Lake hooking higher catch rates

SANDPOINT — Catch rates on Lake Pend Oreille are the highest they’ve been in more than 60 years, according to the Idaho Department of Fish & Game.

The overall catch rate for all fish species combined is 1.2 fish per hour of angling, the highest rate recorded since 1953. The highest rates catch rates were for kokanee, which recently faced extirpation due to predation from rainbow and lake trout. The kokanee catch rate was four fish per hour of angling effort.

The state and anglers pried open the jaws of the predator trap through netting and a harvest incentives largely targeted at lakers.

The catch rates are rooted in a Fish & Game angler survey from March 2014 to February 2015, which estimated that 200,000 hours of angler effort were exerted during that time frame.

Lake trout predation has been the primary factor limiting kokanee recovery for well over a decade, Fish & Game said. Aggressive efforts to remove lake trout involving either the Angler Incentive Program (which gave anglers a $15 bounty for harvesting lakers) and commercial netting equipment have dramatically reduced the size of the lake trout population and allowed a rapid expansion of the kokanee population.

Kokanee not only provide a popular fishery, but also are the primary prey source for trophy species, such as rainbow trout and bull trout.

According to Matt Corsi, principal fishery research biologist, IDFG’s annual surveys indicated that adult kokanee were less abundant in 2015, but that all younger age classes of kokanee were strong. Even with fewer adults in 2015, there were still plenty of fish to provide good kokanee fishing.

The fact that all younger age classes were abundant is encouraging and has two key implications. First, there are many young kokanee to maintain the population in coming years. Second, younger kokanee are major contributors to the diet of rainbow trout and bull trout, indicating that food availability for trophy species is good.

Rainbow trout catch rates were near 0.5 fish per hour, which fishery managers say is a very good for a trophy species that occurs at a lower density.

Warm-water anglers are also getting action without too much toil. The catch rate for warm-water species was two fish per hour of effort, Fish & Game reports.