State Pushes Back Snake Trout Opener

To give additional protection to steelhead smolts, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has decided to open the trout season for the Snake River on June 16, rather than June 1, as presently prescribed in regulations.

“The trout fishery currently targets residential steelhead,” the Fish and Wildlife Department said in justifying the change, “but can also impact wild anadromous steelhead smolts.

“Although most of the steelhead have migrated out of the Snake River toward the ocean by June, biological data from fish sampled at Lower Monumental Dam shows viable steelhead smolts arriving at the dam through mid-July.

“The current 10-inch minimum-size limit protects the majority of late migrating smolts.”

Cod numbers fall

The number of freshwater cod in the Kootenai River of Idaho continues to fall at an alarming rate, says an Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist calling for more research on burbot.

“The Kootenai River once provided a fabulous winter fishery to Idaho anglers,” said Vaughn Paragamian, who has studied burbot for about three years. “However, a dwindling population forced the closure of all burbot fishing several years ago.”

Paragamian is trying to get support for more research on the dwindling species.

Construction of Libby Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers creates an environment unsuitable for spawning. Researchers have found that reproduction of the winter-spawning fish is essentially non-existent in Idaho.

“We have located only one place where there is reproduction and that is in a tributary to the Kootenai River in British Columbia,” Paragamian said. The fish are known to move between Idaho and Canada.

Possible factors for the decline include:

The river is warmer since the dam was built.

The Kootenai River has lost much of its production of food for the fish.

The burbot is a weak swimmer; the high water velocity created by the dam has made it difficult to swim upstream to spawning tributaries.

Before Libby Dam was built, the river usually was at its lowest level in the winter. That has been reversed because of power production and releasing water from Lake Koocanusa.

Unspawned fish located well after the spawning season support that theory.

Bull trout meetings continue in Idaho

Meetings in four North Idaho cities will update the public on the Basin Advisory Group and Technical Advisory Team’s efforts to implement Gov. Phil Batt’s bull trout conservation plan.

TAT members will be on hand to explain the plan and solicit information from the public about bull trout in local waters. The plan is designed to enhance protection and recovery of bull trout populations in Idaho. A proposed rule to list the fish under the Endangered Species Act is expected next month.

The first two meetings were held Tuesday and Wednesday. Remaining meetings:

Sandpoint, Federal Building, May 27, 4:30 p.m.

Bonners Ferry, Extension office, May 28, 5:30 p.m.

Women’s hunting clinic scheduled

Women interested in learning about hunting are invited to attend the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Panhandle Region “Women in Hunting” clinic May 31 at the Fernan Rod and Gun Club Range, east of Coeur d’Alene.

Instructors will be women hunters, most of whom have taught at the previous clinics.

The clinic will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch will be provided.

Although the clinic is free, space is limited and advance registration is required. For information, telephone (208) 769-1414.

Test targets kokanee

Tuesday, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s fisheries research crew will begin an underwater test using strobe lights to move kokanee away from Dworshak Reservoir near Orofino.

The department expects the fish will swim 25 to 30 feet away from the flashing lights, then resume normal activity when the lights are doused. The technique may be employed to keep fish away from the dam. Fish flushed out of the reservoir through the dam usually die.

, DataTimes