Fishery changes mulled on Priest, Upper Priest

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Department of Fish & Game is considering changing its fishery management plans for Priest and Upper Priest lakes.

The current management plan holds that the state will manage for a yield and trophy lake trout, also known as Mackinaw, on Priest Lake. The plan also seeks to restore native fish populations on Upper Priest by using nets annually to remove lake trout.

But managing the two lakes as independent systems has proved neither practical nor feasible in the long term, according to Jim Fredericks, Fish & Game’s Panhandle region fisheries manager.

Moreover, an increasing number of anglers are questioning why, given the progress of the Lake Pend Oreille lake trout suppression effort, Fish & Game doesn’t embark on similar effort in Priest Lake.

Fish & Game is hosting meetings on potential changes to the management plan next month. One is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13, at the Panhandle Health District offices in Sandpoint. The other is set for Thursday, March 15, at the Priest River Senior Center. Both meetings start at 7 p.m.

One potential management plan involves managing Priest and Upper Priest for lake trout and abandoning efforts to maintain cutthroat and bull trout in Upper Priest. An alternative plan could involve a large-scale effort to suppress lake trout and restore native trout and kokanee fisheries.

Fredericks said there is no middle ground or a happy medium between the management approaches. There are costs and benefits associated with either plan.

There are not that many lake trout fisheries in the area, which makes Priest Lake a draw. The Mackinaw fishery is inexpensive to manage and maintain. A suppression effort, meanwhile, would be costly and require a long-term commitment.

However, a large cutthroat/bull trout fisheries are even more unique. Along with kokanee, a restored cutthroat/bull trout fishery would likely generate more angling effort, and ultimately be of greater economic value to the Priest Lake region.

Even managing for a quality lake trout fishery now has its limits, according to Fredericks.

“Lake trout have populated to the point where they’ve outstripped their food supply,” he said.

Lake trout can reach 15 inches fairly quickly on a diet of invertebrates, but with few forage fish to feed on, growth comes to a “screeching halt,” said Fredericks.

Lake trout over 20 inches typically grow only a third- to a half-inch a year, which means that regardless of regulations, the lake trout fishery of the future will primarily be comprised of 14- to 20-inch fish, with few real trophies.

Other topics of discussion include a return to trophy management of rainbow trout and a limited kokanee fishery on Pend Oreille.