FWP unveils draft Fresno fisheries plan at Havre meeting

Biologists from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks presented their 10-year Fresno Reservoir fisheries management plan to the public Monday evening in Havre, drawing more people than anticipated.

Havre-area Fisheries Biologist Cody Nagel said the plan is the first of its kind for Fresno and was developed with the help of a nine-member citizens advisory council.

FWP Region 6 Fisheries Program Manager Steve Dalbey said the plan represents the combined values of FWP and the public.

“We all had a common goal to make this the best fishery we could,” Dalbey said.

Nagel said the biggest change in the plan compared to recent management strategies is the inclusion of stocking walleye, hopefully on an annual basis.

While FWP will be monitoring plenty of biological factors regarding the fish populations, they are looking to bump the reservoir from 16 to 17 fish per net to 18-21 when conducting annual monitoring of the population.

The plan also details the methods that will be used to evaluate populations and maintain healthy average sizes.

Nagel said the reason they were hesitant to heavily rely on stocking is because they wanted to create a more self-sustaining ecosystem in Fresno, and data indicates that that approach has paid off, and the advisory committee is now recommending stocking.

He said last year the forage base at Fresno was a big concern to him, but he won’t know what it looks like now until more data is gathered later this week.

He said last year’s data indicated that the fisheries were doing well over all despite issues with the forage base, but data being collected later this week will show what the state of things is now.

He said he understands why stocking has been an issue of some contention in the past, and said, ultimately, Fresno is a recreational reservoir for FWP.

“People just want to catch more fish, and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said.

Nagel said he’s hoping anglers will take advantage of the increased number and keep more fish so the ecosystem remains in balance.

Dalbey also emphasized that stocking can be a useful tool and will raise the catch rate for local anglers, but it’s important to remember that it is not the be-all, end-all solution.

“It’s not like you can just stock fish, and then the next year you go out there and there’s four-pound walleyes for everyone, that’s not how it works,” he said.

Nagel said the plan’s daily catch and possession limits are the same as the Eastern District standards and, for now, there will be no special regulations beyond that.

However, he said, if fish populations become an issue they don’t rule out imposing more restrictions on walleyes and yellow perch.

The plan says there will be no limit on the number of tournaments that can be held at Fresno, but that policy will be reviewed each year and may change based on the circumstances.

The plan recommends that Catch, Photo, Release-Style Tournaments will be encouraged in late spring and summer, but may need to be canceled if the water level gets too low.

Tournaments may also be prohibited on holiday weekends and during April, spawning season.

The plan also includes future plans for habitat enhancement including the possibly developing more terrestrial vegetation on the shorelines and underwater habitat structures that ill provide deep-water fish with with some refuge, he said.

He said FWP has been working with Walleyes Unlimited for years creating fish habitat out of discarded Christmas trees, and they are looking into more projects in a similar vein.

Dalbey said FWP does have some concerns about the effect that successive drawdowns at the reservoir will have between this year’s drought, last year’s drop collapse at the St. Mary Diversion and an upcoming Safety of Dams project.

He said Fresno is a uniquely resilient habitat and the past 10 years has been a very good water cycle, but having drawdowns several years in a row could have a serious negative impact on the fisheries.

He said many people have come to him with concerns about water-level management, but he said while FWP can provide recommendations, the Bureau of Reclamation, working with congressional authority, is in charge of water-level management.

Fresno was built in the 1930s as part of the irrigation Milk River Project with the primary goals of flood control and storing water for crop irrigation.

Nagel and Dalbey said they were pleased with the turnout for the presentation and feedback was mostly positive.