Is Island Park in danger?

Island Park is 33 miles long, and only 500 feet wide. There are only several hundred people that call Island Park “home” in the official census form, but its many thousands have their hearts there.  The physical population does swell during fishing season.

Being that long and skinny, with all those fishermen. Is Island Park in danger of tipping over? Will it capsize?

I’m worried.

The state agency that oversees Harriman state park may be “reorganized”, which puts a lot of uncertainty in the park. According to the press release from the Henry’s Fork Foundation:

Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has proposed the elimination of general funding for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR) as part of the 2010 state budget. The elimination of IDPR potentially means the loss of public access to state parks and facilities all over Idaho, including the world-famous Harriman State Park in Fremont County.

…According to State sources, the Governor has recommended that responsibility for park maintenance be transferred to the Idaho Department of Lands, with a goal of continuing to operate state parks.

This may be a rational reorganization of the management team that operates the Idaho state parks. These are tough times economically, which reduces state income, and rational organizations adapt to live in their means.

But then again, bureaucrats are making these decisions. Bureaucrats tend to base decisions to protect the bureaucracy, not little things like reason, wild trout, angler access,  and preserving nature for future generations.

Damn straight that anyone who visits that slice of heaven known as “The Ranch” has the right to be concerned.

Its time to break out that hope.

A 2 mile dirt road leads to the campground. There is an area for fishermen to park, and a trail leads to the river. The best fishing is another 200 yards downriver from the campground.

If I’m out to just get the kids the joy to catch and release fish, I’ll put on a soft hackle and help them cast a wet-fly swing. The fish can grab at any time, but frequently when the swing is complete and the fly straight downstream. This is a very user friendly way to fish here.  Dry flies and nymphs work well also.

I started out believing that Mack’s Inn was an Exxon station where I bought my fishing license and filled up the car. Over the years, I learned of the dances and history of place, fires and all.  This year, Mack’s Inn turns 100.  Read all about it on the Island Park Idaho blog.

The angler survey was conducted by the Henry’s Fork Caldera Project, funded by the Henry’s Fork Foundation. I was one of the surveyed anglers, answering about 15 questions as I returned to the north access parking area.

The report is summarized in a slideshow, which is embedded below. The report shows that 57% of the anglers were unsuccessful at catching a fish the day they were surveyed. However, the anglers expressed that Aesthetics, Fish Habitat, and ability to fish to rising fish were the the most important to them. Actual numbers of fish caught was the lowest rated importance.

When asked if they desired to keep the Ranch as a wild trout fishery, 88% agreed or strongly agreed. Likewise, 76% disagreed or strongly disagreed with any idea to stock trout on the Ranch.

My personal view, I’ve been fishing Henry’s Fork for the past 15 years. I do wish the catching was a little better in the Ranch, but agree with the majority of other anglers, don’t stock.  There are plenty of areas on Henry’s Fork to catch stocked trout. Keep the Ranch wild.  The area that I disagree with the majority? Getting skunked that day A beautiful, parr-marked, wild rainbow caught on a BWO sparkle dun.

Henry’s Fork Foundation has performed many trout migration/mobility studies using radio telemetry in the upper portion of the river. A new telemetry study is underway in the lower portion (below the Chester diversion dam).  This study is concentrating on brown trout.

Twenty-four brown trout, ranging between 14 and 24 inches were caught with electro-fishing and instrumented with radio transmitters. The location of each trout is tracked periodically and made available as Google earth placemarks. They tracked the locations often during spawning season, and will continue tracking through 2009.

Watching the video below shows the surgery where they implant the radio tracker and transmitter. Ouch. Adding all of this hardware has to affect the behavior of the fish, but from my experience, flawed information is much better than no information.

My take-aways:

• What an outstanding resource we have in river-keeper organizations like Henry’s Fork Foundation.
• Thanks to Jack, Mike, Girls, Wallace, Fish Lips and Emery for sponsoring fish.
• Donate to Henry’s Fork Foundation, the money is put to good use.
• 151.102, watch out, I know where you live

Upon arriving and passing the gate, we scanned the pool for fish. Pretty soon, we saw about a dozen nice fish in the shallow water just above the pool. The fish looked to be in the 16 inch range. What was interesting, the fish had a yellow streak down their lateral line. What an exciting view.

These were not rainbows though. Turns out they are Utah Suckers. Instead of disturbing spawning fish, I went upstream to some riffle water that’s always been productive. Instead of the large Henry’s Lake Hybrid, this riffle had about 200 spawning Utah Suckers. It looked like a mini version of Alaska.

The next day, we floated the Big Springs National Water Trail, mainly as a family float. We did bring our rods. At the confluence, where fishing becomes legal, we saw a few cutts, and many more spawning Utah Suckers.

I found that the suckers would take a chartreuse copper John. They actually put up a decent fight on my 4wt, even pulling line off the reel.