FVTU 2013 Spring Newsletter

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Officers

• President………..Chris Schustrom • Vice President…... Larry Timchak • Treasurer…………. Glen Anacker • Banquet Chair………... Dan Short • Conservation Chair… Lucky Sultz

Volume 2, Issue 2 Spring 2013

aáy (pronounced “ahh-ee”) is the Salish word for bull trout. Our mission: To conserve, protect and restore valuable wild fish and their habitat in Northwest Montana

“There is certainly some-

thing in fishing that tends

to produce a gentleness of

spirit, a pure serenity of

mind.”

~Washington Irving~

aáy is a quarterly publication of the Flathead Valley Chapter

of Trout Unlimited.

Contact: 406-260-1198, [email protected], www.flatheadtu.org

Kootenai

River

One of the things Montana is most noted for is our abundance of cold, clean, fishable wa-ter. Our clear waters are known worldwide as are our superb populations of wild, cold-water fish and excellent fishing opportuni-ties. Recently, American Rivers released its annual list of America’s most endangered rivers. And it included a Montana river. “One of our country’s wildest rivers, the

Kootenai River provides critical habitat for

several rare and threatened native fish spe-

cies, as well as wildlife like grizzly bear and

woodland caribou. However, the river is threatened by runoff and waste from current mining and proposed expan-

sions of five open-pit coal mines along the Elk River in British Columbia, a tributary to the Kootenai.”

Selenium, a byproduct of the coal mining activity is a naturally-occurring element that can become very toxic at low levels in the aquatic environment. Recent studies have found very high levels of Selenium in the Elk River endangering a world-famous cutthroat and bull trout fishery. Of course rivers don’t respect artificial boundary lines and the Canadian pollution stream is providing a threat to the Kootanai River which flows south into the U.S. be-fore re-entering Canada and flowing into the Columbia River System. Teck Coal operates five open-pit coal mines in the Elk River Valley with proposals for new mines and expansions at existing operations. The U.S. must work with British Columbia and the International Joint Commission to halt further expansion of mining operations until further studies and a viable action plan have been crafted.

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Newsletter content does not necessarily

reflect the views of Flathead Valley Trout

Unlimited, it’s membership or Montana

Trout Unlimited.

FVTU welcomes submission of photos or

content from our valued members. The

newsletter is published quarterly through-

out the year. Publication dates will be Oct.

1, Jan. 1, Apr. 1, and July 1.Please send

contributions at least ten days prior to pub-

lication to the newsletter editor at:

[email protected]

aáy is available online at the FVTU website.

www.flatheadtu.org

Newsletter editor: Lucky Sultz

Chris Schustrom—FVTU President


From Our President

Do you remember fishing for bull trout as a kid in the Flathead? If you did, looking back to what we had and could have again, you probably re-member taking just a fishing rod, a plug, spinner, or beautifully tied fly, and going fishing with your friends and family on the Flathead River, or on one of our area lakes that held good numbers of bull trout and west-slope cutthroat. For a large part of my first 18 sum-mers, my family ran the tour boat concession on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. Each time throughout the day that the tour boat departed on a 45 minute tour, I took my trusty fishing rod and would fish from the end of the dock for whatever I could catch. Yep, that's me in the photo fishing in the 70s. What I vividly remember catching were cruising bull trout. I remember the beautiful pinkish spots on their sides as I re-moved the hook and released the fish, before consciously knowing the value to fish populations of practicing catch & release. Since the water was so clear I could see the 20 or so feet to the bottom, and I could see the fish take the offering and set the hook. My dad taught me how to release the fish and about the importance of clean, clear, cold water, and how lucky we are to be in a place as beautiful as Glacier and to be sur-rounded by such easily accessible fishing opportunities, rivers, lakes and streams, and natural beauty. This is how I got my start fishing, easily accessible kid-friendly fishery at the end of a dock with my fishing rod, and a life jacket, but that's another story, and native bull trout. This Spring an opportunity to support a plan to really restore native bull trout in the Flathead Basin will be at our fingertips. This opportunity is the Flathead Lake EIS with proposals to reduce non-native lake trout to benefit native bull trout. I hope that you will take this opportunity and a few minutes to com-ment in support of this plan, for the benefit of your kids, or grandkids, or nieces and nephews and for yourselves to restore family-friendly fishing opportunities on our rivers and lakes. Spring is a time of renewal and a time to invest in the future of our coldwater fish and fisheries in the Flathead. This Spring also signals the transition to a new, and greatly qualified Chap-ter President, Larry Timchak. Larry has years of experience as a Forest Supervisor and is a keen advocate for our native fish and fisheries in the Flathead and beyond. Continued on page 4

Donate to Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited

today! Please go to our website at

www.flatheadtu.org and click on the “Donate”

button to support our efforts.. Thanks.

Chris fishing for bull

trout from the dock at

Lake McDonald.

