Drought was back in the picture on the Bighorn River in 2006. After being at or below the absolute minimum flow of 1,500 cfs for over 3.5 years, the Bighorn River flows were increased to the preferred minimum flow of 2,500 cfs in the spring of 2005. River flows remained at or above this level for the rest of 2005, and looked good going into 2006. At the annual March spring meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), Wyoming Game and Fish, and other parties interested in water management on the Bighorn River and Bighorn Lake, forecasts looked great. Snow pack was around 80% and the Bighorn Lake water level was 30 feet higher than it had been at the same time in 2005. In 2005, the reservoir had filled while 2,500 cfs or higher was released down the Bighorn River. The “most probable forecast” from the BOR was to fill the reservoir while keeping flows in the river at or above 2,500 cfs again in 2006. Shortly after this meeting, drought returned to the Bighorn Drainage with a vengeance. Spring precipitation was almost totally nonexistent in the Bighorn Drainage in 2006, and reservoir levels started to drop. River flows were reduced to 2,000 cfs at the end of June and back down to 1,500 cfs on July 14th. Flows are forecast to remain at 1,500 cfs at least until runoff begins next spring.
Despite this disappointing flow picture, anglers fishing the Bighorn River found some great fishing this year. The one-year of good flows experienced in 2005 occurred at just the right time to take advantage of some very strong year classes of younger rainbow and brown trout. Anglers hitting the Bighorn early in the spring reported some of the best fishing they had seen in a number of years, with much better catch rates than in the past several years.
Population estimates conducted on the upper river in June found brown trout numbers down some from 2005, but rainbow numbers were way up. There were many 13 to 18 inch rainbow and brown trout, which accounted for most of the anger success, and anglers also continued to report catching larger trout. Preliminary estimates indicated there were almost twice as many rainbows as brown trout in the upper river. Although trout numbers were still well below the long-term average, angler success and satisfaction remained high through the season.
With river flows dropping back down to 1,500 cfs, and good numbers of larger trout present in the Bighorn, the river fishery could be starting back in the same cycle experienced at the start of the drought in 2000 and 2001. Fall electrofishing near Mallards Landing FAS in late September captured low numbers of young-of-the-year rainbow and brown trout. It appeared that many of the small trout that hatched in the spring may have already become food for the larger trout in the river. Unless flows are increased back above the minimum flow of 1,500 cfs, total trout numbers in the Bighorn River will probably be down again next spring, with few small and medium sized trout, and improved growth and condition for the remaining larger trout.
A new player has emerged in the water scene on the Bighorn River. A group in Lovell, WY has organized with the expressed interest of improving lake levels in Bighorn Lake to increase recreational opportunities at Horseshoe Bend on the WY end of the lake. Despite the fact that we are in the middle of the most extensive drought since Yellowtail Dam was completed, and that over 22 feet of sediment has been deposited at Horseshoe Bend since the reservoir was formed, this group would like to sacrifice the fishery in the Bighorn River in hopes of increasing recreational use at Horseshoe Bend. Support from Bighorn River anglers could become very important as this water battle develops.
We initiated a Yellowstone cutthroat restoration project in Four Mile Creek in the Boulder River Drainage. Meatrack Creek, a tributary to Four Mile Creek, harbors an excellent population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout, while Four Mile Creek is populated by rainbow trout. Until recently, rainbow trout were not found in Meatrack Creek, but in the last 2-3 years rainbow trout have begun to show up in the population and hybridize with the cutthroats. In 2006, we began to eradicate the rainbow trout from the Four Mile Creek drainage and replace them with Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Work in 2006 was focused on the 2 small lakes (Silver and Prospect) located at the headwaters of Four Mile Creek. To reduce impacts to the wilderness area, we are attempting to use mechanical means to remove fish. We intensively netted and electrofished spawning areas in the lakes to remove rainbow trout and netted the lakes continuously during the summer. To date, we have removed over 500 rainbow trout from each lake. As the work proceeds, plans are being developed to chemically remove the rainbows from Four Mile Creek and potentially construct a barrier near the confluence with the Boulder River. This project will ultimately secure 6 miles of habitat in Meatrack Creek from the threat of hybridization and add 9 miles of cutthroat habitat in Four Mile Creek.
