I’m a little confused here. Historically, Flathead River westlope cutthroat trout used the sloughs in the winter months while migrating to and from the lake. I would bet there are very few cutthroat that survive in the sloughs due to the pike infestation, but the ones that do make it into the sloughs (and avoid getting chowed by a pike) can be bonked by an angler. I thought the FWP was concerned about the survival of the species and wanted to “minimize the loss of westslope cutthroat trout populations.” I don’t know if these slough cutthroat are 90% pure and worthy of being saved, but these regs don’t seam to go along with the FWP mission.
Owner/Outfitter/Janitor at Bigfork Anglers Fly Shop
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Call a biologist and post what they say. I’d love to hear the response.
I’m pretty sure there are disagreements within FWP between the views/research of the biologists and the fisheries managers ideas.