Fish & Game proposes draining Lake Cascade to save game fish

[Ithaca 37]

What do you think about draining lakes?

"The Idaho Department of Fish and Game wants to drain Lake Cascade to revive game fish populations and restore what once was the state´s most popular fishing spot."

http://204.228.236.37/story.asp?ID=36018

Ever seen it happen? Tough on the fish and lots of other species, but I guess it's the only solution. What would you want to do?

 

[2fastnaz]

Damn thats funny. Here (in AZ) they are saying the pikeminnow is an endangered species and they are trying to reintroduce it to the wild. So what happens when they kill them off and the goverment wont let them put the perch and trout back cause of the poor pike minnow?

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 03-25-2003 10:18: Message edited by: 2fastnaz ]</font>

 

[Oak]

I don't think that article is correct. I think that the writer got his fish confused. I think that instead of pikeminnow, he meant pike. He refers to them as Northern Pikeminnows, but the pikeminnow (or squawfish) is called the Colorado Pikeminnow. Pikeminnows are not a reservoir fish, but a river fish. Their main obstructions to recovering are dams. I think the fish in this lake with a voracious appetite for perch and trout is probably Northern Pike.

Oak

 

[Wally Dog]

Oak,
Our Northern Pikeminnow is the squawfish.
The only member of the pike family in this Res. is the Tiger Muskie.
The Squawfish is the problem and they do live in reserviors in our country.
WD

 

[Oak]

Well, after Wally Dog's response, I decided to do some research. I didn't realize that there is more than one species of pikeminnow. The one that is a problem in Idaho and other areas of the Northwest is the Northern Pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus oregonensis), while the endangered fish in the Colorado River basin is the Colorado Pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius). Hmm, I guess you learn something new every day!

Oak

 

[2fastnaz]

Thanks CO, that clears it up some. I didn't know there were two kinds of PikeMinnow either.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Oak,

It is kind of funny on the Pikeminnow. The version in Colorado is an Endangered Specie, and the one in Idaho/Oregon is Endangering Salmon. In parts of Idaho and Oregon, there is a bounty on Pikeminnow (Squaw fish), for anglers to keep them. They seem to eat the baby salmon, in the resivoirs, behind the dams. As soon as we get rid of the dams, the Pikeminnow, and the terns in Portland, we might start having salmon recovery in Idaho.

As for Cascade Resivoir, that used to be a great fishery. Even as little as 6 years ago, there used to be a "perch fleet" of boats, every day, hammering the perch. You could find 20 boats, anchored next to each other, catching more perch than you could clean. Now, there is not a single boat fishing for them, and that is a huge body of water. And for trout, Ice out used to be the best fishing around. 4lb trout, cruising the shores.

It looks like if they kill the squaw fish they might have a chance. They have upgraded the City of McCall sewer system, to keep that crap out of the lake. And they got the Welfare Rancher on the west side of the lake to keep his cattle out of the shoreline/water. Maybe it will be possible to bring some recreation/tourist money to Cascade.

 

[Ithaca 37]

I wonder what ever happened to that welfare rancher? He had his cows all over the shoreline and there was cow shit everywhere washing down into the lake and polluting one of the best fisheries in the state. Dead cows layin' in the water, too! He was real defiant about it, too. Said it was his right!

 

[JoseCuervo]

That Welfare Rancher must have had some of his "Rights" taken away. Another sad day for the Constitution...

He still runs all the cattle on the side, but he now has a long electric fence, about 15 yards from the water. The thing must run a couple of miles, along the shoreline, from the boat ramp on the Westside.

IT will be interesting to see what happens at Valbois, oops, I meant to say WestRock, oops, I meant to say Tamarack, oops, I meant to say the Resort at Tamarack when their right to the State Land Lease impacts somebody's right to run their cattle on the Federal Land.

People in fancy clothes, playing golf, sitting at the Marina, do not like to step in Cowpies....