Whirling disease testing was expanded in the Boulder River system during the fall of 2005. Juvenile rainbow trout, which are most susceptible to the disease, were placed in cages at three locations in the river: near the mouth at Big Timber, at Beaver Meadows and upstream of the Natural Bridge on the Boulder River Ranch. The reason for the expanded testing was to determine whether the disease is spreading from the Yellowstone River at Big Timber, which has recently tested positive. The Boulder River is one of the most important spawning tributaries to the mid-Yellowstone River. The interchange of fish between the Yellowstone and Boulder rivers, and the importance of the Boulder as a spawning and rearing site, make the latter particularly vulnerable to being infected by whirling disease. Despite this vulnerability, no whirling disease was detected at any of the three sites sampled. This is good news for the Boulder and the Yellowstone rivers. It means that, at least for now, the Boulder will continue to support strong runs of rainbow trout from the Yellowstone. Monitoring for the disease will continue.
Our spring population estimate for the Stillwater River near Moraine Fishing Access Site (FAS) suggests that the fish population is down somewhat from the estimate made 2 years ago, but still is in excellent shape. The estimate suggested that there are 4,400 fish per mile in the river at this location with an approximate 70:30 mix of rainbows to browns. Fish from the Yellowstone River use the Stillwater in the area of the Moraine FAS as a spawning ground. Therefore, the numbers of juvenile fish in this population monitoring section is often high, and the site serves as a good indicator of recruitment of juvenile fish for the rest of the Stillwater and the Yellowstone River. Juvenile fish densities were high in 2006 for both brown and rainbow trout, which bodes well for fishing in the future. Whirling disease testing in this vicinity was also negative.
The Derby fire, the largest wildfire in Montana during 2006 and one of the largest in the nation, burned much of the Bad Canyon Creek drainage. A multi-year Yellowstone cutthroat restoration project was completed in the creek 3 years ago, and the fish have been thriving since. The fire burned hot enough in one area to heat the water and kill the fish. The rest of the creek and riparian area, however, faired much better. Despite extremely low flows, most of the fish survived the fire. The Forest Service performed emergency remediation actions to protect the stream from potential future erosion. The prognosis for Bad Canyon Creek is better than some other areas of the fire because, for the most part, the intensity of the fire was less than in other areas. There is the potential, however, for substantial erosion and ash to affect the water quality and habitat in the creek. The rate of re-establishment of vegetation and the intensity of rainfall in 2007 will greatly affect whether severe impacts to the fishery will be realized in Bad Canyon Creek.
Electrofishing surveys we conducted in Rock Creek north of Red Lodge indicate that the population has declined somewhat from its all-time high observed in 2004. Although the fish population has declined, it is still greater than the long-term average. Rock Creek provides excellent fishing for brown and rainbow trout. The fish range in size from around 8-16 inches. Brown trout comprise approximately 75% of the trout population; rainbow trout, the other 25%. The occasional brook trout and mountain whitefish can also be caught. With brook and brown trout present, there is also the possibility of catching one of the rare, seldom-caught tiger trout, a cross between a brown and brook trout. A tiger trout can be recognized by the very distinct, worm-like pattern covering the sides of the fish. Normally this worm like pattern is found only on the dorsal side of an unhybridized brook trout. Another distinguishing characteristic of tiger trout is the lack of spots on the sides of the fish. Tiger trout are not capable of reproduction, but are known for fast growth. Rock Creek near Red Lodge is the only place that we have locally observed tiger trout in the wild.
We electrofished two sections of the Yellowstone River in 2006. We completed an abbreviated section of our normal population monitoring reach at Big Timber. Although we sampled less than 1/3 of the normal length of the river, we captured more rainbow trout than ever before within the entire reach. Most of the increases were for fish between 8 and 12 inches. In the 1.5-mile section that we sampled at Columbus, we captured 1,931 rainbow trout. We haven’t yet calculated population estimates for these two sections, but it is clear from this spring’s sampling that the rainbow trout in the river are much greater than in the recent past. As part of our population sampling we have also been tagging all trout and ling over 12 inches long; to date we have tagged more than 1,300 fish. Anglers catching the fish and turning in the tag number, size and location it was caught have been providing very valuable information about fish movements and growth. One good example of this was a very large brown trout tagged near Big Timber in 2004. The fish was originally tagged on October 26, 2004 and was over 25 inches long. The fish was caught and released in the exact same location in August of the following year by an angler. One month later an angler caught the same fish near Loch Leven FAS in the Paradise Valley, nearly 40 miles upstream. This was a fish of a lifetime for both anglers, and the information they provided to us is invaluable.
