Brookies Must Go

Fishing

The Idaho Fish and Game Department and Panhandle National Forests are considering a plan to cast a “Dupont spinner” into Porcupine Lake.

In order to restore habitat for endangered native bull trout in the Lightning Creek drainage, the agencies would like to eliminate the brook trout in the lake that’s five miles north of Clark Fork.

Detonating dynamite under the ice this winter is thought to be a cheap and effective method, said Jim Fredericks, Idaho Fish and Game Department biologist. Brook trout, a non-native species, compete with bull trout.

The 13-acre lake, which has a campground, offers decent fishing for 9- to 10-inch self-sustaining brook trout plus 300-1,000 stocked rainbows a year. The loss of brook trout could easily be compensated by increasing the hatchery plants, Fredericks said.

Other options include introducing tiger muskies to the lake. The tiger muskies would prey on the brook trout and perhaps eliminate them, he said. Anglers would find the lake short on trout for a period, and, of course, they wouldn’t be able to keep the tiger muskies until their job was done.

If the brookies were eliminated, the fishery could be opened to tiger muskies, which likely would be fished out quickly in the small lake. Hatchery stocking would be resumed at that point.

The public is asked to comment on the proposals before July 31 by writing the Bonners Ferry Ranger District, Attn: Brett Roper, Route 4, Box 4860, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805.