Blackfoot River and Reservoir

[cpierce]

I thought I would give this part of Fish and Game's presentation a section of its own.

They have had some great success in this area and I think it really deserves recognition from all of us.

In the past - 1970-1980 etc, Blackfoot Reservoir was one of our premier fisheries, and the fish in the upper river were numerous and large. Many factors contributed to the collapse of the fishery, and F&G have been working really hard for a lot of years to bring this area back. I think they are getting very close to seeing a recovery.

Many studies have been done and a lot of stream restoration work, but what it boiled down to was the remaining huge problem with the pelicans nesting on two of the islands in the reservoir. They are optimistic that they are now getting a handle on this issue.

In poor water years when the river was clear and shallow in the spring the pelicans would get as much as 70% of the fish swimming up the river and even an additional 70% of the juvenile fish swimming down to the reservoir. Spawning fish numbers plunged from in the thousands to less than a hundred. Pictures show the river absolutely solid with pelicans from one side to the other over huge stretches.

The two islands in question have no predators on them and the pelican population rose to around 3,000. If I remember right each of those birds will eat about 8 to 9 lbs of fish every day. F&G tried to introduce predators back on the islands, but they didn't stay. What did work was putting in snow fencing over areas of the islands. Where the fencing was the pelicans couldn't nest because they need a long flight path and run to fly. More fencing will be put in this year and we should see a corresponding drop in the pelican population in this area. They intend to get the nests completely off of these islands.

Also F&G switched to fall planting of rainbows in the reservoir. Now fish in the reservoir are getting more numerous and larger. Netting surveys are showing large numbers of very nice sized rainbows besides some of the cutts.

Blackfoot reservoir is huge and can handle a lot of fishing pressure, so I really have no qualms about saying the reports are getting good and lets go fishing!!!!
[signature]

[Poky_fan]

A very interesting report, thanks for posting it.
[signature]

[chrome_junky]

I grew up fishing the upper river about 2 mils bellow the damn and the fishing was fantastic in 90's also when it died out i was heart broken i have stopped there about twice a year since then and have never done any good i would love for this river to get back in tip top condition.
[signature]

[MMDon]

Having fished up there all my life, I see the problem as less the pelicans and more the water table being pumped dry. Reservation pump irrigation is 90% of the 1000 pound gorilla in the room. Combine the pivot irrigation with the drought and you had a recipe for disaster. Bringing the water levels in the lake back up and increasing flows in the river would bring the fishing back to where it was when the natural springs fed the shrimp which were the main food supply to the lake. Deeper water means less feather born predation in both biomasses. Still, short of the Reservation Farmers preventing the water table from dropping down so perilously low, I suppose shooting, oops, I mean fencing out the pelicans is a last resort fix to some of the situation. Perhaps not a fix for the water becoming so warm and stagnant in the out flow that thousands of fish lay dead below the bridge or the springs that feed the shrimp drying up . . . but it helps.

The pelicans are only an indicator of the volume of secondary fish that populated the system as the depletion of oxygen allowed their numbers to explode with the dramatic decline in the numbers of trout.

Just a thought but if their reports are to be taken seriously, maybe they could make them a bit more encompassing and complete, political correctness aside. The Pelican tale may be a tad bit over the top for those that study the Blackfoot Reservoir water system.
[signature]

[Bmarsh]

I have often wondered about the river, we duck hunt that area below the dam and about 5 miles down river and I have never seen a fish in that section. Some good looking water but It just never seems to hold fish.
[signature]

[lucabrasi]

thanks for the info. I discovered this place for myself last summer and am really looking forward to being there lots this summer. Some of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. Just amazing from the east side of the reservoir looking across at all the country there.
From what I have read about it and seen it seems the pelican population soared during the low water years with easy pickings for them. Now that the reservoir has recovered with some focus on pelican control perhaps the trout will have a better chance to spawn and return successfully when the water gets drawn down in lean years. Not sure what can be done about the water right holders in lean years drawing the reservoir down so low for so long that it hurts the reservoir as it spews out warm water into the river. That issue may never go away. I do still wonder about all the cattle and sheep and their messes and erosion along with the fertilizers from the fields and all of that finding it's way into the reservoir. I know it's a big body of water but I still look all around at all of that and wonder what that does to the water quality.
I do know I really like this place and look forward to a float below the reservoir and discovering the river also. Lots of country and water to check out for sure.
[signature]

[cpierce]

I wasn't meaning that the pelicans were the whole story for the lower river or reservoir levels. What I meant to say was that they were a big problem for the cutthroats that are trying to go up and spawn in the UPPER river meaning above the reservoir. Low water in the reservoir makes this even more of a gauntlet for the fish to run as they go over the exposed lake mud flats while trying to get to the upper river. A factor also in getting some good fish back in the reservoir is planting in the fall to avoid the pelicans and reducing the pelican numbers. I didn't mean that it was the only issue just one of the big ones that they have some hope of fixing.