Yellowstone cutthroat trout restoration continued in 2006 in Soda Butte Creek near Cooke City. The chemical removal of brook trout that took place in 2004 in the headwaters appears to have been successful. Because of the healthy population of cutthroat in the lower creek, electrofishing is being used to selectively remove the brook trout and release the cutthroat back to the creek. During 2006, 225 brook trout were removed, which is substantially less than the year before when 667 brook trout were captured. Of significance, though, was the decrease in the number of age-0 fish captured. The number of this age class of fish has dropped precipitously since the inception of the project. In 2004, 103 age-0 fish were captured, and in 2005, 60 were captured, but in 2006 only 6 were caught. This decrease is encouraging because it means that very little spawning is now occurring. If adult brook trout can be removed before spawning, then it may be possible to completely remove them from the creek. Electrofishing removal will be evaluated each year, and efforts will likely continue for an additional 2 or 3 years.
Other creeks significantly impacted by the Derby Fire included Trout Creek, Bridger Creek, and Upper and Lower Deer creeks. Some of the most severely burned areas of the Derby Fire were in the Upper and Lower Deer creek drainages, which contain native Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations. The steep topography and the charred ground made the potential for significant erosion and ash entering the creeks very high. Working cooperatively with the US Forest Service, we developed a plan to salvage as many cutthroats as possible from the creeks and relocate them to unburned streams. We identified three streams west of Red Lodge as potential recipient streams because: they contained healthy trout populations, there were no rainbow trout present, and the habitat was in good shape. We began electrofishing in early November to move brown and brook trout from the recipient streams to areas farther downstream. Shortly thereafter, we captured and transported cutthroats from Lower and Upper Deer creeks to their new homes. We moved 518 cutthroats from Lower Deer Creek and only 28 from Upper Deer Creek. We anticipate moving fish back to the Deer creeks when the habitat conditions stabilize, which could take several years.
Smallmouth bass have increased dramatically in the Yellowstone River in response to the lower, more consistent flows associated with the ongoing drought. The smallmouth fishery started off early this spring in the river downstream from Huntley Dam and remained good throughout the summer. Anglers reported catching bass up to about 3 pounds, with many in the 1 to 2 pound range.
A native fish study that was originally started on the lower Yellowstone River in Region 7 was expanded into Region 5 this spring. A crew spent the spring and summer on the Yellowstone between Park City and the mouth of the Bighorn River using trap nets, drift nets and electrofishing to capture and put radio transmitters into burbot, channel catfish and sauger. They also trapped and installed transmitters on soft-shell turtles along this section of river. Initial tracking data provided some interesting movement information for both fish and turtles. Plans are to continue this study for at least two more years and extend it up into the Bighorn River. Crews will be out on the river as early this spring as the ice allows, setting traps for burbot. Anglers are asked to report any tagged fish they catch in the Yellowstone, as these data are important to the success of this study. Also anglers are asked to consider releasing any fish they catch that has a thin wire radio antenna extending from within the body cavity. It can take a lot of effort to purchase, implant, and track these radios out, and we hope to get as much data as possible from each fish. Some of these transmitters have a four-year battery life.
