South Fork Boise River

Idaho Fish and Game biologist Joe Kozfkay came to the January 9th meeting of the Ted Trueblood Chapter of Trout Unlimited with an update on the South Fork Boise River fishery, showing the 2012 trout population appears stable or increasing depending on fish size.

As manager of the Southwest Idaho Region’s fisheries Kozfkay came loaded with data and historical information in his Powerpoint slide show.  And he explored many facets of this river resource we all cherish.  Over the next few posts we will break down the information.  This update looks at the overall population densities for the latest samping efforts.

Like any good drama, the results were held until towards the end of the presentation, but it was well worth the wait as Continue Reading…

Joe Kozfkay, Idaho Fish and Game Southwest Regional Fisheries Manager.

The Wednesday, January 9, 2013 Ted Trueblood Chapter of Trout Unlimited meeting will feature Joe Kozfkay, the Southwest Regional Fisheries Manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Joe Kozfkay will introduce himself at the meeting, and provide a brief discussion of past monitoring efforts on the South Fork of the Boise River, presenting results from 2012 population estimating efforts, and lastly will be available to discuss other IDFG programs and activities.

Population monitoring is a key component of fisheries management. A variety of techniques may be used to gauge population status and trends for salmonids in mid- to large-size rivers.

IDFG crew doing the South Fork Boise River population survey electrofishing in October 2009 — photo by Whitefish Ed

In the South Fork of the Boise River (SFBR) downstream of Anderson Ranch Dam, IDFG employees utilize canoe electrofishing on a tri-annual basis to monitor trout and whitefish populations. Population assessments were completed in mid-October 2012.

The Ted Trueblood Chapter meeting  will be at the MK Nature Center, behind the IDFG Headquarters Office, 600 South Walnut. Fly tying starts at 6:30 pm with the regular meeting/program beginning at 7:30. Hope to see you there.

Back in January a question to Idaho Statesman outdoors reporter Pete Zimowsky brought up the didymo topic.

Q: When I was fishing on South Fork of the Boise River last month, I’m almost positive I saw some “didymo” on rocks along the bank.

It was like I thought I saw on the South Island of New Zealand.

CONCERNED ANGLER, email

Zimowsky responded that Idaho Fish and Game has confirmed presence of didymo in locations along the South Fork Boise River.  And that it has been there for a number of years.  The entire question and answer is here.

So, is didymo the next thing to wring our hands about?  What do we know and need to know about this diatom (algae) that goes by the latin name didymosphoenia geminata?

Fortunately it appears the attention to this problem is going to escalate and in early 2013 there will be the International Didymo Conference to be held March 12-13 in Providence, Rhode Island.  The national Trout Unlimited organization is a sponsor.  Information about the conference can be found at the stopans.org website here.

What information we have on the South Fork Boise River and didymo appears to be largely anecdotal at this point.  Some long-time anglers recall a particularly bad episode or two in the early 1990s.  In fact 1992 and 1994 come to mind, and those were years where the summertime flows were reduced early in the summer because Anderson Ranch Reservoir was running out of water in those drought years.  Some early 2000 drought years also saw a return.  Correlation with water flows is only part of the picture, and perhaps an international conference can help shed light on this topic and what to do about it.

For more information there is a pretty good page that EPA has put together here.