HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks held an open house meeting earlier this week in Havre to discuss the draft fisheries management plan for Fresno Reservoir.
The plan, which was created by a nine member Citizens Advisory Committee, will guide the management of the fishery for 10 years, with a reevaluation taking place five years in.
Region 6 Fisheries Manager Steve Dalbey says the primary objective of the plan is to make sure Fresno is a premier walleye fishery.
“It will be managed primarily for walleye with an emphasis on higher catch rates for walleye. We are going to reinitiate a walleye stocking program that should improve walleye catch rates for the Reservoir. That’s a big change.”
FWP Fisheries Biologist Cody Nagel says that rainbow trout will no longer be stocked in Fresno.
“Our hatcheries can only rear so many rainbow trout across the state each year. So it was one of those deals where if we were going to move rainbow trout and continue stocking rainbow trout into Fresno, that means that we were going to have to pull rainbow trout that are being stocked in other water bodies in our area. So that was decided not to go that route, that we were going to maintain our focus on walleye as the primary fish to manage out there. But we’re also going to be considering our forage populations, northern pike, yellow perch, and black crappie.”
One area the FWP is limited in their control over is the water level at Fresno. This is due to the Reservoir’s designation as primarily for irrigation, which allows the federal government to considerably lower the pool levels of the water body in order to provide irrigation water.
“Fish, Wildlife and Parks has limited influence over that,” Dalbey says. “We make recommendations, but we manage the fishery, and that is really where our authority ends. Bureau of Reclamation has authority over water level management. So we will continue to make recommendations on that. And maybe in five years when we open this plan back up, the hope would be that some of that infrastructure money has hit the ground and made a difference, and we can have the discussion about minimum pool levels at Fresno for fish and wildlife, or something like that.”
The management plan calls for working “collaboratively with (the Bureau of) Reclamation on reservoir water levels that promote and enhance the availability of diverse aquatic habitats in Fresno Reservoir.
A copy of the plan, as well as a link to provide public comment, is available on the FWP’s website. Public comments will continue to be accepted through August 31st.
Once the comment period concludes, the comments will be addressed and incorporated into the plan if need be. Then the plan will be presented in front of the FWP Commission in October for final review and approval.