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Coming Soon! It’s nearly time once again for FVTUs Annual Fund-Raising Banquet and Auc-tion. This will be the not-to-be-missed social event of the season. This year’s grand prize raffle will

feature a 14-foot full-wrap, self-bailing NRS raft package com-plete with a great rowing frame and oars. Everything but the fish! Please join FVTU and all our valuable friends and supporters on May 18, 2013 at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish. Festivities begin at 6:30 with a great catered supper at 7 pm. We hope to see you all there Get raft raffle tickets or banquet tickets by calling 406-260-1198 or 406-755-6838. Tickets are $3 each, 2 for $5, 5 for $10 or 12 for $20. Banquet is $40 per person.

Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited holds monthly meetings on

the third Tuesday of each month October through April.

Meetings are held at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

conference room at 490 N. Meridian in Kalispell at 7pm.

Please join us for our regular meetings in the Fall.

Back in the dayBack in the day

FVTU CalendarFVTU Calendar

• May 18: Annual FVTU Fundraiser Banquet

• May-June: Be prepared to submit comments for the CSKT Draft EIS for Flathead Lake lake trout sup-pression. Watch for updates at www.flatheadtu.org

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The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have released a set of videos aimed at improving angling success for lake trout from Flathead Lake. The videos are

available in a DVD set, or you can watch them online.

Catching Lake Trout in Flathead Lake

The two-disc DVD set “Catching Lake Trout in Flathead Lake”, a Flathead Lake bathymetric map and a fact sheet for fish identification are available from the Con-federated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for free at the CSKT Natural Resources De-

partment, 406 Sixth Ave. E in Polson, or by calling Cindy Benson at 883-2888, ext. 7294. The instructional videos can also be viewed online at www.mackdays.com.

Springtime at Pine Grove Pond

As one of the many volunteer efforts by Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited, we annually volunteer to help out with the opening day, Kids Fishing Day at Pine Grove Family Fishing Pond near Kalispell. Spring in Montana can be nothing if not unpre-dictable. The weather went from perfect, calm, springtime skies and lots of fish being caught, to

blizzard conditions in the space of ten minutes. MFWP made the decision and rightfully so, to cancel the fishing contest an hour early. Even so, I think most of the kids caught fish and had a good time. Parents, maybe not so much.

And, speaking of lake trout, there’s good news this month from the lake trout suppression effort on Swan Lake. For the first time since netting began in 2009, biologists are seeing an uptick in redd numbers for both bull trout and kokanee salmon in the Swan watershed. This is a hopeful sign, but of course a sin-gle year on increasing redds will need to be verified for several more years. The uptick may also have resulted from a new regulation change that provides for catch-and-release fishing only for bull trout in Swan Lake.

A total of 10,414 juvenile lake trout from 6” to 32” were re-moved from Swan Lake in 2012 along with the removal of 215 larger spawning fish. The size of lake trout caught this year con-tinues the trend toward smaller fish being netted, which is good news. Researchers on Swan Lake are hopeful that this years increase in redd numbers for both kokanee and bull trout is a sign that the past four years of suppression effort is beginning to pay off and affect predation rates by lake trout. The next few years will determine whether or not the netting effort has been able to significantly reduce the lake trout population.

From our President—continued from page 2

Thanks to Luck Sultz for putting together the newsletter, and for his tireless efforts as Chapter Conservation Chair. Thanks to our chapter board; Dan Short, Glen Anacker, Dan Olson, Jim Johnson, Gregg Letourneau, George Widener, Lucky, and Larry Timchak for their years of volunteer service to coldwater conservation. We look forward to seeing you at our annual Fundraising Banquet Saturday May 18th at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish! Chris Schustrom, Chapter President

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A century ago, tens of thousands of bull trout roamed the waters of Flathead Lake and the Flathead River system. By the mid-1980s a spawning run of 10,000-15,000 fish still provided exciting fishing opportunities. Today there are less than 3,000 adult fish left in Flathead Lake and the North and Middle forks. Due to our mis-guided actions and inattention, these magnificent fish are on the brink of extinction in our home waters. FVTU is proud to announce the release of our exciting video, Jewel in The Crown. This DVD examines the plight of native fish in the Flathead with a focus on current problems facing bull trout. Through conversations with the last generation of anglers who were able to legally fish for bull trout in our home waters and many historical photos as well as inter-views with local fisheries biologists and managers, we examine the current situa-

tion and where we need to go now to preserve our native fish heritage in the Flathead Basin. Get your copy today: Jewel in The Crown is available for only $12 (+ $2 shipping and handling) and can be obtained on the FVTU website www.flatheadtu.org, at several participating local fly shops, or at our monthly


Flathead Lake DEIS Process

Moves Forward

For more than 30 years, the fish-eries of the Flathead Lake and river system have been co-managed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. In 2010, the last ten-year Flathead Lake Co-Management Plan expired. The plan originated through a coop-erative process designed to re-duce the number of predatory lake trout in Flathead Lake and to increase numbers of native bull trout and cutthroat that have been in decline since the lake trout population boomed in the early 1990s due to the introduction of Mysis shrimp to the ecosystem.