Despite ongoing drought conditions in the Musselshell Drainage, flows held up fairly well in the Musselshell River in 2005 and 2006. Martinsdale Reservoir in Region 4 was mostly drained this past summer so work could be completed on the dam and outlet structure. This drawdown helped maintain flows in the lower Musselshell River all summer. The standard trout sampling section on the Musselshell River near Selkirk FAS above Two-Dot was not sampled this year, but the brown trout population in this section of river should be doing well with the improved flows. The only fish sampling completed on the Musselshell in Region 5 this year was seining and electrofishing at 12 sites along the river between Selkirk FAS and the Highway 12 Bridge downstream from the Town of Melstone. These were standardized sites sampled in the past to monitor population trends for native minnows and suckers in the drainage. The 2006 sampling captured 19 species of fish, including 15 native and 4 introduced species. The only game species collected were 3 brown trout at the uppermost site near Selkirk FAS, and 30 smallmouth bass captured at several locations from Lavina downstream. Neither of these species is native to Montana. Channel catfish are the main native game species found in this section of the Musselshell, but no catfish were captured during this sampling. The sampling crew also documented concentrations of soft-shell turtles at several sites along the Musselshell, and attached radio transmitters to four turtles so movement patterns could be monitored in the future.
Lack of water has been the big issue impacting the Bighorn Lake fishery the past several years. The spring of 2005 was the first time Bighorn Lake filled since 1999. Despite minimum releases into the Bighorn River, the reservoir set new record lows each year between 2000 and 2003, ending up 67 feet below full pool in the spring of 2003. Lake levels started to recover in 2004, and finally reached full pool in June of 2005. Levels remained up through the recreational season in 2005, and looked good coming into the 2006 season. At the end of March 2006, the lake was 30 feet higher than at the same time in 2005. With the existing snow pack, it looked like, with even conservative spring precipitation, the lake would fill again in 2006. Then the precipitation stopped. Bighorn Lake rose to within 25 feet of full pool in mid-June then started to drop. Reducing discharges into the Bighorn River to the absolute minimum flow of 1,500 cfs helped keep Bighorn Lake levels from dropping below an elevation of 3598 feet. This elevation was 42 feet below full pool, but still 18 feet above the bottom of the boat ramps at Ok-A-Beh and Barry’s Landing, so the lake remained open to recreational users.
Angler success was mixed for Bighorn Lake in 2006. Anglers started catching some real nice perch from Bighorn Lake in the fall of 2005, and these larger perch provided some good fishing this past spring. Anglers also found some nice crappie and channel catfish in the spring. (Catfish seem to have done fairly well in Bighorn Lake throughout the drought.) As soon as the water started to warm, the smallmouth bass fishery kicked off. Bass fishing remained excellent throughout the summer. A few nice walleyes were caught in the spring, but walleye fishing remained slow throughout the season.
Two nights of spring electrofishing near Ok-A-Beh only produced 11 walleyes. The largest was a 28.6-inch female full of eggs that weighed 10.8 pounds. Electrofishing did catch a large number of smallmouth bass that ranged from 2.9 to 15.8 inches long, the largest weighing 2.18 pounds. A majority of these bass were in the 11 to 12 inch range. Six gill net sets in the lower end of the reservoir in the spring captured 13 walleyes ranging from 7.7 to 18.9 inches. Most of these fish were 14 inches and longer. This net series also caught an 8.1 pound channel catfish. Six nets set in the spring in mid-reservoir around Barry’s Landing only caught one walleye, but they captured 37 sauger from 6.4 to 9.9 inches, and 38 channel catfish from 8.2 to 18.8 inches long. These data indicated that both these native species were doing well in Bighorn Lake despite ongoing drought conditions. Both spring net series captured quite a few nice perch.
Fall netting in the lower end of the lake caught 13 walleyes in six nets, with the largest being 20 inches long. This same net series captured 11 sauger, most between 11 and 14 inches, but including one 19.3-inch fish. Sauger are usually quite rare in the lower end of the reservoir, so this catch provided more evidence that they are doing well in the reservoir. Fall nets set near Barry’s Landing in late November produced the best sauger catch since FWP started netting Bighorn Lake in 1977. Six gill nets caught 103 sauger ranging from 10.1 to 20.6 inches. Most sauger were between 11 and 14 inches long, but there were some small fish and four sauger over 18 inches. This same net series captured 9 walleyes between 15.4 and 24.5 inches long, the largest weighing 6.40 pounds. Most of these sauger and walleyes were in good condition with lots of body fat. Anglers fishing Bighorn Lake in the fall reported catching a few nice walleyes and many smaller sauger.
