Field reports: Washington dumping steelhead into lakes

FISHING – About 340,000 steelhead raised at hatcheries to be released in Puget Sound streams will instead be stocked in Western Washington trout lakes this month.

A lawsuit filed by wild steelhead advocates prevented Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife managers from releasing young ocean-going rainbows this spring in most streams where they’ve been released for years.

Rather than waste the fish, they were kept at the hatcheries and raised to catchable sizes of 11-13 inches, said Chris Donley, state inland fish manager.

The fish are being stocked into 47 West Side lakes, including 19 lakes where the catch limit will be increased from five to 10 trout. 

The number of fish being stocked in the lakes is four times greater than last fall, Donley said, noting that fishing through the holidays should be excellent.

Sprague Lake is the only Eastern Washington lake to get a boost from surplus steelhead.

To relieve pressure on hatcheries this spring, about 370,000 small steelhead were stocked in Sprague. Those that weren’t consumed by bass and channel catfish have grown to 13 inches or longer, he said.

See online details on where the fall fish are being stocked, wdfw.wa.gov”>href=”http://wdfw.wa.gov/.%20%20”>wdfw.wa.gov.

North Idaho wolf makes way to Utah

WILDLIFE – A gray wolf that had been radio collared in North Idaho has hoofed it to a new home 850 miles south into Utah.

The 4-year-old male has been verified on the south slope of the Uinta Mountains by Utah’s Division of Natural Resources biologists.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the wolf is wearing a radio collar, which is losing its battery power, with a frequency indicating it’s from the Boundary Pack that roams North Idaho near the U.S.-Canada border.

Idaho Fish and Game Department wolf researchers weren’t immediately available for comment.

Tribune reporter Brett Prettyman said, “The Utah game mammals coordinator told me she has left a couple of messages with Idaho over the last three weeks with no response other than the initial call when the only thing the guy said was, “Do you want some more?”

Recreation sites closing for season

PARKS – Mount Spokane State Park’s Summit Road, with vehicle access to the upper trailheads and the Vista House, is set to be gated for the season this evening.

• Blackwell Island boat launch on Lake Coeur d’Alene will close for the season at 11 a.m. on Monday.

Nine Mile Reservoir drawdown increasing

BOATING – Generator updating at Nine Mile Dam on the Spokane River will require a further drawdown of Nine Mile Reservoir starting Monday, Avista officials say.

The reservoir already has been lowered 3 feet since mid-August for the project to replace the original 1906 turbine generating units.

The reservoir must be lowered an additional 3 feet over two days for a total of 6 feet, officials said.

The drawdown does not affect downstream water levels.