The other group generally prefers the current abundance of delicious shrimp-fed mackinaw averaging 15-25 inches long, and maybe a shot at catching a trophy mack.

After years of research and discussion, Idaho Fish and Game Department fish managers are asking anglers to guide them on a management direction that will make a majority of anglers happy.

“It gets controversial as hell, but there’s a lot of ways to look at it,” said Delbert Jepson, who’s fished North Idaho lakes for 54 years.

Jepson is among a dozen diverse members of the Priest Lake Fishery Advisory Committee, which has been hashing over the fisheries research since 2013 in order to come up with three alternatives for future management.

Most anglers fishing Priest Lake are after mackinaw, also known as lake trout, because that’s currently the most abundant fishery. But Jepson and other anglers recall the heydays of kokanee fishing and the flocks of anglers bent on catching them. Full story. Rich Landers/SR

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