Freshwater Fishing News

On August 2, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service failed for the third time in ten years to produce a legal and scientifically adequate plan to protect imperiled Columbia-Snake River salmon from extinction.

Salmon habitats have been affected by operation of the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Fishing and conservation groups, the state of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the Spokane Tribe opposed the federal biological opinion, or BiOp, in court.

In deciding the case, the court wrote, “The history of the Federal Defendant’s lack of, or at best, marginal compliance with the procedural and substantive requirements of the ESA . . . has been laid out in prior Opinions and Orders in this case and is repeated here only where relevant.”  The court went on call the federal defendants’ plan “neither a reasonable, nor a prudent, course of action.”

“Today is a victory for the nation,” said Trip Van Noppen, President of Earthjustice, the public interest law firm that represented fishing and conservation groups in the case.  “But the work has only just begun.  In the wake of the worst recession the nation has experienced since the Great Depression, there’s a simple path forward that would create thousands of jobs for a small investment.  Taking out the four dams that strangle the lower Snake River would bring millions of dollars from restored salmon runs to communities from coastal California to Alaska and inland to Idaho.  Let’s reject the path that continues wasting money on failed salmon technical fixes and embrace a solution that could set an example for the rest of the nation.”

This is the third time Judge Redden has found a BiOp for the Columbia-Snake Basin inadequate and illegal. Today, salmon populations are critically low, lingering near just 1 percent of their historic levels.

In finding the current plan’s heavy reliance on unidentified and uncertain habitat actions illegal, the court wrote: “Coupled with the significant uncertainty surrounding the reliability of NOAA Fisheries’ habitat methodologies, the evidence that habitat actions are falling behind schedule, and that benefits are not accruing as promised, NOAA Fisheries’ approach to these issues is neither cautious nor rational.”

Among those hit hardest by the Columbia-Snake salmon crisis are commercial, sport, recreational and tribal fishermen. Repeated fishery closures and cutbacks in recent years have harmed river and coastal family businesses and livelihoods, and fishing groups have been at the forefront of this legal battle for decades.

Endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead tackle a migration like no other salmon on earth. Some swim more than 900 miles and climb almost 7,000 feet to reach their spawning grounds, scaling eight dams along the way.

source: wildsalmon.org

Throughout Kentucky, spring rains raised water levels in Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, Nolin River Lake, Rough River Lake, Cave Run Lake and Taylorsville Lake. Some lakes are experiencing water levels never before witnessed.

Lake Cumberland rose quickly as well, prompting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release a great deal of water through Wolf Creek Dam, creating strong currents in the Cumberland River below it. The high water created miserable fishing conditions, but now the Cumberland River is rounding into great fishing shape.

Due to ongoing repairs on Wolf Creek Dam, the Corps must keep the Lake Cumberland 40 feet lower than normal summer pool. Once the lake reaches that level, they only release enough water to keep the water temperatures cool enough to support the world class trout fishery in Cumberland River.

Cumberland River still produces excellent fishing, although size and growth diminished slightly from stress created by warm water temperatures over the last couple of summers.

“The numbers of trout are good,” said Ron Brooks, director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

“I think there are plenty of fish. . .  I saw people using spinning gear and doing well.”

Anglers using spinning gear should catch rainbow trout with small in-line spinners and spoons fished over flowing shoals. Spinning anglers after brown trout should target pockets near woody cover and deeper rocky banks with small suspending jerkbaits worked erratically.

Dreves said fly anglers should cast nymphs and streamers right now, but vary their retrieves to find what works.

Anglers fishing Cumberland River also have a healthy chance to set a new state record. The fisheries division stocked about 12,000 brook trout in the Cumberland River earlier this year, giving anglers a chance to break the 15-inch long, 1-pound, 5-ounce brook trout state record. Louisville’s R. James Augustus caught the record fish from Martin’s Fork in 1982.

“As soon as the brookies get to the 15-inch minimum size limit, they’ll have a potential state record,” Dreves said. “It could happen soon.”

source: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

For 2011, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has added 99 new waters to the state’s list of wild trout streams, raising the total number of documented waterways which support naturally reproducing populations of trout to nearly 3,650.

The Commission also removed 16 waters from the list and adjusted the limits on eight others.

The changes resulted from recent stream surveys undertaken as part of the PFBC’s Unassessed Waters Initiative, a collaborative effort among the agency, local colleges and universities and conservation groups to survey the Commonwealth’s nearly 45,000 remaining unassessed waterways.

Surveying unassessed waters and documenting wild trout populations are consistent with the Commission’s five-year Strategic Plan, Strategic Plan for Management of Trout Fisheries in Pennsylvania and the agency’s Resource First philosophy.

The wild trout stream designation has regulatory significance because wetlands that are located in or along the floodplain of the reach of a wild trout stream are considered “exceptional value” by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and are entitled to the highest level of protection by DEP.

