Montana Changes Kokanee Fishing Regulation for Georgetown Lake

On April 19, 2022, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission changed the kokanee bag limit back to what it had been for years, allowing anglers at Georgetown Lake to once again keep an unlimited amount of kokanee. The regulation limiting the amount of kokanee salmon a person could keep was passed during the October 2021 commission meeting and went into effect March 1 of 2022. For 6 weeks, Georgetown lake went to the Montana western standard limit of 20 kokanee per day, and 40 in possession. The fish commission made several errors, including not reaching out to local anglers, and not tying the rationale to population trend, and sought to change that in the April 2022 Commission meeting.

Many fishermen in the area were opposed and protested the limitations, which is why the regulation got a second look.

Why Was the Limit at Georgetown Changed in 2021?

The reason the kokanee limit was changed at Georgetown in 2021 was because the kokanee were much larger that year. Kokanee in Georgetown have typically been between 6-12″ long, which is pretty small for a kokanee salmon. The reason they’re so small the state postulates is because the lake is overcrowded, which is also why there was no limit. Many people found it odd that one year of larger fish was enough to lead to the drastic change in regulations.

In the 2022 fishing guidebook, the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks director, Hank Worsech, noted that Georgetown was improving as a kokanee fishery, likely due to the larger sized fish in 2021.

Another possible reason for the change, though nobody came out and said so, were some pictures on social media of fishermen who had caught a lot of kokanee all at once, and had received some negative pushback from the community. Some of this negative reaction was to a fisherman who caught 100 or more fish and posted a picture of all those dead fish on social media. A local fisherman at the commission meeting commented that a person will only do that once, just because processing that many fish is a lot of work.

Problems with the Regulation Change at Georgetown Lake in October 2021

We think that the commission was pressured to make the limit change in response to the public outcry for these pictures, and the limited data from the larger fish in 2021 provided some semi-scientific excuse to make the change. At kokanee.fish we fully support responsible kokanee conservation and responsible fish management, but this regulation change was based on very limited data, with no evidence that there was any trend to concern biologists. Kokanee were larger in the 2021 season, but went back to normal smaller sizes in 2022.

The other issue was that there wasn’t appropriate communication with locals and fish and wildlife clubs.

What Happened at The Commission Meeting in April 2022 When the Regulation was Changed Back

The vote passed nearly unanimously with only one no vote, though that one commissioner that voted no was vocally opposed to changing back. This commissioner commented- it was too early to see the result of a regulation change, and that people opposed to the regulation change should have taken advantage of the comment period back in October of 2021. He also stated that regulations are usually in place for 3 years to properly test the effects of the regulations (which we found ironic because there was only one year of larger fish sizes to change the regulation to begin with).

Fisheries Division Administrator Dr. Eileen Ryce, presented for the state to provide insight as to the current state of both the regulation, and the kokanee population at Georgetown lake. Dr. Ryce stated that there were errors made were in communication in regards to the regulation. The regulation was based on population information. The unlimited limit was based on the idea that the lake was overpopulated, which is why fish there were 6-10″ sized kokanee in recent history. The unlimited harvest is designed to make there be less competition for the krill food source. She stated that the larger fish caught by the state in their survey made them want a smaller population to support the larger fish.

Dr. Ryce then said in the meeting that the lake could sustain a healthy population with either the unlimited limit or with a limit of 20 fish per day.

Public Comments Before the Georgetown Kokanee Limit Vote

One person commented that changing the regulation now would be critical for the fall salmon season. Georgetown as a salmon fishery is really popular in the fall. The kokanee salmon are used by locals for canning, and it takes about 80 of these small salmon to can a batch of kokanee salmon. Smoking large quantities of these salmon is also popular for locals.

A couple locals and wildlife clubs asked for better communication between wildlife clubs and the commission. People commented that they were unhappy with how the process was handled. They were not contacted.

Watch the Commission Meeting

The part of the meeting about getting rid of the Georgetown Lake kokanee limit starts at 2:38:49, and goes to 2:57:55 in the meeting. This embedded YouTube video is automatically set to start at the beginning of the discussion of the issue in the commission meeting.