Seven channel catfish were netted in the lower reservoir in the fall, while the nets set near Barry’s Landing captured 13 catfish. These catfish ranged from 8.8 to 31.8 inches, with 5 of them weighing over 11 pounds. Bighorn Lake is definitely a place to try if an angler is hoping to hook onto a trophy-sized channel catfish.
Montana has normally stocked 4 million walleye fry and 200,000 fingerlings each year into Bighorn Lake. This stocking rate was maintained throughout the current drought. There has been concern that many of these planted walleyes are just serving as forage for the burgeoning smallmouth bass population in the lake. While fishing Bighorn Lake the day after walleye fingerlings were stocked this spring, one angler showed that smallmouth bass are not the only concern. He hooked a brown trout just over 18 inches long, and said he could see it spitting out small fish as he fought it. When he landed this fish and checked its stomach, it still had 53 walleyes in its gut. This fish obviously found a school of stocked walleyes, and was having a great time. In an attempt to overcome some of this predation, we increased the walleye fingerling plant in 2006 to 500,000 fish, and plan to continue this higher stocking rate in the future.
Wyoming Game and Fish is concerned with the potential of walleyes in Bighorn Lake to hybridize with their genetically pure sauger population. Montana is currently working to develop a source of sterile walleyes for stocking into the lake to help reduce these concerns.
The ongoing drought dramatically affected Cooney Reservoir during the summer of 2006. The reservoir was lower than it has been since it was last drained for work on the dam. The water was hundreds of feet from the ends of the boat ramps, and the Red Lodge Creek and Willow Creek arms of the lake were dry. Launching boats was nearly impossible from the middle of August to the end of October, unless done by hand. A few brave souls who attempted to launch boats became stuck in the mud. Despite very low reservoir levels, rainbow trout survival was much greater this year than in the past 3 years. In 2002, the number of rainbow trout gillnetted in the fall declined dramatically, and this trend continued through 2005, when 200,000 rainbows were stocked and only two rainbows were captured the following fall. This decline led to a change in management for rainbow trout; instead of 200,000 5-inch rainbows, 25,000 8-inch rainbows were stocked. This strategy appears to have increased survival, because fall gillnetting yielded 28 rainbow trout. Although slightly smaller than years past, the presence of more rainbow trout should bode well for ice fishing this winter.
The improved survival resulting from stocking larger rainbow trout suggested that, as we had previously suspected, walleyes were having a large impact on rainbow trout survival. The walleyes were initially stocked into the reservoir in the early 1980’s to help control the sucker population. They have done an excellent job at limiting sucker numbers and providing good and, at times, a trophy fishery for walleyes. Cooney Reservoir for more than 15 years provided an excellent two-story fishery with plentiful, fast-growing rainbows and good numbers of walleyes. This balance between rainbows and walleyes began to break down 4 years ago, and rainbow trout survival dramatically declined. Concurrent with the reduced rainbow survival, walleye growth, particularly the growth of fish larger than 24 inches, was substantially reduced, and some fish lost weight. Walleyes smaller than 24 inches are still growing, but there seems to be a critical size at which growth slows dramatically, indicating that the walleye population has outgrown its food source. Crayfish are now the primary food source for walleyes in the reservoir. The smaller walleyes can grow on the crustacean food source, but the larger fish must have a forage fish to prey upon to continue to grow. The primary food for the walleyes in the past has been juvenile suckers. While there are still many adult suckers larger than 14 inches available, small suckers have been practically nonexistent in the reservoir. Walleye stocking rates were cut in half in 2002, but since that time we have noted no decrease in smaller walleyes. We suspect that natural reproduction, which beforehand did not exist or was extremely limited, is occurring in the reservoir. To test for this, the normal plant of 50,000 walleye fingerlings was canceled in 2006. Fall gillnetting yielded more walleyes smaller than 10 inches than have ever been captured previously; however, it is unclear if these are age-0 fish or age-1 fish. Walleyes will not be stocked in 2007 or 2008 to determine definitively if there is natural reproduction in the reservoir. If natural reproduction is occurring, the continued stocking of walleyes in the reservoir will be adjusted depending on the survival of naturally produced fish. Walleyes play an important role in the fishery in Cooney, but our recent data suggest managing their numbers for good walleye growth and good rainbow survival may be more difficult than it has been in the past.
