Rich Landers: Cooling trend leads to fewer restrictions

Although campers must do without campfires throughout much of the region, the lives of trout anglers are edging back toward normal this week as cool nights have begun to break the summer-long heat wave.

Stream closures and mid day vinyl hatches of recreational floaters were reaching the breaking point of angler tolerance during the past six weeks. Even devout trout-fishing snobs were taking out their frustrations on the carp at Sprague Lake.

Carp can take it, but trout become stressed and succumb to exertion when water temperatures soar much above 70 degrees. Stream temps above 73 degrees triggered fishing restrictions in many of Montana’s signature trout streams to protect one of the state’s most valuable resources.

Beginning Saturday, however, Montana is scheduled to lift the “hoot owl” fishing restrictions on the Bitterroot and Clark Fork Rivers. Noting that river temperatures had not exceeded 70 degrees for three consecutive days, the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department made the announcement Wednesday.

Brooks Sanford of Clark Fork Trout & Tackle in St. Regis saw the change coming as early as last weekend as he met clients at 5:30 a.m. to get in a day of guiding before the Clark Fork closed to fishing each day from 2 p.m. to midnight.

The nighttime chill spread throughout the region. Boundary Dam in Pend Oreille County, for example, recorded 37 degrees Monday morning, the lowest air temperature for that date since record keeping began in 1965.

On the Clark Fork, the good early morning action had begun to give way to better mid-day dry fly action when, as Sanford put it, “we basically went from the dog days of summer to fall in just a few days.”

The best fishing starting next week and continuing through October is likely to be in the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. period, he said. Starting Saturday, travel to the Clark Fork equipped with hoppers, golden stones, Chernobyl Ants and Turk’s Tarantulas and be especially keen on flies as they drift through riffles.

Anglers understand: “We get an amazing amount of public support for putting on restrictions as needed to protect the fish,” said Pat Saffel, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department regional biologist in Missoula. “Even without fishing, we were literally seeing fish belly up and float down the rivers in some areas this summer.”

Dryness persists: Despite the evening cooling trend, the landscape continues to be tinder dry.

Citing extreme fire conditions, a complete campfire ban was imposed Wednesday on the Umatilla National Forest and in other state and federal lands in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington.

The Colville National Forest and all state and federal land managers on the Idaho Panhandle and most of Montana banned campfires throughout those regions on Aug. 3, as well as prohibiting all off-road motorized travel and banning smoking outside of buildings or vehicles.

A few areas, such as the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests, are still allowing fires to be built in designated fire pits at developed campgrounds.

Low water persists: While some Montana rivers are cooling down, others are running too low to be healthy for trout at any temperature.

The entire main stem of the Blackfoot River from the headwaters near Rogers Pass to the confluence with the Clark Fork remains closed to fishing from 2 p.m. until midnight. Its tributaries are closed entirely to reduce stress in bull trout spawning areas.

Rock Creek is closed to fishing 24 hours a day from the Skalkaho Highway Bridge to the confluence with the Clark Fork near Clinton, primarily because of forest firefighting operations.

Starting tonight, the entire Big Hole and Jefferson rivers will join the Thompson River in complete fishing closures.

Fish in high places: Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) recently introduced a bill to protect the practice of stocking trout in North Cascades alpine lakes.

Without such explicit direction from Congress, North Cascades National Park managers might be obliged to stop fish stocking, which goes against the grain of Park Service mandates to maintain natural ecosystems.

Hastings says his bill applies to the 91 lakes that have long been stocked with fish located on Park Service lands in the North Cascades, including Ross Lake and Lake Chelan national recreation areas.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife supports the bill, he said, and so do the volunteers who have been doing the work of releasing fish in the lakes to provide additional recreation.

A 12-year Oregon State University study indicates that low density fish stocking is not seriously detrimental to the ecosystem, he said.

Co-sponsors include Washington Democrats Rick Larsen and Norm Dicks and Republican Cathy McMorris.

Parks going dry: Water shortages in the San Juan Islands are forcing the shut down of water systems at many of Washington’s marine parks.

BYOW if you sail into Stuart and Sucia islands. Several other areas are running low, but the area’s micro-brew sales continue to run high.