LEWISTON – The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is considering regulatory changes that could affect the quantity and quality of trout that can be caught and kept in the wild section of the Selway River and the Deer Creek Reservoir, which is far away but easier to catch. access. .
Other proposals could increase bag limits for brook trout in Elk Creek Reservoir and change the way motorized boats are regulated on family fishing waters in the Clearwater Region.
The agency is developing fishing regulations for the next three years and is gathering comments from fishermen to help guide the work. Over the past two weeks, fisheries officials from the agency’s Clearwater Region have detailed some of the proposed changes at public meetings where they are also collecting comments on the 2024 spring chinook season.
Wilderness experience
The Selway River is governed by catch-and-release-only regulations above Selway Falls. Much of that upper portion is within the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area accessible by rafting, hiking and backpacking, horseback riding and flying over airstrips to remote ranches. The river is stocked with native Westslope cutthroat trout but anglers must release the fish they catch. Regulations allow anglers fishing in its streams to keep two trout per day.
Fisheries biologist Joe Thiessen, speaking at a meeting in Lewiston, said some of those visiting the Selway told the department that the opportunity to catch and preserve trout would enhance their wilderness experience.
The agency regularly surveys the river and monitors cutthroat populations there. Fish are plentiful but most are less than 14 inches long. Tagging fish indicates that trout from the upper section do not migrate below the falls and a small slice, about 3% of the population, is encountered by anglers.
For comparison, the agency also looked at cutthroat populations in the upper North Fork of the Clearwater River, and its tributaries, Kelly, Cayuse and Weitas creeks. Some of those streams allow limited harvest while others are catch and release only. Thiessen said that harvest does not limit populations and that overall abundance and the percentage of older, larger fish in the population are similar in areas that allow limited harvest and those that do not.
“In remote wild trout fisheries with limited access, we don’t see enough fishing for limited yield to affect fish populations,” he said.
The agency is asking fishermen whether they support providing limited harvesting opportunities in the Selway upstream of its falls or whether it should retain catch-and-release regulations.
tiger trout
At Deer Creek Reservoir near Headquarters, the department releases about 2,500 1-year-old tiger trout each year. The reservoir is also stocked with rainbow trout. The regulations in place today allow anglers to keep two tiger trout per day but none of them can be less than 14 inches long.
Thiessen said 82% of the tiger trout in the reservoir are under 14 inches. Annual mortality of tiger trout increases from about 45% to 65% when the fish reach about 3 years of age. That’s when they grow big enough to eat golden shiners and then reach or exceed 14 inches, making them available to harvest.
The department estimates the reservoir contains about 250 14-inch tiger trout, 150 16-inch tiger trout and about 50 at least 18 inches. Stricter regulations on the harvest of larger tiger trout will lead to a 78% jump in the number of fish over 14 inches. But it will reduce the yield of tiger trout by 20%.
This will not affect the harvest of rainbow trout.
The agency is asking anglers whether they support regulations that would increase the number of large tiger trout, allow limited harvest of medium-sized tiger trout or adopt regulations that allow more harvest of tiger trout.
Brookies
In most of Idaho, anglers can keep up to 25 brook trout per day. Non-native species have long been present in state waters and can crowd out native trout. Elk Creek Reservoir is one of two areas in the state where brook trout harvest is managed to produce trophy-sized fish. Henry’s Lake in the southeast corner of the state is another.
In the reservoir and its tributaries, anglers are limited to six brook trout per day and must count any brook trout they catch toward the total daily bag limit of six trout.
But Fish and Game data indicates that brook trout make up a small percentage of the harvest there, about 5%, and that they rarely take more than two brook trout out of the six-trout bag limit.
Thiessen said the data indicates that the restrictive limits do not increase the size or number of brook trout in the reservoir. The agency is asking anglers whether it should simplify regulations there by adopting a statewide limit of 25 brook trout or continue to restrict the harvest of brookies.
Motors
In recent years, the department has expanded the types of boat engines available to anglers while fishing many of the smaller lakes and reservoirs it manages in the Clearwater Region. But Winchester Lake, Moose Creek Reservoir and Spring Valley Reservoir remain under an electric-motors-only regulation.
The department is proposing to replace that regulation with one that prohibits the wake and use of personal watercraft such as Jet Skis. They say doing so will keep small lakes dedicated to fishing rather than pleasure boating and allow more anglers to access them.
More information on all proposed regulations in the Clearwater Region and statewide, as well as online comment forms, are available at idfg.idaho.gov/fish/scoping/seasons.
Barker can be contacted at [email protected] or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