Deadmans Basin Reservoir started out the year almost 42% full and reached 59% full before irrigation demands started to draw it back down. The lake dropped to about 33% of full capacity by the end of August before starting to refill. Deadmans Basin Water Users were able to take advantage of the water being released from Martinsdale Reservoir to get a jump on refilling Deadmans for the winter. The main concrete ramp at Deadmans remained usable all summer.
Angling pressure has increased at Deadmans Basin in recent years, as anglers took advantage of improved trout and salmon fisheries resulting from the introduction of tiger muskies to control suckers. Many anglers are also going to Deadmans to fish for the tiger muskies. Anglers reported good fishing from the shore for larger rainbow trout in the spring, and shoreline and boat anglers did well for both trout and kokanee during the summer. There were also numerous reports of anglers catching tiger muskies. A new state record tiger muskie was caught in Deadmans during July. This fish was 46.0 inches long and weighed 28.87 pounds. There are probably bigger fish in the reservoir right now, and this record could be broken several more times in the near future.
Miles City Hatchery was successful in obtaining tiger muskie eggs from Wisconsin this spring, and raising the fish to a stockable size. Approximately 550 4-inch tiger muskies were stocked into Deadmans this summer to add another year class of smaller fish to the lake. If these fish found enough small forage in Deadmans Basin to give them a good start, they should be large enough to start feeding on the smaller suckers by next summer. Deadmans also received plants of 101,000 kokanee (3-inch) and 226,000 rainbows (4-inch) in 2006.
The long-term sampling protocol for Deadmans Basin Reservoir has been to set 4 sinking and 4 floating gill nets at standard locations around the lake during both the spring and fall. Netting results for 2006 supported the good fishing reports for the year and provided a good picture of the effects tiger muskies have had on the fishery. Eight nets set in mid-May caught 64 rainbow trout ranging from 10.4 to 17.0 inches, and 10 kokanee salmon. These larger rainbows were the fish anglers were catching from shore in the spring. A couple of the kokanee were over 15 inches, indicating there should be some nice-sized spawners by fall. Catch rates for both rainbows and kokanee really jumped in the fall nets due to capture of fish planted earlier in the year. Eight nets set in mid-October caught 177 rainbows and 335 kokanee. Most of the rainbows were 6 to 9 inch fish from the 2006 plant, but there was also a second group of 11 to 16 inch rainbows present. The mature kokanee captured in the fall ranged from about 11 to 16.5 inches. Many of the kokanee netted were 8 to 12 inch immature fish, but there were also many 6 to 7.5 inch kokanee from the spring plant. The largest brown trout netted in the spring weighed 5.8 pounds, with a 6.2-pound brown trout netted in the fall. Two tiger muskies were captured in the spring nets. One fish was 36.4 inches long and weighed 12.9 pounds; the second was 41.0 inches and 18.0 pounds. The only tiger muskie netted in the fall was one of the fish planted in mid-July at about 4 inches. This fish was already 12.0 inches long and weighed 0.35 pounds, providing a good indication that at least some of the 2006 plant survived and were growing well.
Netting results for white suckers are the best indicator of the impacts tiger muskies have had in Deadmans Basin. The average white sucker catch in 88 sinking gill nets set in Deadmans during the 10 year period before the tiger muskies were introduced was 43 white suckers per net. The 8 sinking gill nets set in the spring and fall of 2006 caught a total of 145 white suckers for an average catch rate of 18 white suckers per net. Most of these suckers were captured in the fall nets, and this catch was dominated by a strong year class of young suckers that were probably small enough to be of limited interest to the larger tiger muskies. Of 111 white suckers captured in the fall net set, only 23 were 8 inches long or longer, with the largest one measuring 13.9 inches. The rest of these suckers were between 6.6 and 8 inches long. Based on the growth rate of the one tiger muskie netted in the fall, those from the 2006 plant should be large enough to start feeding on this strong year class of suckers by next summer. Overall, the future of the Deadmans fishery looks very promising.
