Two spearfishers take a break from searching the shallow weed beds on the west side of Placid Lake. The duo had support from a FWP boat while surveying the lake bottom.
Ted Snyder holds up two types of spears used in the event. The yellow one is a classic staff that uses an elastic band to shoot the rod through the water, and the black one is an open water projectile spear.
PLACID LAKE - Dark wetsuits and orange spears floated above the water of Placid Lake July 25 as members of the Missoula-based spearfishing club joined forced with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the Clearwater Resource Council and the Placid Lake Cabin Owners Association in hopes to find and kill any northern pike hiding in the water. After five hours of searching, nobody was able to spot the invasive species.
"Today went overall pretty good. We didn't find any pike," said Missoula-based spearfisher Sawyer Connoly. "Would have been fun to shoot some but in the grand scheme of things catching none is probably the best for the health of the lake."
Northern pike is an invasive species from eastern Montana. The fish entered the Clearwater River decades ago, but was first spotted in Placid Lake May 28 by Montana Fish, Parks and Wildlife. The FWP issued a catch and report order in an attempt to stop the pike from overtaking the native species in the lake.
The fishing event was spearheaded, literally, by FWPs order and an eagerness from CRC and the cabin owners to keep the area free of invasive fish. FWP Missoula Regional Fisheries Manager Patrick Saffel said at the event that finding no sign of pike in the lake is a good sign that there is no widespread invasion of the fish.
Placid Lake stands out from the other lakes in the Clearwater watershed. First, while the other lakes like Seeley and Salmon Lakes are fed from the Swan Range, Placid receives its runoff from the Mission Mountains.
Second, since all the lakes are connected by the Clearwater River, it was assumed that once northern pike established in Seeley and Salmon Lakes, it was only a matter of time before all of the lakes along the chain would have the voracious predator. However, Placid Lake has a dam at its outlet into Owl Creek which dumps into the Clearwater River.
"For 20 years, that dam, we believe, has been the bulwark preventing northern pike from entering Placid Lake," wrote Placid Lake cabin owner Tom Beers.
According to Beers, several years ago the spring runoff caused flooding that flowed over the top of the dam at Owl Creek. While FWP had already been monitoring for pike in the lake, this event added to the concern. FWP needed to ascertain whether pike had entered the lake so they put it under surveillance for three years. Whether it was an illegal introduction or the flooding, FWP found their first fish, a female with eggs, while gillnetting during their third year of monitoring.
Saffel explained that Placid is home to a recovering population of bull trout, a threatened species vulnerable to predation from the pike.
"What is particularly concerning is our bull trout really can't handle much more. This might be the final straw for them," Saffel said.
Bull trout and other native species have been able to survive pike free for decades, while other areas suffered from the powerful predator.
According to Saffel, the CRC and cabin owners association wanted to be able to search the lake more, so he brought in the Missoula-based spearfishing club. The club first interacted with FWP when they wanted to spearfish for an invasive species in Seeley Lake. For this event, FWP lifted the spearfishing regulations allowing them to go after the invasive species in Placid Lake.
"We are a club interested in increasing opportunity [to spearfish] for non-native invasive species, I guess as a conservation ethic," said Connoly. He added, "Being in the water, we are a good resource for the biologists because we are seeing a lot of what's going on, even if we aren't harvesting anything, and can report back."
The spearfishing event is not the end to the search for pike in the lake. Saffell said there will continue to be a regulation on catch and kill, as well as using gillnetting to control the pike.
"The key thing was we captured one pike in the spring and there is certainly a potential for there to be more than one pike," Saffel said. "Our best chance to control an invasive species is early on. So we needed to get a good idea on how early we were on the invasion of pike in the system."
Reader Comments(0)