2024 Lake Roosevelt Fishery Highlights

Details

Published: Wednesday, 03 July 2024 17:05

Year after year, Lake Roosevelt continues to provide extraordinary and diverse angling opportunities that attract enthusiasts from near and far. Each year, thousands of hours of angling time are happily spent catching over 150,000 fish. Rainbow trout, kokanee, white sturgeon, walleye and smallmouth bass are the most targeted species.

Also, the fight to suppress northern pike, a voracious predator that devastates other fish populations, provides additional angling opportunities.

Co-managers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and Colville Confederated Tribes summarized highlights for our readers. Annually, they invest over $9 million dollars to develop and maintain the fishery.

RAINBOW TROUT AND NET PENS

The long-term goal is to annually release up to 750,000 with higher release numbers corresponding to higher angler success rates. Rainbow trout were released into Lake Roosevelt in May. They ranged from 7 to 13 inches in length and 1 to 7 fish to the pound. Many will grow to about 16–18 inches by September with many being available in the system for 2 angling seasons.

All rainbows released are triploids, meaning they are sterile and will not interbreed with wild trout. In addition, their adipose fin is clipped. Wild fish with an intact adipose fin should be released to assure only keeping hatchery fish in Lake Roosevelt.

The goal is for a 5% annual return to creel, the estimated amount caught by anglers based on survey data collected by co-managers. Anglers had an estimated return of 7.2% in 2023.

Supporting this effort are the WDFW Sherman Creek and Ford Hatcheries, the Spokane Tribal Hatchery and 63 net pens located between Keller Ferry and Kettle Falls. Volunteers support maintenance of net pens and feeding needs from October through their release in May.

In 2023, there were white, green, blue, and orange research tags deployed in rainbow trout raised in Lake Roosevelt net pens. Tags are steadily being returned to fisheries personnel to provide an independent evaluation of the fishery from the annual angler survey/creel program.

The evaluation benefits greatly from angler retention of tagged fish being high, with many are being caught by shore anglers in addition to boat anglers. There have been a few fish caught as far downstream as Bridgeport, Banks Lake, and Rufus Woods, so they are not entirely constrained to Lake Roosevelt.

SPOKANE ARM RAINBOW TROUT SUPPLEMENTAL RELEASE

The Spokane Tribal Hatchery annually supplements traditional net pen releases of triploid rainbow trout by releasing fish in the Spokane Arm to add fishing opportunities in a part of the reservoir where net pens are not operated. From March through May, 41,530 triploid rainbow trout were released at the Little Falls Dam tailrace and Cornelius Campground Boat Launch. Early released fish averaged greater than 1 lb while later fish released averaged 2 plus lbs. Recent catches of rainbow trout greater than 5 lbs each have been reported!

WHITE STURGEON

Beginning in 2017, a recreational fishery for white sturgeon in Lake Roosevelt was reopened after more than 20 years of closure for conservation purposes.  The fishery was made possible due to surplus sturgeon from U.S. and Canadian conservation hatchery programs to help stem a decades-long population decline.

Because of white sturgeon recruitment failure (a situation where young fish do not survive and “recruit” to the population), the population was in a perilous position prior to the initiation of the hatchery programs in the early 2000s.  In the current program, managers capture sturgeon larvae from the wild for growout in a hatchery, then release around 3,000 fish back into Lake Roosevelt in the fall at a size which ensures good survival. 

In June and July, tribal and state fishery managers are out at night collecting sturgeon larvae for that purpose.   

The exact cause of recruitment failure has not been determined, but it is the subject of on-going research.  In the meantime, the hatchery program ensures continuation of the population while also supporting both tribal and recreational fisheries.

For 2024, the angling season will run from September 16th – November 30th from Grand Coulee Dam to the Canadian border. The harvest slot (size of sturgeon that can be retained) has not yet been determined. 

Looking forward, managers expect to maintain a limited harvest opportunity for the next few years but with gradually tightening slot limits to protect against overharvest. Within a few years, the fishery is likely to move to catch and release only to protect weaker year classes from 2011 to 2016. 

Stronger year-classes have been produced consistently since 2017. Once they become large enough, managers anticipate a harvest season can resume. 

WALLEYE

Since 2002, the co-managers have conducted Fall Walleye Index Netting (FWIN) to monitor the walleye population. Monitoring enables managers to track the abundance, age, growth, condition, sex ratio, and age at maturity.

WDFW reports that the walleye fishery has remained stable and resilient over time. Abundance of walleye increased significantly in 2023 with a large year class of age-2 walleye (12-16”) that will drive the fishery for the next couple of years. Additionally, larger walleye (16 to 22”) produced during 2018-2020 are available in good numbers. 

NORTHERN PIKE

Anglers are encouraged to participate in the Northern Pike Reward Program at Lake Roosevelt to help reduce the spread of the non-native invasive northern pike.

“The Lake Roosevelt co-managers (Colville Tribes, Spokane Tribe of Indians and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) are particularly concerned with the negative impacts northern pike pose to tribal and state resources,” said Holly McLellan, the fish biologist for Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife.

A northern pike can be over 50 inches long and weigh around 45 pounds and a female northern pike can produce up to 250,000 eggs. The female pike is also known to be able to eat frogs, birds, trout, salmon and steelhead with their large teeth and mouth.

Anglers should NOT confuse the native Northern Pikeminnow with Northern Pike. The native pikeminnow should be released in Lake Roosevelt as their populations are depressed in this reservoir.

The co-managers have been working to remove the Northern Pike from the lake since 2015. Since that time, 20,015 Pike have been removed. The good news is that the number of Pike captured per net has dropped from a high of 3.08 in 2017 to less than 0.50 Pike per net in 2024. Their distribution, however, is slowly creeping downstream with the highest catch now occurring in the middle sections (Hunters and Gifford areas) of the reservoir.

Researchers will continue with the standardized removal program through 2025. This includes an increased gillnet effort in the spring, when pike are in shallow waters preparing to spawn, and adjustments based on population abundance gillnet surveys that occur in the fall.