesting observations through the years. Not all of the peering has led to fish, but each time I do spot one it gives me a unique sense of pleasure and a special sense of discovery.

Spotting fish in urban creeks is always a treat. I enjoy pointing them out to people, especially kids, oblivious to the fact that trout are just below their noses in the most unlikely places.

I haven't scouted the water in Parleys Creek in Parleys Nature Park for a long time, but I once visited the area at least weekly. I do not remember a trip to the creek when I didn't see a trout scooting away to find a hiding place.

I was sad to hear, and write about, two incidents that wiped out the Bonneville cutthroat trout population in the creek this summer. An unknown source flushed a high load of nitrate down the creek in late June, which killed every fish between the mouth of Parleys Canyon and the pond at Sugar House Park.

A month later, a fluoride tank at the Mountain Dell water treatment plant overflowed and, if there had been any fish left in the creek, probably would have killed them.

Mike Slater, a Division of Wildlife Resources biologists in charge of Wasatch Front rivers and streams, told me after the nitrate poisoning that he would try and get Bonnevilles back in the creek.

Mike called me last week to tell me the state would be planting 10,000 cutthroat in Parleys. They did so Wednesday, scattering the fish from Mountain Dell Reservoir down to Sugar House Park.

You may wonder, and probably rightfully so, why a river that is not frequented by anglers and has been the site of two major poisonings in a month, should be planted.

The obvious answer is to appease those with the fish-eyes curse.

The fact that Bonneville cutthroat were living in Parleys Creek long before pioneers showed up and then nearly wiped them out is another good reason.

brettp@sltrib.com