Landing A Big Mack

Times have changed again at Idaho’s Priest Lake. Anglers who wait until December to repeat the great fishing they had last year could be disappointed.

New regulations were set for the lake this year. The rules are geared partly to stave off federal intervention in protecting threatened bull trout and partly to satisfy fishermen’s fancies.

Catch-and-keep fishing for mackinaw, previously a year-round privilege, closes at the end of November.

Catch-and-release fishing will be permitted through winter, but anglers can’t bring a mack home until the season reopens on the last Saturday in April.

The exception could come from a cold winter that would freeze portions of the lake, since the regulations allow anglers to keep fish caught through a hole in the ice.

“We get a winter that cold about once every three or four years,” said Ned Horner, Idaho Fish and Game Department regional fisheries manager.

Trophy fishers might applaud the new rule. Winter typically causes uniform water temperatures in the lake, allowing the mackinaw to move into shallower water.

The bigger fish are more active in winter because of the shorter days and cooler water, Horner said. That makes them more vulnerable, yet the fish don’t suffer quite as much from the stress of warm surface temperatures or being pulled up from deep in the lake.

Considering these factors, winter may be the best time of year to catch-and-release trophy fish, he said.

Boat anglers who brave cold, foggy late-season mornings should start by using sonar to search the lake’s shallow flats.

Cavanaugh Bay is a good place to fish from shore during winter, and also one of the best spots to look for ice should the weather turn cold.

Meanwhile, the rationale for the new regulations escapes many anglers. Even biologists struggle to explain it.

Earlier this year, the catch limit for macks was reduced by one fish, allowing anglers to keep two a day during the catch-and-keep season. The Fish and Game Department also eliminated the slot limit in which all lake trout 26-32 inches long had to be released.

The changes are geared partly to show the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that Idaho is considering bull trout protection in its fisheries management.

Indeed, Fish and Game Department researchers are gill netting mackinaw out of Upper Priest Lake. Management strategies for the lower lake, however, are still in question.

“The slot limit didn’t appear to be working to provide larger fish,” said Chip Corsi, department biologist. “We’re not sure trophy management is the way to go.

“Reducing the daily catch limit by a third, we should maintain the steady fishery that most anglers seem to prefer for trout in the 20 inch range.

“At the same time, we can reduce the larger mackinaw that may be more efficient predators on threatened bull trout.”

Concern over bull trout is changing the style of the handful of guides who work Priest Lake.

“Certainly it’s ending our opportunity to have a good quality fishing trip to Upper Priest,” said Gary Brookshire of Priest Lake Guide Service.

“As long as Fish and Game keeps its efforts on the upper lake and doesn’t try to force the issue on lower lake, our business won’t change too much.”

“But if they extend the assault on mackinaw to the lower lake, I’m toast.”

Brookshire said people on his boat land about 2,000 fish a year. “The loss of the slot limit is going to hurt us bad,” he said. “The average fish before 1992 was about 21 inches. With the slot limit, the average fish size grew to about 25 inches.”

Pat Prentice of Priest Lake Outdoor Adventures also believes the slot limit was working to provide more fish longer than 25 inches.

“The best eating mackinaw are in the 22-24 inch range, but a lot of people want to catch trophy fish in the 20 pound range,” he said. “With a slot limit, we could have both.”

Brookshire and Prentice both agreed that Fish and Game Department biologists seem to be working hard to walk the tightrope between satisfying local anglers and federal intervention to protect bull trout.

The guides, however, are feeling the pain in their pocketbooks.

“Losing the catch-and-keep season in the spring is a big loss for us,” Brookshire said. “If it’s a cold winter, the ice fishery will take way more fish than we will.”

“There’s so many other things going on in the fall, such as hunting season, few people are thinking about going fishing on Priest Lake,” Prentice said.

“The story is different in late March and April. Very little is going on and people are chomping at the bit to go fishing. But they won’t be able to come here and keep a fish.”

A few years of fishing without the slot limit likely will drive the average fish down to the 17-20 inch range, Prentice said.

“It’s not as much fun to catch fish that size when you’re hauling them up from 200 feet,” he said.

Prentice has helped Fish and Game researchers take lake trout stomach samples. “Little lake trout make up 90 percent of the contents in a big lake trout’s stomach,” he said. “They might actually be keeping themselves in check.

“But if you remove all the big mackinaw, you might end up with a lot of smaller mouths out there gobbling up bull trout.”

The guides say they speak for hundreds of anglers who prefer to pay a few hundred dollars for a day of fishing rather than invest tens of thousands of dollars in a good boat and state-of-the-art electronics.

“Mackinaw are the only fish of any numbers left in the lake,” Prentice said. “They’re my bread and butter.”