Great news on the Boise River, and not unexpected to those of you who fish it, who know it, and who have realized its potential. The rainbow population has reached high levels not recorded in prior Lower Boise River population studies. Brown trout, on the other hand, have really suffered.
As part an attempt to once again bolster the browns, the IDFG released over 15,000 adipose-clipped fingerling browns in both 2009 and 2010. (They actually did it again in 2011, but the population survey was conducted in October 2010.) Only five of these fish were captured in the study. And very few existing wild browns were captured either. The data indicates that one of these browns in the middle section of river was nearly 30”, however.
IDFG Southwest Region 2010 Annual Fisheries Report
Also perhaps of interest in the annual report: there are approximately 5 million pounds of carp in Lake Lowell. I think 5 million pounds of mallards used to winter there when we had a better migration flyway.
Abundant high water and main-stem spawning has really helped Boise River rainbows. What a great opportunity to implement a catch-and-release, no bait regulation on several miles of river (from Barber Park to Broadway, ideally). This portion of the river has the biological capability to become a quality destination.
Time to protect what mother nature is trying so hard to give us.
3 comments:
Steve,
Over the last couple of years, I've caught more browns way downstream in the Eagle to Star stretch. Far more browns than rainbows. None being very large. Three years ago I caught a brown that measured 16-1/2". Which for me in that area, by no means is very common. My assumption is perhaps these stocked browns are migrating down stream, is there any recent stream census data that you know of that could support this or are these plantings just becoming forage for the resident raindows?
Markus-
You can identify the stocked browns by their missing adipose fins. They were stocked above Glenwood, so it would be interesting to know if some are taking up residence around Eagle.
There are areas of sizable pike minnows that could be hurting the fingerlings. The IDFG isn't ready to abandon this stocking program yet, but they admittedly aren't sure how successful the program is going to be.
How many carry-over hatchery fish do we get on the Boise? The answer is next to none. They get flushed in spring run-off.
-Steve
From Art Butts, SW Region IDFG Biologist: "We have only had three years of stocking so it may take some time to see a benefit or increase in browns…if we see one at all. At the time of the survey, we only had 2 years. Survival is probably not too great given that they are fingerlings.
At 3", brown trout start having a tough time in rearing facilities. Here at Nampa, they only have one small raceway available to rear browns. Once they get to about 3", we start seeing chronic mortality and it becomes a race to get them off station. However, the last couple of runoff seasons we have had in the Boise, you are faced with letting them die in the hatchery or take your chances with the fish surviving the higher water."
Man, sounds like the IDFG (according to Art Butts) is wasting time and money in rearing browns at the hatchery in Nampa, not to mention putting fish in our river that seemingly do not stand a chance of surviving. Pretty damn expensive fish food if you ask me. Seems like IDFG could be spending our tax dollars and fees on something more fruitful.
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