Cutthroat Trout

Even with COVID-19 concerns changing the way we are currently living, working, and recreating, you can still get outside for some fishing adventures this Memorial Day weekend.  Here are a few of Southeast Idaho's fishing fun spots just waiting for you to wet a fly or dunk a worm.  Just remember to follow public health recommendations for social distancing, even when outdoors.  

Fishery management of Upper Priest Lake has focused on conserving native fish for much of its management history. Annual removal of lake trout has been a component of that management approach for 20 years. Bull trout have responded well with increasing numbers. Other fish, like westslope cutthroat trout are also showing signs of improvement.

Learn about all of the events that have kept Fisheries Biologist Jenn Vincent hopping this past winter at Henrys Lake in the March 2020 edition of the Henrys Lake Newsletter. This edition features spawning, winter water quality testing, 2019 creel surveys and Yellowstone cutthroat trout genetics research.    

Biologists with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe will resume gill netting efforts beginning March 16 to reduce northern pike numbers in Windy Bay, Benewah, Chatcolet, Round and Hidden Lakes. In cooperation with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the project aims to reduce pike predation on native, lake-run cutthroat trout in select areas of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Over nine spawning dates in February, 2.8 million Yellowstone cutthroat trout eggs and 770,000 sterile hybrid trout eggs were generated.

Snorkeling, electrofishing, and PIT-tags are just a few of the tools biologists use to study Idaho's salmon, trout and steelhead. In part 3 of our series - Restoring Fish, Restoring Rivers - we look at how biologists study how fish populations before and after building habitat restoration projects. Understanding how fish populations respond helps us design better restoration strategies so these projects can have the biggest benefit.

Dump trucks. Bull dozers. Excavators!

These aren't the usual tools we think about when it comes to fisheries management. However, sometime stream restoration is a big job that needs some big tools. In our film Moving Earth, we show how a diverse team of biologists, engineers, contractors and landowners come together to rebuild streams and preserve trout, steelhead and salmon for all Idahoans.