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Creel survey will inform fish biologists

by Ryan Sylvester
| May 30, 2014 12:43 PM

Beginning June 1, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will be performing a creel survey on the Kootenai River from Libby Dam downstream to the Osprey Landing (Rereg) boat ramp.

The survey will be performed three-to-five days per week and is designed to estimate fishing effort, catch and harvest, assess angler demographics and serve as a public outreach and information-gathering tool. Anglers contacted by our staff will be asked a series of brief questions regarding their fishing trip that day, and each interviewed angler will also be given a creel card to complete when they are done fishing that day, even if no fish were caught. Interviewed anglers can return their completed card in creel survey drop boxes located at common access points and fishing locations along the Kootenai River from Libby Dam to the boat ramp near the Yaak River. The creel survey boxes will have a slot to return completed cards, but will also contain blank creel cards and pencils so anglers not contacted by our staff can complete a creel card following each fishing trip. The scheduled locations for creel boxes include the following:

Above Kootenai Falls

-David Thompson Bridge and nearby parking areas

-Dredge cut boat ramp loop road (0.3 miles downstream of Libby Dam on east shore)

-Alexander Creek campground

-Dunn Creek boat ramp parking area

-Dunn Creek campground

-Blackwell Flats boat ramp

-Canoe Gulch boat ramp

-Osprey Landing (Rereg) boat ramp

-City of Libby boat ramps near Highway 37

-Bighorn Terrace (Sheep Range) boat ramp at the west end of Kootenai River Road

Downstream of Kootenai Falls

-City of Troy boat ramp at Roosevelt Park

-Kootenai Vista (Beachward Trail) 0.25 miles downstream of Highway 2 near Troy

-Boat ramp 0.25 miles downstream of the Yaak River

We would appreciate if all anglers would take a moment to fill out and return a creel card to a drop box after each fishing trip between June 2014 and July 2015.

If you forget to drop your completed card in a creel box, return it another day or cards can also be mailed to MFWP, 385 Fish Hatchery Road, Libby MT 59923. The use of creel boxes and cards may be implemented in the future at additional lakes and streams in the area to reduce costs associated with more intensive creel surveys.

Information anglers provide during creel surveys is one piece of information used to make fisheries management and conservation decisions. Thank you for taking the time to fill out and return creel cards after each of your fishing trips on the Kootenai.

Good luck fishing and we hope to see you on the river.

Ryan Sylvester is a fisheries biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.