03-13-2015, 05:35 PM
Dave Teuscher with support from Arnie Brimmer, fisheries biologists for the Southeast F&G region gave a presentation last night on the waters in our area. A lot of points were covered and my memory is less than perfect, so if I get some things wrong please correct me someone.
Snow pack and rainfall are short for this year so far. Most areas have about 80% of the average. The rivers and smaller reservoirs may run short this year. The larger reservoirs are much better as they are pretty much at capacity. Army Corp management reserves some capacity to catch possible snow melt and rain flood waters.
Chesterfield is especially a concern. The canal company there has held back some water for the fish the last three years, but they may not be able to this year if we don't get lots of rain. ( From me: Notes of appreciation to the Marsh Valley Canal Co might be timely.)
Daniels also may get very low. It at least has a conservation pool.
Watch out for heat stress on the fish as the water warms in the reservoirs with low water.
Another concern is bass in Treasureton. There are fewer large trout being caught, and things are starting to get out of balance. There are still some so they are holding off on treating this. They have also been moving bass from there, but that won't do enough there are still too many bass.
The new Wellness Reservoir up by the fairgrounds in Pocatello is shaping up. It has been stocked, but it will NOT be open for fishing until after Labor Day. Lots of construction still going on. It even has a stream. Rainbows and kokanee were stocked.
A state wide fish stocking study has been going on. A number of SE Idaho reservoirs were included in that work. It was comparing survival and return to creel for fish size between stocking 10 inch fish and 12 inch fish. In most reservoirs the 12 inch fish showed better than twice the survival of the 10 inch fish. Bird predation is considerably less on the larger fish.
They will be switching to stocking the larger fish in the lakes. They will stock the same number of pounds of fish, but not the same number of fish.
Just looking at the stocking reports, it will look like there are fewer fish being stocked. That's true, but the weight stocked will be the same. With better survival the number of fish that are actually in the water to catch will also be more than the "survival number" of smaller fish. I think it will be a win for fishermen more and larger fish to catch, fewer feeding the birds!
This also brings up how important it is to return tag numbers to F&G. Most of their studies to improve our fishing are dependent on tagged fish. If you don't take the fish to consume (if legal), please get the number from the tag and call it in! All kinds of fish are being studied from crappie to different trout, and both jaw tags and fin streamer tags are used. Some of them are reward tags, but not all. It will have a dollar amount on it if it is a reward tag. The real reward is improved fishing for us in the state.
This is the proposal year for law and rule changes to our fishing regulations. They are seeking input from the public. Get your voice and opinion heard. If you can't attend an area meeting with F&G, then call or email them.
Three proposals for the SE area were mentioned.
Proposal 1 is to increase the in field possession limit for fish. If you are camping for several days, you can take more than one limit home with you. I don't remember if it was just one more limit or more.
Salmon, steelhead, and other game such as birds already allow you to bring home more than one limit.
Proposal 2 is for to increase the minimum length for bass to 14 inch. This is to help get and keep some larger bass in the reservoirs to control prey species better.
Proposal 3 is to remove the size limit on the smallmouth in the Bear River system. They are stunting. I think it was the whole river, but it may just be Oneida Res. I am not sure on that.
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Snow pack and rainfall are short for this year so far. Most areas have about 80% of the average. The rivers and smaller reservoirs may run short this year. The larger reservoirs are much better as they are pretty much at capacity. Army Corp management reserves some capacity to catch possible snow melt and rain flood waters.
Chesterfield is especially a concern. The canal company there has held back some water for the fish the last three years, but they may not be able to this year if we don't get lots of rain. ( From me: Notes of appreciation to the Marsh Valley Canal Co might be timely.)
Daniels also may get very low. It at least has a conservation pool.
Watch out for heat stress on the fish as the water warms in the reservoirs with low water.
Another concern is bass in Treasureton. There are fewer large trout being caught, and things are starting to get out of balance. There are still some so they are holding off on treating this. They have also been moving bass from there, but that won't do enough there are still too many bass.
The new Wellness Reservoir up by the fairgrounds in Pocatello is shaping up. It has been stocked, but it will NOT be open for fishing until after Labor Day. Lots of construction still going on. It even has a stream. Rainbows and kokanee were stocked.
A state wide fish stocking study has been going on. A number of SE Idaho reservoirs were included in that work. It was comparing survival and return to creel for fish size between stocking 10 inch fish and 12 inch fish. In most reservoirs the 12 inch fish showed better than twice the survival of the 10 inch fish. Bird predation is considerably less on the larger fish.
They will be switching to stocking the larger fish in the lakes. They will stock the same number of pounds of fish, but not the same number of fish.
Just looking at the stocking reports, it will look like there are fewer fish being stocked. That's true, but the weight stocked will be the same. With better survival the number of fish that are actually in the water to catch will also be more than the "survival number" of smaller fish. I think it will be a win for fishermen more and larger fish to catch, fewer feeding the birds!
This also brings up how important it is to return tag numbers to F&G. Most of their studies to improve our fishing are dependent on tagged fish. If you don't take the fish to consume (if legal), please get the number from the tag and call it in! All kinds of fish are being studied from crappie to different trout, and both jaw tags and fin streamer tags are used. Some of them are reward tags, but not all. It will have a dollar amount on it if it is a reward tag. The real reward is improved fishing for us in the state.
This is the proposal year for law and rule changes to our fishing regulations. They are seeking input from the public. Get your voice and opinion heard. If you can't attend an area meeting with F&G, then call or email them.
Three proposals for the SE area were mentioned.
Proposal 1 is to increase the in field possession limit for fish. If you are camping for several days, you can take more than one limit home with you. I don't remember if it was just one more limit or more.
Salmon, steelhead, and other game such as birds already allow you to bring home more than one limit.
Proposal 2 is for to increase the minimum length for bass to 14 inch. This is to help get and keep some larger bass in the reservoirs to control prey species better.
Proposal 3 is to remove the size limit on the smallmouth in the Bear River system. They are stunting. I think it was the whole river, but it may just be Oneida Res. I am not sure on that.
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