Analysis of the effects of the Co-management plan following the ten year period found that the reliance on recreational fishing as

the sole means of reducing the lake trout population has largely failed.

Since the expiration of the plan, the Tribes have worked through an extensive Environmental Im-pact Statement in cooperation with all the local, state and fed-eral agencies and local stake-holders.

The final draft of the “Proposed Strategies for Lake Trout Popula-tion Reduction to Benefit Native Fish Species” in Flathead Lake will soon be released for a 45-day public comment period.

Midway through the preparation of the DEIS, MFWP decided to withdraw from the process, citing opposition to the use of gillnet-ting to reduce the lake trout popu-lation which might harm fishing and concerns about bycatch of native species.

The Draft EIS will propose four alternatives to meet the objectives of the co-management plan as well as the objectives of the Mon-tana Bull Trout Restoration Plan and the Montana MOU and Res-toration Plan for Cutthroat trout.

Along with a no-action alterna-tive, the EIS will propose the se-lection of lake trout population reduction levels of 25%, 50%, or 75%.

All of the alternatives include the continued use of fishing contests, gillnetting and removal of the controversial slot limit on lake trout.

According to the DEIS, “The need for the project is based on over two decades of continuous and cooperative regional re-search, management, and plan-ning by Tribal, State, and Fed-eral agencies.” The Tribes have relied on some of the best fisheries scientists in the country as well as consulta-tion with USFWS, USFS, USGS, NPS, MFWP, NRCS and The University of Montana as well as consultation with an ad hoc group of conservation and fishermen’s organizations. Population studies in Flathead Lake have shown that native trout continue to decline and the pri-mary cause of that decline has been ascribed to an over-abundance of nonnative lake trout that have expanded throughout the watershed. FVTU has continued to follow the DEIS process closely and we continue to support the primary goal of the Co-management plan to “increase and protect native trout populations (bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout).”

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What is a Purple Haze? It’s basically a purple Parachute Adams. You can dub the body with purple dub or use floss. Floss is my favorite. It makes a slimmer abdomen and is extremely durable. Purple? Really? How many purple mayflies are there? Not many! Why do trout like purple flies? It’s hard to tell and every-one has a theory. What is my theory? Well…. I have a love hate relationship with the Purple Haze. We sell piles of Purple Haze every year and people have good success with them all year round. So back to why trout like purple? I think it has to do with ultra violet light that the cones in there eyes pick up. Now….

This is controversial. Because the cones that pick up ultra violet light disappear after about 2-3 years. Here is a link to a great article about Trout Vision. Trout in our river system, most other river too, see lots and lots of Purple Haze, Purple Caddis and every imaginable variation of the Pur-ple Craze. So for the most part I stay away from it. But…. Early season is great for the Purple Haze. Shhhhh…. Dont tell anyone! We have lots of smaller stones, Gray Drakes, March Browns and BWO’s. This is my favorite time of the year to fish the Purple Haze. Does it work all the time? Nope. Yesterday we couldn’t buy a fish on the P.H. and were getting attention on the size 12 P.A. The week before it was just opposite? Could be just me? Anyways…. Tie these guys up and make sure you have a few in the box. Tied by: Rob from Lakestream Outfitters

Flathead Lake Mack Days

The annual Spring Mack Days fish-ing contests continue this month on Flathead Lake. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes sponsor the contests in the Spring and again in the Fall to help reduce the number of predatory lake trout to protect and conserve reduced populations of native bull trout and cutthroat trout

in the Flathead Basin.

After 7 weekends of the Spring con-test, harvest stands at 17,890, down from 21,963 at the same point last

year.

So far, there is no evidence that the fishing contests have had any effect on the lake trout population and later this spring, CSKT will release a long-awaited EIS that will propose taking additional steps to reduce the lake

trout population.

Teck Coal must submit selenium

plan.

Following a study by the University of Montana and commissioned by Glacier National Park that found dangerously high levels of selenium in the Elk River in British Columbia and the upper reaches of the Kootenai River, concerns have been expressed by U.S. and Canadian governments about the dangers to popular fish populations on both

sides of the border.

The British Columbia government has issued an order to Teck Coal Ltd. requiring the company to submit a plan for dealing with the high levels of selenium and other contaminants

in the Elk Valley watershed.

Teck responded that, “We know we have an issue and we are working hard to try and help resolve that is-sue,” the company expects to spend $600-million over the next five years

on environmental projects, including

water diversion and water treatment.

(see article on page 1)

Tribes May Sue After Legislature

Kills the CSKT Water Compact

After the Montana Legislature failed to ratify a tribal water compact that took state and federal agencies more than ten years to work out, the CSKT has said that they may now be forced to take legal action to protect tribal

water rights.

Lawsuits could tie up water rights both on, and off, the Flathead Reser-vation for years, but the tribes feel that legal action may be their only

available remedy.

“We did what we thought had to be done. We hashed out a compact, despite very difficult problems.” said CSKT Communications Director

Robert McDonald

Tying the Purple Haze—From Lakestream Outfitters, Whitefish, Montana

Documents

FVTU 2013 Spring Newsletter