FYI, Idaho has made changes to the regulations for the Westslope Cutthroat streams in the Panhandle and Clearwater areas. Bait fishing will now be allowed on significant lower sections of the St. Joe, North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene, etc. People will be expected to release any Westslope Cutts in those lower sections, but almost all of the fish are Westslopes in those areas, and bait fishing/bait fishermen will obviously have a deleterious effect on fish survival. Those streams are already fairly crowded, so an influx of bait fishermen when the word gets out will make things even worse. The new regs even allow people to keep some Westslope Cutthroats over 14 inches on a portion of the Lochsa River. If you go back to the 1960s before the catch and release regs were instituted, People caught very few fish on the St. Joe and a 10 inch fish was a big fish. I really hate to see new regulations trending in the wrong direction on these beloved fisheries.
New deleterious regulations for the Idaho Panhandle streams
- Thread starter Tippet
- Start date
Old406Kid
Legend
I remember those days and hope we aren't headed for a repeat.
For the St. Joe, it looks like the Trout Limit is 6 and there's bait and gear of any kind allowed up to the NFSJ. What was it before?
It's more restrictive for some of the Clearwater sector streams, e.g.
Lochsa River
Section: From the mouth upstream to Wilderness Gateway Campground Motor Bridge, near Highway 12 milepost 122 • Barbless hooks required • December 1 through Friday before Memorial Day weekend – trout – catch-and-release, no bait allowed except maggots • Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through November 30 – trout limit is 2, none under 14 inches, no bait allowed
Section: From Wilderness Gateway Campground Motor Bridge upstream to the confluence of Colt Killed Creek and Crooked Fork Creek • Trout – catch-and-release • No bait allowed, barbless hooks required
It's more restrictive for some of the Clearwater sector streams, e.g.
Lochsa River
Section: From the mouth upstream to Wilderness Gateway Campground Motor Bridge, near Highway 12 milepost 122 • Barbless hooks required • December 1 through Friday before Memorial Day weekend – trout – catch-and-release, no bait allowed except maggots • Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through November 30 – trout limit is 2, none under 14 inches, no bait allowed
Section: From Wilderness Gateway Campground Motor Bridge upstream to the confluence of Colt Killed Creek and Crooked Fork Creek • Trout – catch-and-release • No bait allowed, barbless hooks required
Gyrfalcon22
Legend
Catch and release native trout fishing with bait is not a winning combo.
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DKL
Steelhead
I didn't know people that fished with bait ever really practiced catch and release, I guess with the exception of salt water fisheries. Are there really fishermen out there that practice catch and release using bait? Am I that naive? I know people fish with bait illegally in no harvest waters, but they are planning on keeping those fish.
I wonder how long a river can maintain a healthy trout population with a 6 fish harvest limit?
Gyrfalcon22
Legend
I recall a time (late 70's to early 80's? -some folks here can help out) on streams when we went from 6 trout limits and bait to a period of smaller limits and bait still allowed but people were tossing back smaller fish to either get to a minimum size or just take home a couple bigger fish (often was with a two fish limit).
Once we hit the selective fisheries regs w/ single point/barbless /no bait /catch and releases era fishing did the idea of bait, barbed and release become a non-accepted way to reasonably fish for native trout populations.
Seems salt and many large freshwater species have a sort of anything goes still if bait allowed.