Walleye netting aims to protect lake’s world class fisheries

Fish & Game pilot suppression program enters third year

SANDPOINT — Walleye gillnetting is slated to get underway this month in order to protect the Lake Pend Oreille’s ecosystem and its multi-million dollar recreational fishery.

The Idaho Department of Fish & Game said netting operations will run for three weeks, from April 13 to May 1. Crews will target spawning walleye in the shallow sections at the north end of the lake.

Netting sites include portions of the Clark Fork Delta near Sheepherder Point, the Pack River Delta and Sunnyside areas, Oden Bay and Kootenai Point, according to Fish & Game.

Boaters are being advised to keep an eye out for large, flagged buoys to avoid tangling with the nets, which can be up to two miles long and are set for four to five hours early in the morning. Nets are set deeply enough to affect boating, although Fish & Game is warning anglers that they could tangle their fishing gear up if they come too close.

Tampering with nets is both dangerous and illegal, according to Fish & Game.

In 2018, Fish & Game convened a panel of walleye experts from across the U.S. and Canada to determine the extent of the threat walleye post to the lake’s fisheries.

“It became very clear that we needed to start testing suppression tools right away. We know from our experience with lake trout that this remarkable fishery can’t support another top-level predator that is left unchecked,” said Matt Corsi, Fish & Game’s principal fisheries research biologist.

Biologists are concerned that if the population goes unchecked, walleye numbers will continue to increase to the point of collapsing the keystone kokanee population and hurting growth rates of trophy fish such as rainbow trout, bull trout and smallmouth bass.

The spiny, non-native fish were illegally introduced in Montana’s Noxon Reservoir in the 1990s and have expanded downstream. They have no natural predators.

Studies indicate Pend Oreille walleye feed primarily on kokanee in the deeper parts of the lake and yellow perch in the shallower areas. Their population has been growing exponentially since 2014, Fish & Game said.

The state is seeking ways to keep walleye at a low enough density that they do not jeopardize the world-class fishery in Lake Pend Oreille. Managers are using lessons learned from Fish & Game’s lake trout suppression program. Lake trout, also known as Mackinaw, are similar to walleye in that they are a non-native top predator and popular sport fish from the Midwest.

Lakers nearly collapsed the kokanee population, which bottomed out in 2007.

A financial incentive for harvesting lake trout was offered to anglers and gillnetting of Mackinaw began in 2006. Kokanee stocks rebounded, which in turn fed everything from trophy-sized rainbows, native bull and westslope cutthroat trout and bald eagles, Fish & Game said.

Fish & Game said the netting of walleye will not eliminate the species from the lake and they are here to stay.

A total of 1,233 walleye were caught and removed in the first year of gillnetting. In 2019, the program was repeated.

“While the number of walleye removed is substantial, it isn’t yet clear if the effort is enough to slow or halt the expansion of the population” said Corsi.

To date, more than 5,000 pounds of walleye have been donated to the Bonner Community and ABC food banks.

“We’ll learn more about the change in walleye population in the fall, when we complete our fall walleye index survey,” said Regional Fishery Biologist Rob Ryan.