Whitefish ready to make their run

When fog rises from the Flathead River on crisp autumn mornings, the time has come for the whitefish run.

Anglers gather on bridges or prowl by boat in search of the largest migration of fish from Flathead Lake, with schools filling in one hole after another from October into December.

But this year is a bit different, with the peak of the run starting later than usual, said Ron Mohn, owner of the Mountain Lake Fisheries, a business that has been buying whitefish as a commercial catch since 1991.

Catches have been dribbling in to Mohn's processing plant on the south side of Kalispell for the last few weeks, but there are recent indications that action on the river should be picking up.

"The main run should be coming shortly," Mohn said Wednesday. "They have a tendency to fill the holes in the upper end of the river first. They move up the river in schools. Eventually it gets to the point where they are back-to-back and filling every hole in the river."

Male whitefish tend to move up the river first, followed by females, and anglers are starting to catch more females.

"That's an indicator the run is picking up," Mohn said.

For the last few weeks, the processing plant has been getting 65 to 75 pounds of fish every night.

When the run spikes, Mohn said, "we'll see 300- to 400-pound nights and that will continue through November."

Angler interest tends to increase with the run.

"Nobody wants to spend all day on the river catching four or five fish," Mohn said. "When the fishermen start hitting the river, that's when things are spiking."

Mohn has signed up as many as 60 anglers, but usually just about 10 of them provide most of the season's catch.

"People think they are going to go out and make some money pretty quick," Mohn said. "But actually, there is a two-year learning curve to become really efficient at it."

The most seasoned anglers have "a feel" for whitefish, a species that doesn't strike a jig like a trout.

"They'll just sneak up and suck it in," Mohn said. "It feels like a rubbery snag."

When they know they're hooked, however, whitefish put up a fierce fight.

"These fish fight harder, pound-for-pound, than any other fish in Montana," insists Mohn, who is preparing to self-publish a book on whitefish called "The Overlooked Scrapper."

At the peak of the run, some of the best anglers will catch up to the daily limit of 100 fish.

And by the end of the season, Mountain Lake Fisheries will have processed 18,000 to 20,000 pounds of fish.

That may sound like a lot, but Mohn puts it in perspective.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates there are between 5 million and 15 million whitefish in Flathead Lake. A 20,000-pound catch translates to a fraction of 1 percent of the lowest

population estimate.

"We're not even putting a dimple in them," Mohn said.

Mark Deleray, a state fisheries biologists whose work is concentrated on Flathead Lake, explained that the whitefish population exploded on the lake about 20 years ago in response to the introduction of mysis shrimp.

"That's when this fishery really developed and got more popular," he said.

Mohn said the population boom helped establish the spawning run on the river. Lake Superior whitefish tended to spawn on the Flathead Lake bed, but as the population grew, adults migrate upriver seeking spawning habitat.

Their progeny have "imprinted" on the river spawning areas, creating a continuous spawning run that still accounts for only 10 percent of all spawning, because most of the population continues to spawn in Flathead Lake.

Mountain Lake Fisheries relies on the run to produce two products: vacuum-packed frozen, skinless filets that are marketed mostly in Montana, and Montana Golden Whitefish Caviar, processed roe that is marketed across the country.

Mohn said the company's products are a drop in the bucket of overall markets, which are dominated by commercial whitefish operations on the Great Lakes. Mountain Lake Fisheries produces about 500 to 600 pounds of caviar annually, for example, while a single operation on the Great Lakes produces tons of caviar every year.

Mohn said those operations bring in so much whitefish that they can justify investing in $100,000 filet machines, while he relies on a crew of about eight seasonal workers to process fish with electric knives.

Anglers interested in selling their catch to Mountain Lake Fisheries must first register, for free, as commercial whitefish anglers with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

They also must sign and submit to Mohn a flier that outlines fish storage standards required by the company. The flier is available at Sportsman & Ski Haus and Snappy Sport Senter.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com