By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

A plan to remove northern pike from the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene in an effort to promote the native cutthroat trout fishery will be unveiled at a meeting in Plummer next week.

The plan, funded by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe fisheries program and monitored in conjunction with Idaho Fish and Game, will use gillnets to remove northern pike from lakes in Heyburn State Park this spring including Benewah, Chatcolet and Hidden lakes as well as Round Lake.

The netting will start as soon as the ice is out, occur only during weekdays until May 24, and will stop between Memorial Day and Oct. 1 to minimize conflict with recreational users, according to Idaho Fish and Game.

A similar program has been used for the past four years by the Tribe and Fish and Game to suppress northern pike in Windy Bay, said Andy Dux, the state’s regional fish manager.

“We have learned from our efforts in Windy Bay that pike can be maintained at low densities in a localized area to minimize predation on a species … like cutthroat trout,” Dux said. “Early results suggest that cutthroat from Lake Creek are surviving better, so we are hopeful that a similar approach will benefit the struggling cutthroat trout population in Benewah Creek.”

Over the years, pike caught in the Windy Bay project were relocated to the northern part of the lake, according to the Tribe. Brock Morrow, chairman of the North Idaho Pike Association, said pike caught in the latest project will not be relocated.

“That’s not going to happen,” Morrow said. “This is strictly a kill fish program.”

He and group members oppose the program, arguing that pike have been in the system since the 1960s and are just one of the predators, including bass, to feed on cutthroat trout near spawning streams.

“We definitely do not recommend gill netting for any predator — bass, pike or any,” Morrow said.

At the meeting, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Plummer at the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Wellness Center, 1100 A St., biologists will present project plans in more detail.

“This is really about the need for finding a better balance within the fish community that allows cutthroat to thrive in the lake,” said Angelo Vitale, the Tribe’s fisheries program manager.

The Tribe has conducted restoration projects for a couple decades in several creeks including Evans and Lake Creek, and Benewah Creek on the lake’s southern end, closed the fishery in some streams and removed competing brook trout. Despite its efforts, the native westslope cutthroat trout haven’t recovered as anticipated, Vitale said.

“We understand that a serious survival bottleneck exists in the lake that has to be addressed as part of a comprehensive recovery program,” he said.

Anglers like Morrow, however, aren’t sure targeting pike is the answer. Bass are voracious predators, as are most game and panfish in the lake. And like bass, pike provide tremendous recreational fishing opportunities for anglers, especially shoreline anglers in the lake’s many bays, as well as ice fishermen in Heyburn State Park.

In addition to the Windy Bay pike relocation, the Tribe for several years offered a bounty on pike.

“We disagree with the way they are going about doing this,” Morrow said. “Until all anglers put their differences aside, this is what we’re going to get.”

Dux said Fish and Game supports testing whether pike removal will benefit cutthroat trout survival in the southern end of the lake, without negatively impacting other popular game species such as largemouth bass.

The public approved pike removal and relocation from Windy Bay, according to a fishing survey conducted by the Tribe in 2017, and results showed support for suppression of pike in other areas where their numbers may impact cutthroat trout survival, Vitale said.

But Morrow thinks keeping an accessible and exciting lake fishery — such as the pike fishery — intact is vital to passing the fishing tradition to young people.

“That’s one way to get kids into lake fishing,” he said. “You get them going after pike, bass and panfish and those are all warm water species.”