The list can be found on the PFBC website at: http://fishandboat.com/images/exec/minutes/2011minu/04min_exh_i.pdf

The current version of the wild trout streams list was last revised in April 2010 and can be found on the PFBC website at: http://www.fishandboat.com/trout_repro.pdf

source: Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Natural stream flow suits native trout populations best, according to a study that examines the impacts of dam operations on threatened freshwater trout. The study appears in River Research and Applications.

In a study to identify the potential impacts of Hungry Horse Dam (Montana) operations on declining native trout populations, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Miller Ecological Consultants, Inc., Spatial Sciences & Imaging and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks examined how changes in river flow affect fish habitat on the upper Flathead River in Montana.

“Our research suggests past flow management practices created sporadic flow fluctuations that were likely detrimental to threatened bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout populations in the upper Columbia River Basin,” said Clint Muhlfeld, project leader and USGS scientist. “With Montana providing 40 percent of the U.S. water storage in the Columbia Basin Power and Flood Control system, water demands –and biological impacts—are significant.”

Populations of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout have declined throughout ranges in western North America due to a many factors, including habitat destruction, fragmentation and non-native species. Dam operations in the Columbia River Basin have contributed to these declines by changing flow and habitat, and disrupting routes of fish migration.

Loss of habitat connectivity and habitat modification can be especially detrimental to native trout populations, the study found. These fish migrate to spawn and feed and prefer large, relatively pristine habitats that are connected without any barriers such as dams.  Although the upper Flathead River system in Montana and British Columbia, Canada, is considered a regional and range-wide stronghold for bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout these populations may be threatened by the effects of 55 years of altering flow downstream of the Hungry Horse Dam.

Results of the study further suggest that dam management strategies that are more similar to the natural flow of the river will likely improve the chances of protecting habitat and help to maintain and restore bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout populations.

“Analyses comparing the natural flow of the mainstem Flathead River (predam, 1929–1952) with five postdam flow management strategies (1953–2008) show that natural flow conditions optimize the threatened bull trout habitats and that the current management practices best resemble the natural flow conditions of all postdam periods,” Muhlfeld said.

One caveat to this observation, said Muhlfeld, is the practice of increasing flow in the late summer to help fish species such as salmon and steelhead, known as “anadromous” because they migrate from salt water to fresh water to breed.  According to the study, increasing flow to benefit one species is actually reducing the amount of suitable habitat for another – the bull trout, a species listed as a threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

“Several studies have shown that dam operations have profound effects on anadromous fishes, yet before ours, few studies have examined the impacts of flow management strategies on habitats of threatened, native trout species in the upper Columbia River Basin,” Muhlfeld said.

Results from the study are featured in the April 2011 early online edition of River Research and Applications.  The article is titled “Assessing the impacts of river regulation on native bull trout (salvelinus confluentus) and westslope cutthroat trout (oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) habitats in the Upper Flathead River, Montana, USA” and can be viewed online.

source: USGS

In an effort to improve the fishery in Colorado’s Animas River through Durango and the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, three agencies are working to stock 100,000 rainbow trout in the river annually.

In early July, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe spread the fish in the river from Santa Rita Park in Durango to Bondad about 16 miles south of Durango. The fish were 5-6 inches in size.

The fish stocking is paid for by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as mitigation for the removal of water from the Animas River to Ridges Basin Reservoir, also known as Lake Nighthorse. An agreement on a stocking and monitoring program was developed by the BOR, the Southern Ute Tribe and the DOW.

The fish are being raised at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national fish hatchery in Hotchkiss. An additional 50,000 trout, 10 inches in size, will be raised at the hatchery and stocked annually in the reservoir. Stocking in the reservoir will start this fall.

The stocking and monitoring of the fish will be performed by the DOW and the Southern Ute Tribe.

“We are really excited about the agreement because everyone gets something out of the deal,” said Jim White, DOW aquatic biologist in Durango, “The Southern Utes get a healthier fishery, we get stocking extended into the Gold Medal reach of the Animas River, and the BOR gets some of their environmental commitments covered through our fish survey work.”

The agreement will enhance the cooperative efforts of the tribe and the DOW in maintaining a healthy fishery in the Animas River.

“The agreement allows all parties to decide how best to manage these stocked trout using the information gathered during our coordinated fish surveys,” said Steve Whiteman, director of wildlife resource management for the Southern Utes. “If our current stocking parameters are off in some way, there is now a formal mechanism in place to address problems and do what is best for the resource.”

As stocking efforts continue every year, more and more of the fish stocked will be the whirling-disease resistant strain of rainbows that are being developed by DOW at its hatcheries. Aquatic biologists hope that those fish will begin to reproduce naturally in a couple of years. This is the second year that fish have been stocked in the river.

DOW and Southern Ute biologists will conduct surveys in the river to determine how many of the stocked fish are surviving.

The BOR began pumping water from the Animas River into the reservoir in 2009. Agency officials expect that the reservoir will be filled to capacity by mid-summer 2011.

source: Colorado Division of Wildlife