Fish ON! Future Fisheries

Hello everyone!

You may have noticed that I took a week off from posting. Fishing on Ft. Peck Lake out of Hell Creek took precedence. Fishing was really slow though—wind, wind and more wind, and cold water… Fodder for another post!

The treat of the four-day excursion was watching little nine-year-old Maria land a 49-inch northern pike (no relation) at the Boy Scout Point boat launch site. I’ll tell the story of Maria another time.

For now, read on about the legacy of fishing in Montana and some of what it means in the Treasure State!

Meanwhile, if you want to look back at previous posts, go to www.montanacharley.com. They are starting to stack up; weaving together my story!

Regards,

Charley Pike

What do you do when you drop the goddam picker-upper thing ?

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Let there be no doubt that fishing and fisheries are are huge part of Montana lifestyle. Most of us grew up with it. Dad took time he really couldn’t afford taking his boys fishing. Whether is was time away from harvest or pumping gas, he recognized the rite of Montana life.

In those days fishing was simple. I was a pastime. A rod and a tackle box. Sitting on a creek bank listening to the meadowlarks and red-winged blackbirds.

Today, though it’s very serious business and big business. It’s competition. It’s a race.

Anglers spend tons of money traipsing into and around Montana seeking to land all kinds of fish. It’s gone beyond lifestyle.

And they catch and release!!!??? Dad could never digest the concept of letting a fish go… We ate what we caught.

In the past it was trout, trout and only trout. We fished with a #6 barbed hook and worms—fly fishing was more of a myth. A creel full of brookies was the goal. Barbless hooks? What’s the point? Ha!

But evolutionary forces have brought fish species other than trout into the picture. Walleye, Northern pike, yellow perch are some of the main species pushing trout off the target of many Montana fisherman.

And, these fish are great to eat!!!! Better than a boney old trout! Who cares if the uppity fly fishers sneer at our hardware, live bait and power boats!

Yet, trout still remain the icon of the Montana angling scene. And native species like Yellowstone cutthroat, westslope cutthroat, and bull trout have gained special attention as natural habit has been lost from all kinds of development—ranging from mining to condos and subdivisions.

And, competition within the habitat from non-native species like Eastern brook trout (brookies), rainbow and brown trout push the native species around and sometimes out of their historic range.

Enter a program sponsored by Montana’s anglers dollars to help restore, improve and protect fish habitat across the state—the Future Fisheries Improvement Program. The FFIP was created by the Montana Legislature in 1995 providing grants to restore habitat for “wild fish”—mainly cutthroat and bull trout with an emphasis on mining activity reclamation.

Since 1995 the FFIP has morphed to cover nearly all fish species in the state. It’s funded by an earmark on fishing license fees—both resident and non-resident. FFIP grants are augmented by the Resource Indemnity Trust—a tax on coal extraction in the state.

These funding sources currently generate about $1.2 million each biennium. FFIP project grants range from a few thousand dollars to more than $100,000.

The FFIP is administered by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, but the decision on how to direct the funds rests with a Citizen Review Panel—a cross section of Montanans who have special interest or expertise in fisheries habitat. The Review Panel is appointed by the Montana Governor and final approval of FFIP projects is made by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Landowners, civic or angling groups, conservation districts, irrigation districts and government agencies commonly use the FFIP to help fund habitat projects. Usually the applicants work with state fisheries biologists to design and carry out the work.

Trout Unlimited has a thumbprint on many FFIP projects.

One project in northeastern Montana was initiated by local anglers to help a rancher build a fence around a pond on his land. The private pond, stocked with yellow perch and smallmouth bass, is a popular community recreation spot. The group worked with other organizations to get the project funded, designed and completed.

Much larger and complicated work is demonstrated by the French Gulch fish passage and restoration project south of Anaconda. It’s designed to clean up damage from 1860s placer gold mining.

The target is restoration of native trout and Arctic grayling habitat. This is an on-going effort that has cost nearly $4 million over the past 10 years.

FFIP grants have helped the French Gulch project move forward—along with funding from private and public investments. The FFIP is seldom the sole funding source for projects.

The more the overall public and community benefit the more the FFIP review panel is likely to recommend funding for a particular project.

Applications for FFIP funding must generally demonstrate public benefits that:

• Improve or maintain fish passage.

• Restore or protect naturally functioning stream channels or banks.

• Restore or protect naturally functioning riparian areas.

• Prevent loss of fish into irrigation diversions.

• Restore or protect essential habitat for spawning.

• Enhance stream flow to improve fisheries.

• Restore or protect native fish populations.

• Improve fishing in a lake or reservoir.

FFIP funded projects are monitored and reviewed by FWP Fisheries Division staff as well as the Citizen Review Panel to be sure they are completed and function as designed.

Landowner permission is a required element in every FFIP application.

For more information on the Future Fisheries Improvement Program go to https://fwp.mt.gov/ffip.

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In-state and out-of-state anglers drop a lot of money each year in Montana trying to catch a fish. We hear numbers up to $1 billion per year. Not hard to believe.

Anglers think nothing of blowing a few hundred bucks at Cabela’s or Scheels on rods, reels, lures, flies and gear for the next outing. We buy five-dollar-a-gallon gas to run $60,000 boats pulled by $100,000 trucks. Boat docks look like Orvis fashion shows. And, to the dismay of many, our venerable old agriculture college in Bozeman is now called Montana Trout University.

As hard as it might be to calculate the amount and impact of angler spending, the costs of maintaining our statewide fisheries is a whole other story.

Tallying spending of taxpayer dollars on fish and fisheries—both state and federal—as well as the private, NGO, and foundation trust contributions are nothing short of gargantuan. And spending on fisheries is sometimes a sneaky way to fund environmental programs. What’s good for fish is good for the environment, they say. And easy sell.

What Montana taxpayers alone spend on maintaining recreational fishing each year might very well fund the entire social budgets of some Third-World countries.

But, it’s what we want. We vote for the politicians who approve the budgets and fund the agencies and their programs. We donate to the non-profits that support fish programs. We teach fishing, we practice it and we perpetuate it. We still live it.

Billions of dollars… Just to catch a fish? Just to release a fish?

Go figure!