Lake Elmo continued to provide a popular fishery for stocked rainbow trout, with most anglers catching fish if they were willing to put in some time. The lake received the normal requested plant of 9,600 catchable-sized rainbows in 2006, split between spring and fall plants. As an added bonus, Lake Elmo received about 550 larger brood rainbows from the Ennis National Fish Hatchery in the spring. These fish were not very pretty due to serious fin erosion from a lifetime in a hatchery, but they provided an opportunity for an angler to catch a large trout from Lake Elmo.
Channel catfish stocking was discontinued in Lake Elmo in 2006 because of genetic concerns. Catfish stocked in Montana in recent years have come from southern states like North Carolina. Catfish from Lake Elmo can potentially escape into the Yellowstone River where they could inter-breed with the native Montana catfish. A decision was made to discontinue planting these imported catfish, and start researching the possibilities of developing a local source.
The fishery in Lake Elmo could be in for a big change in the future. Tiger muskies finally became available for both Lake Elmo and Lake Josephine this summer, and were stocked at very low levels (one fish per acre) in both lakes in September. Lake Elmo received 65 6-inch tiger muskies, while Lake Josephine received 20. These muskies should start preying on the abundant sucker populations in both lakes by next summer. Suckers are the preferred forage for tiger muskies, and suckers also compete directly with trout and other game species for zooplankton. Hopefully, once sucker populations are reduced, the tiger muskies will also prey on the numerous small panfish in both lakes. Reducing suckers and stunted panfish numbers should improve size and growth rates on the remaining fish in these lakes. Plans are to continue stocking low numbers of tiger muskies into both lakes for a few more years before waiting to see what happens to these fisheries. Tiger muskies will also provide an opportunity for anglers to occasionally hook into a real trophy fish from both lakes in the future.
Broadview Pond, a state fishing access site near the town of Broadview has seen very little activity for several years. The pond has been essentially dry and fishless since 2000 due to ongoing drought conditions in the area. The lack of water at Broadview Pond did allow for the completion of an important habitat enhancement project that will greatly benefit this fishery when water conditions improve. The Billings Chapter of Montana Pikemasters was the driving force behind this project. They lined up support from a number of local construction and heavy equipment companies who donated services and equipment to the project. They also obtained $10,000 in grants from the Fish America Foundation, Top Line Manufacturing, and the Wal-Mart Foundation to help pay for fuel and transportation costs. Club members worked 7 days straight, from daylight until dark in January 2003 to completely rebuild a 1,600-foot-long dike that separated the deep part of Broadview Pond from a shallow wetland area. Club members moved an estimated 12,000 cubic yards of dirt during this project. A breach in the old dike had allowed wind activity across the shallow wetland area to push large amounts of sediment into the deeper part of Broadview Reservoir. This wind-driven sediment was filling in the deeper part, and kept the water in the pond very turbid. Removing the carp and rebuilding the dike should create a very productive fishery when water returns to the area.
Broadview Pond started to refill this spring, and although it is far from full, it did hold enough water all summer to potentially support fish. In mid-July 4,000 1.6-inch largemouth bass were stocked in Broadview, and these fish were still alive and growing well late in the summer. Historically there have been springs in the bottom of Broadview Pond that have helped keep the fishery going through the winter. If these springs have recharged enough to keep bass alive through the winter, there should be some catchable-sized bass available next summer. It would be great to see a fishery reestablished to start taking advantage of all the hard work completed by the Billings Chapter of Pikemasters.
The summer of 2006 marked the last time Yellowstone cutthroat trout eggs will be collected at Goose Lake, north of Cooke City. This stock of fish will eventually replace or supplement the current stock from McBride Lake in Yellowstone National Park kept at the Big Timber Hatchery. In 2007, fish originally collected in 2003 will be spawned in the hatchery. The fish will be stocked into previously planted lakes throughout the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains. FWP’s high-mountain-lake fisheries crew sampled an additional 33 lakes over the summer within the Clarks Fork, Boulder, Stillwater, and West Rosebud drainages. The primary objective of the lake surveys is to monitor the fisheries in both self-sustaining and stocked lakes to determine fish health and to decide whether stocking rates should be modified. Interns form half of the four-person crew that surveys the lakes from July to the end of August, providing a great opportunity for college students interested in the fisheries field to gain valuable experience.
