Prizes Awarded for Tagged Fish

When a state fish and wildlife agency strongly discourages catch-and-release fishing for most trout species on a large lake, you know something is up. In the case of Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho it is a combination of both upÉand down. Populations of predatory fish species, particularly rainbow trout and lake trout, are too high to be sustained by the declining kokanee salmon population. Kokanee provide the primary forage for rainbow and lake trout in Pend Oreille. Generally speaking, fish populations in Lake Pend Oreille are out of balance. As a consequence, the world-class rainbow fishery that produced the world record rainbow trout is in danger of collapse. Kokanee salmon alone once provided a harvest averaging one million fish annually. And there were enough left over to provide sufficient forage such that rainbow trout and bull trout reached world-record size. The world-record bull trout was also caught in Lake Pend Oreille. Due to declining numbers, kokanee fishing has been closed since 2000. Because there aren't enough kokanee to feed all of the predators in the lake, rainbow and lake trout limits have been liberalized. Yet, these changes have not turned the fishery around. Survival rates of young kokanee (one to two years of age) have reached an all time low of 10 percent. Drastic times call for drastic measures. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) is taking drastic measures. Using funds from an Avista relicensing agreement, IDFG is offering monetary rewards for the heads of rainbow and lake trout caught by anglers. IDFG has conducted extensive population studies of fish species in Lake Pend Oreille. During this population evaluation, some of the rainbow trout and lake trout were marked with spaghetti tags or with PIT tags (passive induced transmitter). Lake Pend Oreille anglers are encouraged to harvest every lake trout they catch (no daily limit), and every rainbow trout up to the general state limit of six per day. The IDFG Commission will consider a proposal this week to remove the limits on rainbow trout on Pend Oreille. Anglers submitting fish heads are eligible for cash rewards. All heads will be checked for PIT tags. Those with PIT tags will receive cash rewards from $100 to $2000. Anglers submitting fish heads will have their name entered into monthly drawings for cash prizes once for each head submitted that month. Anglers over age 18 will receive one Idaho scratch lottery ticket for each fish head submitted. Spaghetti tags are worth either $100 or $10 when submitted with information about the fish species, length, weight and date of catch. Fish heads may be submitted directly to IDFG, or, placed in drop-off freezers at four locations around Lake Pend Oreille. Spaghetti tags should be submitted to the IDFG regional office with the pertinent information by mail. Four lucky anglers caught some special fish during the recent K&K fishing derby on Lake Pend Oreille. Dennis Pringle of Clark Fork, Dale Bymaster of Bayview, Alan Wing of Sagle and James Shinde of New Jersey harvested lake trout with PIT tags. Dennis Pringle not only caught the largest lake trout of the derby, a 19 lb. 10 oz. fish, but this fish contained a tag worth $1,000. The other three fish had $100 tags. All four anglers were also entered into the monthly cash drawing for the fish they harvested, and received an Idaho scratch lottery ticket. Funding for the incentive program is through the Avista mitigation program for impacts from Cabinet Gorge and Noxon dams.