FWP plans to introduce tiger muskies to west valley lake
By JIM MANN
The Daily Inter Lake
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing regulations to match plans to plant about 450 young tiger muskies in a lake west of Kalispell next month.
The decision to plant the predators in Horseshoe Lake was made last December, despite a controversy over introducing another non-native fish into western Montana waters.
The state is now seeking public input over a proposed regulation for the new fishery: a limit of one tiger musky of at least 40 inches in length per day.
The regulation is intended to maximize the presence of muskies in the lake as a biological control for undesirable species that currently dominate the lake, including northern pike minnow and suckers.
The limit will "maximize the time they will be in the lake to chow down on those fish, and it ensures that there will be some trophy tiger muskies out there," said Jim Vashro, regional fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The proposal to plant tiger muskies in Horseshoe Lake was partly driven by anglers who want to see more warm-water fisheries in western Montana. But the department also heard from many anglers who were concerned about the potential for tiger musky populations to proliferate to other waters, just as other non-native fish such as pike have over time.
The state has a safeguard against that happening - male tiger muskies are sterile as a genetic result of being hybrid offspring of northern pike and muskies, Vashro said.
Female tiger muskies do produce eggs, and there is potential for reproduction if they are fertilized by pike. But there are no known pike at Horseshoe Lake, Vashro said.
If tiger muskies are illegally transplanted by "bucket biologists" to other waters, those fish will not be protected by the new regulation.
A date hasn't been set yet, but sometime in September about 450 tiger muskies, about a year old and six inches long, will be delivered from the state fish hatchery in Miles City to Horseshoe Lake.
Tiger muskies grow rapidly, and are expected to reach 30 inches in just more than two years and 40 inches within five to six years. But that doesn't mean Horseshoe Lake will have 450 trophy tiger muskies in six years, when they will be legally catchable.
"We get pretty high mortality on them," Vashro said. "We think in the long run, there's going to be 100 to 150 tiger muskies in the lake."
The state is also seeking input on a proposed regulation to double the lake trout catch limit from 20 fish per day to 50 fish per day on Flathead Lake. Current slot limits that require anglers to release fish between 30 to 36 inches, and allows them to keep one fish over 36 inches, would remain in effect.
The regulation is aimed at increasing the lake trout harvest, mainly through three annual tournaments that are held on the lake, in compliance with a joint management plan developed by Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes. That plan calls for curbing the impacts of lake trout on native bull trout and cutthroat trout populations.
Vashro acknowledges that average anglers rarely catch, or want to catch, more than 20 lake trout per day. But those anglers who participate in the fishing derbies can and will catch more than 20 per day.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is accepting comments on the proposed regulations through Sept. 15. Written comments should be sent to: Karen Zackheim, Fisheries, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 1420 East Sixth Ave., P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT, 59620-0701.
Or comments can be submitted by email to: kzackheim@mt.gov