FTR News

July 26, 2007 - (07/26/2007) - Higher water temperatures cause fish to build up lactic acid. After battling the rod, posing for a picture (sometimes), being released from the hook and swimming away, they die from the strain of it all. Pine Creek really shouldn’t be fished at all, local fly-fishing guide and manager of Driggs’ Orvis shop, Rob Merril said. The upper Teton should be only fished in early mornings and evenings, he added, noting the lower temperatures at that time lend for less stressed fish. He noted Bitch Creek and the Wyoming waterways are still OK. The fishermen and fisherwomen killing the trout are well intentioned, Merril acknowledged, as it should fall under the Idaho Fish and Game department to close certain streams and change regulations to protect the fish. Fly-fishing guide Justin Hays echoed Merril’s sentiment, noting that, while they can’t change the temperatures, they can control practice. “The powers that be are not doing what they could,” he said. The power that be for the Teton River, Fish and Game Regional Fisheries Biologist Jim Fredricks, recognized that handling fish in warmer waters increases chances for mortality but noted that fish feed less in such conditions. “Is it hard on fish to catch and release with high water temperatures? Yes it is, but the opportunity is not very great,” Fredricks said. He noted that the real affect on the fish is from the hot and dry summer. “Closing the fishing season is a real Band-aid,” he said. It doesn’t make the bad effects go away, he noted, adding, “It might make people feel like we’re doing everything we can.” And would Fredricks ever consider upping regulations if the river was flooded with anglers that were catching fish in warm temperatures? “If that was the case, then sure,” he said. While Fredricks said Idaho F&G has not made a practice of closing the season early due to water temperatures, he noted that some states do find it appropriate for their rivers and he does not mean to be critical of their practices. Yellowstone National Park is one such entity that has restricted fishing by closing some stretches of rivers and allowable times. While local regulations still allow for fishing in the noonday heat, Merril said, “People need to police themselves and stay off those tributaries.” With the economic viability of the Teton River from anglers coming to visit (and spend money in) the valley, the water laws are going to have to change. The guides also questioned why the F&G still allow bait and treble hooks, particularly considering the scarce numbers of the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout. The mortality rate of bate-caught fish is 60 to 80 percent, Merril said. Fredricks contested that not all bait fishing is the same. There is a higher mortality rate for slack line (for example where bait on a hook sits on the bottom of a lake), while the tauter line where the bait bounces on the bottom doesn’t result in the fish swallowing the hooks. A number of studies say, Fredricks said, that while treble hooks do have a higher rate of injury to fish they don’t have a higher mortality rate, thus their population is not affected. The fish recover, he added, albeit a bit scarred and disfigured. Fly fishermen who practice catch and release are probably killing more fish than bait catch and releasers by virtue of their numbers, Fredricks said.