I am wondering about a historical stocking report for a the Magic Valley Region body of water entitled Sand Dunes Pond. This body of water was last stocked with bass and bluegill in 1999. Does this refer to the two ponds within the state park or the pond directly North of the parks entrance ( i.e. between the highway and the Snake river)? I previously recall some years ago that there were orange signs along the bank of this pond stating that bass were present. These signs are no longer there and I cannot locate a name for the pond. I would like to try for bass in a canoe there as no one seems to fish it but wonder: 1) is this the same Sand Dunes pond that was stocked in 1999 (or is the stocking report referring to the state park ponds); 2) the name of the pond outside the park if there is one; 3) is there a 20 inch minimum size limit on that pond ( I know there is for the two ponds within the park boundaries).
Thanks
Answer:
Thanks for the question. Stocking records can definitely get confusing especially when it comes to the name of the fishery. Quite often a pond may have multiple informal or local names that do not correlate with our stocking records. We will try to answer your specific questions below:
Answer to Question 1: The stocking record is for the smaller pond behind the observatory in the Bruneau Dunes State Park. The stocking event in 1999 was event that followed a fish eradication effort in 1998. Common Carp had invaded expanded in the Upper Pond to the point it was impacting the sport fishery so IDFG opted to remove all fish, install a fish barrier between the ponds, and reintroduce bass and bluegill to rebuilt that fishery.
Answer to Question 2: This pond is sometimes referred by locals as "Bruneau Pond" but we are not aware of a formal name. It is not currently stocked, monitored, or managed as a sportfishery. We have some sampling data from the late 80's and early 90's indicating it was overrun with common carp, but there were also small numbers smallmouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, yellow bullhead, and other non-game fish species present. There is reportedly an open connection to the Snake river (at least seasonally) that would allow common carp full and open access to the fishery.
Answer to Question 3: The 20 inch minimum applies only to the ponds within the park.
We hope this answers your questions. Feel free to contact the Magic Valley Region directly if you have further questions or require more details.
Answered on:
Thursday, April 12, 2012 - 12:07 PM MDT