Tribes, state propose lake trout limit increase

HELENA -- A proposed fish limit increase for Flathead Lake would more than double the daily limit on lake trout, allowing anglers to take up to 50 lake trout per day as opposed to the 20 lake trout-per-day current regulation.

Fisheries managers view this limit increase as a way to help manage lake trout, which were introduced into Flathead Lake 101 years ago and prey on native fish.

Officials are trying to bring the lake's fishery back into balance.

According to them, the limit increase would probably not cause a major hike in the number of lake trout removed from Flathead Lake, since few anglers currently take the 20 allowed.

Anglers remove between 40,000 and 50,000 lake trout from Flathead Lake each year, officials said. However, the lake has an estimated 250,000 lake trout of catchable size.

Flathead Lake fish are managed under a 2000 agreement between the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

One of the goals of the cooperative management plan is encouraging bull trout, which are on the federal threatened- species list, and native westslope cutthroat trout, in Flathead Lake. The lake's bull trout population is estimated at4,000 or 5,000 fish, and the number of cutthroat is considered difficult to determine. Research to track the species is planned for the spring.

Lake trout populations are considered a concern elsewhere around the state, but not as serious a concern as Flathead Lake. Here, lake trout numbers exploded and native fish declined dramatically after freshwater shrimp introduced in other Montana waters ended up in Flathead Lake. The shrimp feed the lake trout and compete for the critical zooplankton consumed by native fish.

Public comment on the fishlimit proposal is being accepted through Sept. 15.