F&G really has no control of the water levels in the reservoir. In other areas they have negotiated for minimum pools and even bought some of the water rights, I don't think any of that has happened at Blackfoot Res maybe won't ever happen. But while nature is cooperating on some good water years the fish in the lake seem to be responding. Certainly the survey rates have improved.

Hopefully some of that will trickle down to the rest of the river.

As for the report being more encompassing, I was only sharing a small part of a presentation that I thought was interesting. These are not direct quotations from F&G!!

I personally feel that finding a way to reduce the pelican numbers is a huge success and will be a benefit that will be felt in other fisheries in the area.

For those that want a more detailed analysis I suggest that you actually contact F&G southeast office. I am sure they will be happy to share their findings on all of the other aspects that affect the watershed.

I wish there was a simple answer to all of it!!!
[signature]

[MMDon]

My apologies. I appreciate your reports and wasn't trying to shoot the messenger! [crazy]
[signature]

[cpierce]

No apology needed! I am sorry that it was so poorly written that it was misunderstood. I should have been much clearer on a lot of it.
[signature]

[cpierce]

In my humble opinion. I think that more of an emphasis has been on fixing the upper half of the river partly because of the low numbers the native cutts dropped to and also because there were issues that F&G could help fix there. They could have an impact and change some things. So much on the lower river is out of their control to fix because it is flow related, but I imagine the tributaries are possibilities for future projects, maybe even the main lower river. Can't do it all at once.

Also I feel that the carp numbers in the reservoir are an issue with depleting the shoreline vegetation etc.

I know that they also have a project going on Lane and Diamond Creeks to fix some of the problems there, but I can't remember if it is cattle related or irrigation, diversions, blockages and etc.

Each issue takes a lot of money and hours of work. Frequently much of that is from volunteers. There might be something that could be a "BFT" volunteer project. ---- Willow planting or fence building any one????
[signature]

[MMDon]

You write very well cpierce!

Restoration and preservation of what resources can be controlled is all that can be done. I'm very appreciative of the efforts made by the F&G and all concerned! My fear, even for the upper feeder, is with more ground water being pumped each year, another drought will simply leave the whole system dry. As a kid, we would camp along the shores near the springs, the fishing was amazing. Most of these springs no longer spring and some are quite a distance from the lakes shoreline today. Each fall we would hunt ducks in the hundreds of beaver ponds that fed into the lake. The duck numbers were so thick they would blacken the sky.

Must have been the good old days . . .

Carp have been an issue for as long as I can remember. They used to contract cat food companies to come in and net massive amounts of them. The "Carp Beds" so named for areas where they would load them up in trucks, would run red with blood. The trout were hugely drawn to the area by the smell of the blood in the water. When the netting was completed they would poison the lake. If I remember correctly the area residents always felt the lake was then replanted with carp by the contracting pet food company and so a vicious cycle would repeat itself. The only real control on the carp has always been cyclical. Carp numbers would seem to rise and then drop on a 7 year or so cycle. Their numbers never used to hurt the trout population however.

Thanks again cpierce for your time and input. You do make a difference!

Don
[signature]

[cpierce]

You make a good point. Amazing how far away aquifer pumping will affect.

Were the springs you are talking about in the Poison Cr area?

What ever happened to the carp netting opperations? We could sure use that again on Blackfoot, Stone, and Alexander!! Carp seem to be nearly impossible to get rid of!
[signature]

[Soda]

First of all thank you, Cpierce for bringing this up and keeping us informed. The Blackfoot Reservoir/Upper River are gems that should be given a lot more care and attention. The upper river (the river above the reservoir) is a beautiful river, that in its day was a world class cutthroat fishery. Following the drought of the late 80's and early 90's, EVERYTHING changed.

I completely agree that while water levels probably started this ugly snowball rolling, the infestation of the scrourge of pelicans allowed it to get bigger and bigger. I grew up in Soda in the 80's and I can tell you that perhaps an occasional pair of pelicans would be seen from time to time but the white plague that exists now is a recent phenomenon and when combined with the inconsistent water levels has pushed the cutthroat populations to the brink of unsustainability.

I believe it is the Native American tribes that own the dam and water rights and recent drought years meant that there was money to be made by selling the water. I'm not sure what can be done about that.

