EVANSTON — Green River Fisheries Biologist John Walrath with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) returned to Evanston on Thursday, Feb. 22, to provide the public with information on a proposed plan for dealing with the Flaming Gorge fishery issues.

Also, present were Ryan Mosley, Flaming Gorge project leader with the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DWR), and Robb Keith, regional fish supervisor with WGFD. Approximately a dozen people attended the meeting held at the Beeman-Cashin building.

The same officials had held a public meeting in November 2023, in Evanston to receive comments and suggestions from the public on how to deal with the problem of the lake trout’s small size and their predation on the kokanee salmon and rainbow trout.

Flaming Gorge Reservoir is considered one of the most popular reservoirs in the state and attracts anglers across the U.S. for the kokanee and trophy lake trout. Species found in the reservoir are burbot, sockeye salmon, lake trout, cutthroat trout, common carp, rainbow trout, brown trout, small mouth bass and cutbow.

The WGFD and the DWR co-manage Flaming Gorge Reservoir to provide fishing opportunities for a variety of anglers. The majority of anglers visit the reservoir to fish for kokanee, rainbow trout and trophy lake trout. Both kokanee and rainbow trout are important forage that helps maintain the lake trout population in the reservoir. The available forage fish population in Flaming Gorge, including kokanee and rainbow trout, is limited.

The reason for the public meetings is the issue of an overabundant population of small lake trout that suppress the available forage. The basic issue with lake trout in Flaming Gorge Reservoir is that, when lake trout grow to a large enough size of 17 to 25 inches, they are highly-effective predators that prey heavily on kokanee and rainbow trout. The predator/prey relationship must be managed to maintain balance between all species. Lake trout less than 28 inches create an imbalance.

“The condition of trophy lake trout has sufficiently declined, they are getting smaller and smaller; less than the 28-inch trophy size,” Walrath said. “After 23 inches in size, there is a sharp decline and a lot of them are less than 15 inches. A concern is they are spawning near the shore line where they reproduce rapidly which affects other fish.”

Some of the lake trout are very old and will just not grow any bigger, Walrath said. The diet of the lake trout around 17 inches in size is made up of 23-28% kokanee salmon. According to hydroacoustic survey data, the majority of kokanee are consumed by predators before they reach two years of age.

The population estimate of lake trout in Flaming Gorge in the 2023 count, using creel, gillnet and other methods of catch, was around 143,369. This number of lake trout is three times higher than in 1980 and Walrath said the anglers just aren’t harvesting enough of them.

“In January, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted to open the Chapter 46 fishing regulation to allow biologists to develop regulations proposals specific to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir,” Walrath said. “We have been taking public comments and there is still time to tweak the regulations until we send them to the commission.”

Walrath said the options discussed were: to allow an unlimited harvest of small lake trout and decrease the kokanee creel limit and net removal program and to stock alternate forage fish that would need to be disease free. Another option discussed was to increase the number of kokanees stocked. “However, that might just be adding fuel to the fire,” Walrath said.

Management’s other options, Walrath said, were to do nothing; allowing more lake trout resulting in smaller lake trout and fewer kokanee. Other options: start recovering kokanee, implement reduced catch rates for smaller lake trout.

Action options are to change stocking strategies and to draft regulation proposals and implement net removal. Strategies for stocking kokanee salmon will be to only release them at night from one boat ramp resulting in flooding and overwhelming the predators.

Stocking rainbow trout will be done in the daytime at multiple boat ramps, from north to south, as lake trout move to the middle of the lake when the shallows heat up. The rainbow trout will be released when the shallows are hotter during the day.   

The proposal includes a creel limit on trout, except lake trout, of no more than four per day and no more than three per day of kokanee salmon; an unlimited take on lake trout 28 inches and smaller and only one per day over 28 inches. They also are proposing to classify the lake trout as nongame, hoping this will encourage anglers to remove more smaller lake trout from Flaming Gorge.

Included in the proposal is that all fish caught will be kept whole, can be gutted and filleted, but a one-inch square piece of skin should be left on the fish for identity. Also, fishing licenses would be good for a full year — 365 days.

“If we deal with the lake trout it will be better for the kokanee. We are hoping the unlimited catch will bring the threshold back,” Walrath said. “Anglers are the key; they can harvest more lake trout than we could do. Anglers are a huge part of the response to the problem.”

Walrath said they will draft their regulations the end of February and take more public comments from April 18 to June 10. In July, the commission will decide, and in September the new regulations will begin.

Walrath encouraged everyone to send in written comments and attend other meetings which will be held at a later date. The address for written comments is: https://forms.gle/suHRdtMzz3heMO4j6.

Keith confirmed what Walrath said.

“We’ve learned from other states,” he said, “[that] anglers are the key to decreasing the population of lake trout. The unlimited catch and nongame status will work. With no catch limit, anglers can fish all day.”