Fish Rules from Fish & Game

                                                               

Evin Oneale

September 6, 2012

                                                               

Open Houses Target 2013 Fish Rules/Fish Management Plan

 Even while sportsmen gear up for the 2012 hunting season, Idaho Fish and Game staff are looking ahead to the 2013 fishing season and beyond. The public is invited to attend one of two regional open houses to learn more about fishing rules that will be in place for the next two, and possibly three, years.

A draft of the new six-year fish management plan will also be available for review and comment. This document describes the department’s proposed statewide and individual river drainage management of public fisheries for the years 2013 to 2018.

Each open house provides a forum for review, discussion and comment on all department- proposed fishing rule changes and the draft fish management plan. The first open house will be held on Tuesday, September 18 at the Fish and Game Nampa office, 3101 S. Powerline Road from 8am to 5pm and from 6pm to 9pm. A second open house will be held on Thursday, September 20 from 8am to 8pm at Fish and Game McCall office, 555 Deinhard Lane.

A list of proposed changes and the draft six-year plan are available at any Fish and Game office. Review and comment on the proposals and the draft plan via the Department’s website at https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/content/webform/proposed-fishing-rules-changes. The comment period ends September 30.

 One statewide proposal calls for approving fish rules and the publication of the fish rules booklet for a three-year period rather than the customary two-year cycle. Circumstances forced the department to do this in 2010, when the current rules were extended through 2012. “The move was well received by the public and had added benefits of reducing staff time needed for rule preparation and associated publication costs,” Fish and Game fisheries manager Joe Kozfkay noted. “So we want to see if the public would like to make this a permanent part of the fisheries management landscape.”

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 In Idaho’s southwest region, the only proposed fish rule change calls for reducing the daily bag limit on rainbow trout – from six fish to two fish – at four popular urban ponds. “Parkcenter, McDevitt, Weiser Community and Wilson Ponds all receive intense fishing pressure,” Kozfkay

said. “Harvest studies indicate that anglers catch and remove stocked rainbows from these four ponds very rapidly. By reducing the daily bag limit from six to two fish at these four locations, we hope to offer more consistent harvest opportunity for a larger number of anglers.”

For more information regarding the upcoming fishing rules open houses, contact the Idaho Department of Fish and Game McCall office at 634-8137 or Nampa office, 465-8465, ext. 301. Individuals with disabilities may request meeting accommodations by contacting Kim Cox at the Fish and Game Nampa office (465-8465) or Judy Wallace at the Fish and Game McCall office (634-8137) or through the Idaho Relay Service at 1-800-377-3529 (TDD).

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NR2012/Open House – Fish.doc