More Trout for the Treasure Valley

Treasure Valley anglers will find more and bigger fish in area ponds and reservoirs in the next two weeks after an eastern Idaho commercial fish farm donated around 60,000 pounds of rainbow trout to Fish and Game. The fish farmer - who wishes to remain anonymous - is going out of business and had no market for the fish. He offered them to the department rather than letting them go to waste. "These are very nice fish", Fish and Game fishery manager Jeff Dillon noted. "They probably average a pound or so each, but some are in the three and four pound range. They'll provide a little extra excitement for kids and others who fish Treasure Valley ponds." Fish and Game hatchery staff have already begun hauling the fish to southwest Idaho. Most of the trout are being stocked in C.J. Strike and Lucky Peak Reservoirs, but more than 2,000 fish are also being stocked in local ponds. In the Boise area, Park Center Pond, Quinn's Pond, Veterans' Park Pond and Riverside Pond have begun receiving the bonus fish. Meridian's Settler's and McDevitt Ponds, Merrill and Eagle Island Ponds in Eagle and Sawyer's Pond in Emmett are likewise being stocked with the bonus trout. Because the commercial fish are fertile (capable of reproducing), Fish and Game has limits on where they can be stocked, according to Dillon. "As a matter of policy, we can only stock these fish in places where they can't interbreed with wild trout," Dillon said. "C.J. Strike, Lucky Peak, and the local ponds are ideal locations." The fish are in addition to the normal quota of stocked trout from department hatcheries.