Written by Will Lubenau, University of Idaho
As you have hopefully heard by now, the University of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game have teamed up to study the potential influence of catch-and-release angling on wild steelhead. We’ll be doing project updates like this one once a month during the study to let folks know how things are going.
Project personnel began trapping, tagging, and releasing steelhead for the study on July 1, 2019 at Lower Granite Dam. To date, approximately 60 steelhead have been tagged. As the picture shows, each tag is carefully inserted just below the dorsal fin and is highly visible to anglers. Some steelhead have been implanted with two tags that will be used to estimate how many tags fall out of fish used in the study. Steelhead will continue to be tagged until next spring, when the last of this year’s steelhead run pass Lower Granite Dam. So far, one tagged fish has been reported by an angler, so some of these fish are already entering Idaho waters.
How can you be involved?
If you catch a tagged steelhead, please report the tag number online at https://idfg.idaho.gov/fish/tag/add.
If a tag is labeled “REWARD”, the tag must be returned to IDFG to receive payment.
REMEMBER: Only hatchery steelhead with a clipped adipose fin may be harvested!