I applaud the work that is being done on the upper river and in trying to get a handle on the un-natural numbers of pelicans that hamper recovery efforts.
[signature]

[Mojo1]

I really want to go fish the reservoir for carp. I know several guys that have caught carp there on flies and it looks like a great place to play that game!
[signature]

[cpierce]

There are certainly lots of HUGE carp in the area. Not only are there lots in Blackfoot, but also in Alexander, Oneida and the Bear River. Just be sure that you remove what you catch!!! There will still be plenty left for everyone who wants to catch some.
[signature]

[SF_Austin]

I've done some carp bowfishing in the blackfoot, it's an absolute blast! I do agree, they are getting out of hand (I'm happy to contribute to the eradication effort!!) I'm going to pose a suggestion based on a fairly uneducated platform, take it for what it's worth. I've been following this thread and everyone mentions the cutthroat population issues, but it's a very warm water reservoir, especially for around here, cutthroat dont like that. Why not put some warm water species in the reservoir? Bass, crappies, bluegill, catfish. I realize the worthy effort of keeping the cutthroat population up to standards and bass would probably wipe em out. I'm sure I've opened a can of worms here, but I do think the IDFG could do a better job at planting some different species in some of our local reservoirs so we're not just trout fishing all the time and maybe blackfoot would be a good place to try it. Take it for what it's worth.
[signature]

[lucabrasi]

If they did that it could adversly effect the health of the cutthroat population?? From much of what I have seen around they manage for the cutthroat if it was native to a particular drainage and had a stronghold on it. A few western states seem to have that frame of mind. Some of this may have to do with money from the feds. Not sure about that but I think that may influence some of the decisions. I do not know much or anything of fisheries management but I would think some common sense in there would go a long ways and there could be some successful fisheries out there that have fallen off in recent history for what ever reasons by trying some different things. I think some tiger muskie would help Alexander and would think that something other than trout would do good in Blackfoot when the next drought hits. Perch or bluegill? Catfish? How much issue would perch or bluegill cause to the trout? Catfish probably more so I would think. I don't think there are any of these fish in the Blackfoot drainage so they could get into that and maybe that wouldn't be good?? Would those kind of fish spawn out of the reservoir if they made it out? I don't know but it does make sense something else may thrive in there without doing anymore damage than the pelicans do.
Same with me, I don't know and am just thinking out loud from my observations.
[signature]

[Bmarsh]

My take on the BLKFT is that unless you can isolate the fish your putting in from the surrounding creeks...... then they shouldn't be put it Period. We shouldn't screw up the surrounding fisheries like they have done with ririe.

There are some good bows in that res. It just doesn't get talked about. Im not a big bass guy, ive caught a few and it isn't my cup of tea. IMO if you want to have lots of warm water type fishing experiences around..... move away from one of the best trout fishing states in the nation. After living all over the nation and seeing how unique the trout fishing here is I cant see doing anything that would jeopardize that resource. If anything we should be going out of our way and putting lots of effort into trying to restore it and make it better.
[signature]

[MMDon]

[quote Bmarsh]My take on the BLKFT is that unless you can isolate the fish your putting in from the surrounding creeks...... then they shouldn't be put it Period. We shouldn't screw up the surrounding fisheries like they have done with ririe.

There are some good bows in that res. It just doesn't get talked about. Im not a big bass guy, ive caught a few and it isn't my cup of tea. IMO if you want to have lots of warm water type fishing experiences around..... move away from one of the best trout fishing states in the nation. After living all over the nation and seeing how unique the trout fishing here is I cant see doing anything that would jeopardize that resource. If anything we should be going out of our way and putting lots of effort into trying to restore it and make it better.[/quote]

+1 Well said!
[signature]

[lucabrasi]

You are right and we are lucky to live where the trout fishing is some of the best to be found.
I have heard many say how good Blackfoot used to be, Here and in person from old timers or just fisherman with a passion to learn all they can about our area. I have heard it was the premier fishery around years ago. It wasn't the South Fork, it was the Blackfoot you went if you wanted big fish and lots of them.
I may be wrong but isn't it a fairly young reservoir. Filled in the 50's or 60's? What happened to it during the drought of the mid/late 70's? Did that hurt it like this last one? Did the reservoir itself make the spawning decline but took years for that to take its toll and become apparent? Were the water rights used different then? The pelicans weren't around like they are now. The willows seem like a good idea to help, fences also. Would the F&G pursue that if they had volunteer resources to help?
At the same time it is a shallow reservoir, you hear lots about how good the fishing used to be (I guess you hear that about lots of other places), a unique problem with a bird population out of control, and tons of carp.
It's current situation does promote some thoughts of different things that can be done with it.
[signature]