Press Releases and Articles
Fishing Activities Continue at Esthers/Quinns Ponds
| idfg-eoneale
Elevated E. coli levels at Boise's Esther Simplot Pond and Quinns Pond have resulted in swimming/wading activities at these two popular park locations. A number of anglers have called our office asking if fishing activities are included in this closure.
Fishing remains open at both ponds. However, in the… more
Rainbow Trout Stocking Schedule
| idfg-eoneale
Personnel from Fish and Game's McCall and Nampa Hatcheries will be releasing more than 38,000 catchable-sized rainbow trout at the following locations during July.
Location Week Stocked Number of Trout
Big Creek (Cascade) July 3 200
Boise River, Middle Fork July 17 2,000
… more
Winter kill was less than expected for mule deer, and elk fared better
| idfg-rphillips
Turns out Idaho’s mule deer fawn mortality wasn’t as bad as feared, but still the second-lowest winter survival in nearly 20 years.
About 30 percent of radio collared fawns and 90 percent of collared does survived the harsh conditions last winter with deep snow and frigid temperatures… more
Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore’s statement on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s announcement delisting Yellowstone grizzly bears
| idfg-rphillips
The delisting of Yellowstone grizzly bears is a conservation success, and we are proud of the role that the states and local communities have played in grizzly bear conservation. A team of federal and state scientists has monitored and researched the Greater Yellowstone population for a long time, and their efforts… more
Trailers clip millions of fins so anglers can spot the keepers
| idfg-rphillips
Here's your task: Clip millions of tiny fins off young salmon and steelhead so they can be identified as hatchery fish when they return from the ocean. Do it in a few months and at nine different hatcheries from Springfield to Orofino. You will also need to insert a needle-tip sized wire tag into… more
Commission to meet via conference call June 23
| idfg-mdemick
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will meet by conference call Friday, June 23 to adopt the Price Lock order to discount license, tag, and permit fees with consecutive year purchases. An update concerning the Chinook salmon season will also be included.
The call will begin at 8:30 a.m. (MST) at Fish and Game… more
South Fork of the Salmon River will not open for Chinook fishing
| idfg-rphillips
A poor return to the South Fork of the Salmon River means anglers will miss a year of Chinook fishing on the popular river, but anglers can still get a crack at the fish starting Thursday, June 22 on the Lochsa and upper Salmon River upstream of Challis. Here are the boundary details in the season and rules.
… more
Awkward Moment Reveals Old Bonds
| idfg-snass
It was one of those awkward social moments we all dread. Fish & Game Officer Marc Porter was doing a routine summer patrol below American Falls Reservoir in eastern Idaho. A group of senior citizens from an area nursing home were fishing off a pier. Porter was chatting with the director of the home when a young… more
Lake Pend Oreille Kokanee Fishing Warms Up
| idfg-prust
Kokanee fishing is finally beginning to pick up on Idaho’s largest body of water.
Unusually cool and blustery spring conditions, and high inflows have kept most kokanee anglers away from Lake Pend Oreille. With the increasing numbers of kokanee in Pend Oreille over the past few years, anglers… more
Shockeys Promote Citizens Against Poaching
| idfg-snass
Nothing grates on ethical hunters more than those who commit wildlife crime, people who take more fish than their limit or hunt animals out of season. It hurts the resource and steals from the rest of us. That outrage is shared by celebrity outdoorsman Jim Shockey and his daughter, Eva, who are well known for their… more
Public Invited To Presentation About Sharp-tailed Grouse, Habitat, And Wind Energy
| idfg-glosinski
IDAHO FALLS – The Upper Snake Region is home to a number of species of grouse, one of these is the Columbia Sharp-tailed Grouse, that have lived for centuries on the fields east of Idaho Falls. The same places that these grouse have called home are now not only being utilized for… more
State Record for Tiger Trout broken at Deer Creek Reservoir, three times in one day!
| idfg-rhand
The state record for Tiger Trout stood at 17.5 inches before Free Fishing Day on June 10. By the end of the day, it had been broken not once, not twice, but three times at Deer Creek Reservoir during the fishing events sponsored by IDFG and the Pierce/Weippe Chamber of Commerce.
To start off, a 17.6-inch fish… more
Super Hunt winners announced
| idfg-mdemick
Winners in the first of two Idaho Super Hunt drawings have been drawn.
Of the 57,048 total entries, 20,092 were for eight deer tags, 19,904 were for eight elk tags, 4,286 were for eight pronghorn tags, 8,438 were for one moose tag, and 4,328 entries were for one Super Hunt Combo, which includes a tag for each… more
Sawtooth Hatchery raises mountain-climbing Chinook salmon
| idfg-rphillips
If you want to raise Chinook salmon to migrate to the ocean and return – which is the goal of most salmon hatcheries – you don’t typically put it 900 miles from the ocean and 6,500 feet in the mountains.
But that’s where you will find Idaho Fish and Game’s Sawtooth Fish Hatchery.
… more
Chinook Fishing Update (6/12/17)
| idfg-vosborn
This update is to let you know about Chinook fishing closures in the Clearwater River drainage. The following sections which were open for jack harvest, will not re-open this coming Thursday.
Clearwater River Mainstem - From the Camas Prairie Railroad Bridge upstream to the Highway 12 Bridge below the Potlatch… more
Clearwater Chinook Weekly Report (6/12/17)
| idfg-vosborn
This past week we documented harvest on creel section 1,4,… more
Learn about native trout and where to find them
| idfg-mkoenig
Two species of Idaho fish are the subject of a fascinating series by the Western Native Trout Initiative, a private/public collaboration that partners to conserve native trout and their habitat in the West.
The initiative recently released the second season of its “Chasing Natives” e-… more
Big Fish and Big Smiles: Free Fishing Day Success
| idfg-dmegargle
Another year, another great Free Fishing Day down at the Hagerman State Fish Hatchery. In past years, we've had 1,500+ folks come down to join the fun, this year, we had 600 folks register and many join in that did not register. Probably close to 1,000, but that's just a guess. Folks that attended could borrow fishing… more