Region 1 Biologist Reports

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When bull trout were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1998, all waters in Montana were closed to bull trout fishing except for Swan Lake, despite the fact that several other populations appeared to be in good shape. By 2004, FWP was able to document that conservation measures had raised bull trout to conservation recovery levels in Hungry Horse Reservoir, Lake Koocanusa, and the South Fork Flathead River. Normally, recreational fishing is not restored until a species is delisted, which appears to be years away. FWP applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reopen the above fisheries and the Service agreed to an experimental recreational fishery. To control and monitor the fishery, anglers had to get a special bull trout permit and catch card. This allows biologists to measure catch and harvest. Anglers were allowed to harvest 1 bull trout per day, 2 per season from Hungry Horse and Koocanusa, the South Fork was catch and release only. Seasonal closures protected bull trout during vulnerable periods.

Nearly 2,700 anglers obtained permits in 2004 – 2005, although 2/3 of those didn’t actually fish. Anglers put in 3,483 days of fishing for bull trout on Lake Koocanusa, 1,650 days on Hungry Horse Reservoir and 725 days on the South Fork Flathead River. Anglers were conservative, releasing nearly 80 percent of all bulls caught. Anglers caught 355 bulls from Hungry Horse and harvested 48. Anglers caught and released 173 bull trout in the South Fork Flathead. Koocanusa turned out to be the most popular fishery and anglers were estimated to have harvested 650 bull trout. All harvests were within predicted levels and 2005 bull trout spawning surveys showed no problems, so the Fish and Wildlife Service renewed the fishery for another year. Issues that FWP will continue to work on include poor returns of catch cards and the fact that a large landslide partially blocked an important Koocanusa spawning tributary which may impact future age classes.

Bull trout spawning surveys elsewhere in northwest Montana held steady. An area of concern for the future is the Swan drainage, which has one of the healthier bull trout populations. Lake trout were detected in Swan Lake in 1998 and small lake trout that appear to be from reproduction have now been found. Lake trout in similar situations elsewhere have caused dramatic shifts in fisheries. A working group of state, federal and tribal biologists and conservation groups has been formed to determine whether lake trout will impact bull trout, Kokanee and other game fish and, if so, how to best suppress the lake trout.

As of January 2006, snowpacks look much better than the past 5 years. It says something when a slightly above average snowpack (105%) is a cause for celebration. Generally, northwest Montana has fared reasonably well through the past years of drought but the popular Thompson River was closed 7 weeks last summer due to low flows and high water temperatures. As in many other Montana rivers, brown trout appear to be holding up better than rainbow and cutthroat trout.

Libby and Hungry Horse Reservoirs fared well in recent deliberations in the ongoing federal "salmon" lawsuit. The name itself speaks volumes when it comes to resident fish. The Columbia Watershed has focused on providing water for sea-run migratory fish, often at the expense of Montana's reservoirs and rivers. Each August, the top 20 feet of the reservoirs were flushed downstream to help salmon, reducing reservoir productivity, and causing an unnatural "double peak" in the rivers downstream. Unfortunately, Montana's water has no benefits to salmon smolts in terms of water temperature, and very little benefit in water velocity intended to speed young salmon to the ocean. Conversely, Montana's fish are immediately impacted by the reservoir draft and flow fluctuation in the river. Plaintiffs asked for even more water from Montana, but their request was denied. Instead, the Pacific Northwest region is warming up to a compromise operation developed by MFWP that still helps salmon, but without impacts to resident fish. The new plan reduces reservoir drawdown, improves refill and smoothes the discharge after the spring peak to stabilize river flows during the productive summer months.

A recent problem that may be drought related is the appearance of huge mats of the diatom Didymosphenia geminata in the Kootenai River downstream from Libby Dam. It has been found in other Montana rivers but not yet at nuisance levels. Didymo or “Rock Snot” as it is called by anglers, produces mats several inches thick that cover rocks that provide cover for insects and juvenile fish. Corresponding decreases in adult fish have been observed in some waters in New Zealand, Utah, and Colorado. It is not known if these infestations are due to a lack of flushing flows due to drought, changes in stream flows due to dam operations or other factors. A multi-state conference is planned for this spring to look at this newest aquatic nuisance species.

Human populations are expanding rapidly in parts of western Montana, posing an increasing challenge to managers to maintain access to public waters. A major acquisition in Region 1 within the last year was the 1,800-acre Bull River Wildlife Management area under the AVISTA hydromitigation program. The WMA protects the headwaters of the Bull River, maintains key wetlands, wildlife habitat, and a grizzly migration corridor, and provides for fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing. A key access was also acquired on the lower Flathead River to access that smallmouth bass fishery and plans are to start construction on an access on state school trust lands on Echo Lake this spring for largemouth bass, northern pike and yellow perch. A new boat ramp and dock were installed at West Shore State Park on Flathead Lake to provide key year-round access.

The Family Fishing Pond Program continued to grow with the addition of the Shady Lane Pond to the Old Steel Bridge Fishing Access in Kalispell. An inaugural Kids Fishing Day was held to introduce the pond and the 2-½ miles of trails to the community. Shady Lane joins a list of family ponds in Whitefish, Eureka, Troy, Noxon, Thompson Falls, and Ninepipes. Several years ago, Carole and Carlie Reum approached FWP about a memorial in honor of their son Carlie Lynn who had passed away. Carlie Lynn was an avid angler so FWP suggested construction of handicapped accessible “Carlie’s Pier” at the Ninepipes Pond. Several memorial dart tournaments provided the seed money coupled with donations from a number of businesses and materials and labor from FWP. Polson Outdoors, Inc. stepped in with the final funding and POI member Gene Ashby was instrumental in onsite design, fabrication, and welding. Carlie’s Pier was dedicated at the Ninepipe’s Kids Fishing Day in May 2005.

Biologists frequently have to mark fish to track movement, growth and survival, but common marking techniques, such as tags or fin clips, are time consuming, difficult to use on large numbers of fish and may affect fish performance. Biologists sometimes use coded wire tags, smaller than a grain of rice that are inserted under the skin. The tags have individual codes and can be read by a scanner. Now Region 1 biologists are looking at scale chemistry for marks. Each headwater stream where fish are hatched and reared as juveniles has unique water chemistry that is laid down in the layers at the focus or start of the scale. Biologists can sample a group of fish from a large lake or river and by using lasers to analyze the microelemental chemistry from a few scales, can determine with a high degree of accuracy which streams each fish came from. A tiny snip of fin will then provide the genetic history of the fish. Work is now ongoing to determine the persistence of the chemical fingerprint over the fish’s life.

In another angle, biologists often want to mark hatchery fish to track them for growth and survival, but marking thousands of fish is a daunting task. Tetracycline mixed into the food will lay down a ring that fluoresces under ultraviolet light, but the mark may fade over time. Most everyone is familiar with aging trees from growth rings. Many anglers know you can age a fish from looking at ring patterns on hard parts, such as scales and otoliths (ear bones). Biologists and fish culturists have determined that raising and lowering the water temperature while the egg is in the eyed stage (eyes are visible), will lay down different daily growth rings. Each batch of fish can be given a different “fingerprint” of rings. Later in life the otolith can be examined under very high magnification to identify the origin of the fish. Unfortunately, the fish have to be sacrificed to take otoliths as opposed to taking a few scales with the microelemental chemistry analysis.