FWP mixing up

the local catch

By WARREN ILLI

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is working to provide anglers with an opportunity to catch unique fish such as tiger muskies, golden trout and red-band rainbow trout.

Last week the FWP Commission approved the planting of tiger muskies in Horseshoe Lake. This is not the Horseshoe Lake near Ferndale, but another 160-acre lake located south of U.S. 2, just west of Happy's Inn.

Horseshoe Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in northwest Montana. It has crystal clear water, many peninsulas and a couple of islands.

But as a fishing lake, Horseshoe Lake was a complete bust. It is full of trash fish such as suckers and northern pike minnows. When trout were planted in Horseshoe, they quickly became dinner for these trash fish.

Horseshoe is big enough that poisoning out the trash fish would be too costly. So several years ago FWP came up with an innovative biological solution. Their idea was to plant an aggressive predator fish that couldn't reproduce, but would clean out the trash fish.

Tiger muskies seemed to fit the bill completely. Tiger muskies are a cross between a northern pike and muskellunge, grow fast and will clean out the trash fish. They are almost 100 percent sterile, so there is virtually no risk they can reproduce and be transferred to other lakes to threaten established fisheries.

But opposition to the tiger muskie proposal came from some unexpected groups. The native trout purists questioned whether tiger muskies were really 100 percent sterile and questioned the wisdom of adding another introduced fish species to northwest Montana.

Opposition also came from a Libby group that loves to water ski on Horseshoe. They were concerned about possible conflicts between fishermen and other recreation users.

Anyway, after years of environmental review and negotiating, the Commission finally gave its blessing to plant tiger muskies.

Last Tuesday night, 600 6-inch tiger muskies were planted in Horseshoe Lake. Tigers have a bad habit of swimming near the surface right after they are planted, so birds of prey like eagles and osprey find easy pickings for dinner.

Night planting should give them a night of darkness to spread out in the lake and learn to find security in deeper water. More plants may be necessary in future years.

But don't get your fishing pole out quite yet. These tigers will be managed under a proposed state rule that limits anglers to only one fish per day, with a minimum length of 40 inches.

Biologists estimate it will take tiger muskies about four years to reach this size. So put tiger muskie fishing on your calendar for 2010.

In the meantime, try some golden trout fishing in nearby Banana Lake. Banana Lake is a small lake located north of U.S. 2, just north of Horseshoe Lake. It takes a long hike into the Mission Mountains to catch the only other golden trout in northwest Montana. Banana Lake goldens will be available to more anglers.

Lastly, Crystal Lake by Happy's Inn, has been planted with some red-band rainbow trout. These trout are native to a few streams in the Kootenai River drainage where 8-year-old fish are only 8 to 9 inches long. But in fish hatcheries, red-band rainbow have grown to more than 4 pounds in only 2 1/2 years. So the Crystal Lake fish plants are a test to see how fast they will grow in a productive lake.

By the way, developers recently purchased Happy's Inn and have closed the traditional boat launch used by anglers for the last 50 years. FWP, sportsmen clubs and local lakeshore owners are working to develop a replacement boat launch by next summer.