Derby Down To Final Days

Ed O’Hara clings to first place in the adult rainbow trout division as the K & K Fall Fishing Derby on Lake Pend Oreille heads into its final four days.

O’Hara, the leader heading into last weekend, held off a pair of strong challenges last weekend with his 21 pound, 4-ounce catch. The Hayden, Idaho, fisherman’s catch was a 35-1/2-inch specimen.

Kurt Artner of Sandpoint has taken over the lead in the mackinaw division. Heather Lemm of Hayden leads the youth A division. Tournament fishing ends at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Entrants must report their new weigh-ins to Hope Marine Service via telephone at (208) 264-5105 or fax (208) 264-5108 or to Levi Hubbard on Kathy Lee II by VHF radio.

Mel Branch of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Roger Exum of Spokane came within a pound of topping O’Hara since Saturday. Branch landed a 20-pound, 11-ounce rainbow that measure 36-1/2 inches. Exum’s catch, 34 inches long, weighed 20 pounds, 2 ounces.

Artner’s first-place mackinaw, caught by the islands near hope, weighed 18 pounds, 9 ounces. The fish was 37-3/4 inches. Jerry Pierce of Sandpoint took over second place with an 18-pound, 2-ouncer that measured 37 inches. Terry Guthrie of Bonners Ferry moved into third with a 13-pound, 9-ounce fish that pushed early lead Fred Yanik into fourth place.

Montana fishing regs

Following are some of the Montana fishing regulations adopted for the 1998-2000 biennium:

Limits in the central and eastern fishing districts will be standardized at five fish daily and 10 in possession for walleye and 10 daily and 10 in possession for northern pike.

The rainbow trout limit on the Missouri River from Holter Dam downstream to the Cascade Bridge has been changed to three fish, with only one in excess of 16 inches in length. The reduced limit was adopted because whirling disease has been discovered along that stretch of the Missouri.

To limit the impact of five new fishing access sites which opened last summer, the daily trout limit on the Ruby River in southwestern Montana will be three fish, with only one more than 15 inches.

Fishing for cutthroat in all of the upper Flathead River system, including Flathead Lake and all tributaries outside wilderness boundaries, will become catch-and-release only. Catch-and-release regulations for cutthroat also were adopted for several tributaries of the Bitterroot River.

, DataTimes