Anglers question plans, not need, to save salmon

SANDPOINT – Passionate Lake Pend Oreille anglers and worried state Fish and Game Department officials clashed more than a few times Saturday during a packed-house public meeting to consider the best way to restore legendary fisheries on the 90,000-acre lake.

More than 80 members of the fishing community gathered for four hours in the Sandpoint Community Center, where they criticized perceived problems that ranged from skewed data collection to a gill-netting sampling plan opponents fretted would simply snag the best fish from the lake.

“Once you fish all the big mackinaws out of the lake, what makes you think anglers will want a 20-inch mack?” said Gerald Whitmire of Sandpoint. “We’re going to go all these years without anything to fish for in that dad-gum lake.”

But almost no one disputed the need to act quickly and decisively to prevent the demise of the prized kokanee salmon population, which is on the verge of collapse. Milo Maiolie, a state biologist, said the lake’s current kokanee population has the capacity to replenish itself annually.

“Kokanee in the lake are like a bank account with 100 percent interest. Last year there were 135 tons of kokanee and another 130 tons were produced,” Maiolie told the group.

However, new figures showed that predatory fish – particularly lake trout and rainbow trout, but also bull trout and pike minnows – consumed 169.5 tons of kokanee – creating a 39-ton deficit.

“The bottom line is, this fishery is in crisis,” said Chip Corsi, regional supervisor for the state department. “If we don’t get a handle on this, the kokanee will go away and the anglers will go away. They’ll take their gear and their money, and they’ll go out of state.”

Local anglers must take personal responsibility for reducing the numbers of predatory fish, particularly lake and rainbow trout that feast upon young kokanee, officials urged. It’s a message they’ve been emphasizing since 2000, to little avail.

“What I’m telling you now is that we’re declaring war on both species,” Corsi said. “We’ve got to change people’s minds so that not only is it OK, it’s the right thing to do to kill a rainbow.”

Many of the anglers who sipped coffee and perched on folding chairs seemed willing to enlist in the fight. Before they join up, however, they demanded that officials make sure they’re providing accurate data. And anglers asked that state leaders consider offering financial incentives for help.

“Would you be willing to throw money at it?” asked Kevin Sawyer of Sandpoint. “Let’s just put a bounty on them.”

Anglers such as Dale Hickman of Coeur d’Alene questioned whether claims of an exploding lake trout population were overstated. Ned Horner, regional fisheries manager for the state Fish and Game Department, said samples have showed a 50 percent increase in lake trout between 2003 and 2005. But Hickman and others charged that the figure was artificially inflated because officials placed nets in lake trout spawning beds.

“You skewed your results in 2005,” Hickman said to murmurs of approval from the crowd. “I see apples and oranges.”

Anglers also worried that government officials would renege on current promises. In 2002, a citizens’ group was promised that gill-netting would not be used on Lake Pend Oreille, Sawyer recalled. Now, local officials are planning to use gill-net sampling this spring to verify fish populations.

“That’s a 180-degree turnaround from what I was told four years ago,” Sawyer said. “Can I expect another 180-degree turnaround in 2010?”

Other avid fishermen were skeptical that state officials would take anglers’ views into consideration.

“It’s smoke and mirrors; they’re just going to do what they want to do,” said Paul Carson of Garfield Bay.

Horner disagreed. Anglers of all kinds are stakeholders with vital interests in the future of the Lake Pend Oreille fisheries. Their input is necessary and welcome, but he said the window of time to save the kokanee population has dwindled to about three years.

“Now we’re to the point where we have to say this is what we’re going to do. Now, how are we going to do it?” Horner said. “Obviously, we’re not going to make everybody happy.”

That message was echoed by Tony McDermott, a Sagle real estate developer recently appointed to the state Fish and Game Commission. The very character of the lake that still holds the record for the world’s largest rainbow trout is at stake, he said. Without the kokanee, the lake’s trophy-sized fish, from rainbows to mackinaws – will disappear.

“We’re going to gore everybody’s ox in this room if we’re going to save the kokanee and keep our lake from looking like Flathead Lake or Priest Lake,” McDermott said. “I’d rather fish for suckerfish than catch a 3-pound mack.”

At least a few local anglers were optimistic about the kokanee’s future.

“I think we’re going to turn this kokanee thing around,” said Stuart Blockoff of Hope. “We just need to kill a lot more predators.”