04-15-2011, 10:23 PM
I thought I would give this part of Fish and Game's presentation a section of its own.
They have had some great success in this area and I think it really deserves recognition from all of us.
In the past - 1970-1980 etc, Blackfoot Reservoir was one of our premier fisheries, and the fish in the upper river were numerous and large. Many factors contributed to the collapse of the fishery, and F&G have been working really hard for a lot of years to bring this area back. I think they are getting very close to seeing a recovery.
Many studies have been done and a lot of stream restoration work, but what it boiled down to was the remaining huge problem with the pelicans nesting on two of the islands in the reservoir. They are optimistic that they are now getting a handle on this issue.
In poor water years when the river was clear and shallow in the spring the pelicans would get as much as 70% of the fish swimming up the river and even an additional 70% of the juvenile fish swimming down to the reservoir. Spawning fish numbers plunged from in the thousands to less than a hundred. Pictures show the river absolutely solid with pelicans from one side to the other over huge stretches.
The two islands in question have no predators on them and the pelican population rose to around 3,000. If I remember right each of those birds will eat about 8 to 9 lbs of fish every day. F&G tried to introduce predators back on the islands, but they didn't stay. What did work was putting in snow fencing over areas of the islands. Where the fencing was the pelicans couldn't nest because they need a long flight path and run to fly. More fencing will be put in this year and we should see a corresponding drop in the pelican population in this area. They intend to get the nests completely off of these islands.
Also F&G switched to fall planting of rainbows in the reservoir. Now fish in the reservoir are getting more numerous and larger. Netting surveys are showing large numbers of very nice sized rainbows besides some of the cutts.
Blackfoot reservoir is huge and can handle a lot of fishing pressure, so I really have no qualms about saying the reports are getting good and lets go fishing!!!!
[signature]
They have had some great success in this area and I think it really deserves recognition from all of us.
In the past - 1970-1980 etc, Blackfoot Reservoir was one of our premier fisheries, and the fish in the upper river were numerous and large. Many factors contributed to the collapse of the fishery, and F&G have been working really hard for a lot of years to bring this area back. I think they are getting very close to seeing a recovery.
Many studies have been done and a lot of stream restoration work, but what it boiled down to was the remaining huge problem with the pelicans nesting on two of the islands in the reservoir. They are optimistic that they are now getting a handle on this issue.
In poor water years when the river was clear and shallow in the spring the pelicans would get as much as 70% of the fish swimming up the river and even an additional 70% of the juvenile fish swimming down to the reservoir. Spawning fish numbers plunged from in the thousands to less than a hundred. Pictures show the river absolutely solid with pelicans from one side to the other over huge stretches.
The two islands in question have no predators on them and the pelican population rose to around 3,000. If I remember right each of those birds will eat about 8 to 9 lbs of fish every day. F&G tried to introduce predators back on the islands, but they didn't stay. What did work was putting in snow fencing over areas of the islands. Where the fencing was the pelicans couldn't nest because they need a long flight path and run to fly. More fencing will be put in this year and we should see a corresponding drop in the pelican population in this area. They intend to get the nests completely off of these islands.
Also F&G switched to fall planting of rainbows in the reservoir. Now fish in the reservoir are getting more numerous and larger. Netting surveys are showing large numbers of very nice sized rainbows besides some of the cutts.
Blackfoot reservoir is huge and can handle a lot of fishing pressure, so I really have no qualms about saying the reports are getting good and lets go fishing!!!!
[signature]