Lake trout in Payette Lake

[22RMX]

4 years seems a little extreme, especially if the don't have any idea what kind of numbers are in the lake. You would think they would base it on the numbers of lakers they catch ever year and if the numbers they are catching takes a steep decline, they stop or slow the rate they are removing from the lake. I do agree with you that it's nice to have a lake that they manage for lakers. One thing to consider is that as long as they don't wipe the laker population out, once the koke population is established they will be a really good food source for the lakers when they stop the gill netting and the lakers will come back stronger than ever, just a thought.

I agree that if they can establish a strong Kokanee population, it will be a good food source for the Lake trout. This was brought up in a conversation I had with an F&G employee. The point was also made by this employee, that these fish don't reach sexual maturity until six years of age and have such a slow growth rate, it will take a number of years for these fish to rebound in numbers and size.

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After reading the above linked article, I could see this being exactly the reason for F&G doing the same thing in Payette Lake in an effort to protect downstream fisheries like Cascade Reservoir that are such a highly traffic kokanee  and other species fishery. Funny thing is that in 50+ years I have lived and fished here lake trout have always been a presence in Payette Lake so it is hard to see how that would ever happen.

From the people I've spoken with at F&G, there was never any concern expressed about having the Lake trout in Payette spread to other waters. The sole reason for an enacting this plan is to improve the Kokanee population.