Biologists won’t support Pend Oreille bass limits

SANDPOINT, Idaho – Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists won’t support a proposal to limit the number of bass that can be taken from Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River when the proposal goes before the Idaho Fish and Game Commission in November.

There is no strong consensus among bass anglers, and data also show Pend Oreille bass are far from imperiled.

“All those things indicate it would be premature to change bass regulations right now,” Ned Horner, Fish and Game’s Panhandle fisheries manager, told the Bonner Daily Bee.

The proposal, made by the Sandpoint Outfitters, a group of guides and fishermen, is aimed at increasing the number of large bass in the system by requiring anglers to release all bass from Jan. 1 to June 30, protecting large, spawning bass in the spring. Anglers would be allowed two bass per day, none between 12 and 16 inches, from July 1 to Dec. 31.

The statewide harvest limit for bass is six fish a day, none of which can be less than a foot long.