August 24 Hearing Approaches on Development Threat to Henry's Lake

The Henry's Fork needs no introduction as most trout anglers know it is one of Idaho's crown jewels and then some.

But according to a news release from the Henry's Fork Wildlife Alliance, that crown jewel is threatened by potential development, which puts a large portion of the Henry's Lake Flats in Island Park at risk thanks to a three-story hotel and private residential airpark. According to the HFWA, the project indicate that the commercial and high-density development will "...profoundly diminish, obscure, and forever destroy the iconic beauty of vast open-space meadowland.

Open spaces and natural habitats are vital to the cherished wildlife of Island Park—including federally protected grizzly bears that are present on the Flats, native and resident pronghorn whose calves are born in spring, elk, and multiple officially identified “species of greatest conservation need” whose habitat includes the Flats."

The proposed project would include the airpark being developed on a 432-acre parcel while 133 acres of that parcel would be rezoned for commercial/industrial use in an unknown portion of the project. The airpark would also have approximately 32 residential lots included as well.

Add in the three-story, 132-room Flat-Rock Hotel and potentially a 70-stall RV park, and the threat level to the iconic Flats rises even higher according to WFWA.

What can you do to help ward off this threat in Fremont County? The WFWA says that first, interested parties can attend a public hearing on Aug. 24, 2024 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Island Park EMS building (located at 4395 County Circle Road). Second, you can sign and share a petition against the proposal by going here. And finally, you can submit written comments to the Fremont County P&Z Commission by e-mailing comments and questions to P&B@co.fremont.id.us.

Single and Happy

Some good news–there's actually something you can do on an individual level to help fish, according to the American Saltwater Guides Association (ASGA). And that is simply making better gear choices, something encouraged by a collaborative ASGA community campaign that seeks to minimize the recreational angling footprint while also reducing striped bass catch-and-release mortality rates that happen after an angler has left the water.

Introducing ASGA’s “Local Singles Program.” The campaign has a one-two punch, with the ASGA encouraging anglers to adjust their gear by swapping out the back hooks on their plugs to reduce damage to fish. And secondly, the campaign also encourages anglers to turn in batches of treble hooks in an effort to get entered into a drawing for a custom piece of art made entirely of "out of commission" treble hooks.

For doing so, the Saltwater Edge tackle shop in Middletown, Rhode Island will be offering some shop deals for conservation minded anglers. And the ASGA will also be awarding some exclusive "Single & Happy" decal packs just in time for the fall migration run down the Atlantic coastline.

But the biggest reason to participate is because of what the science says, and that's that double treble hooks do damage to striped bass, damage that sometimes results in a fish dying well after the release.

"For almost three decades, we have been using the ‘Diodoti & Richards, Mortality of Striped Bass Hooked & Released in Saltwater, 1996’ study as our baseline for release mortality," notes the ASGA in its news release. "Now, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is heading towards the finish line of what will be the most comprehensive study on catch and release mortality ever done for the species."

The ASGA also notes that: "Preliminary results from this research show that fishing with bait results in the greatest mortality for released striped bass due to gut hooking. For lures, double trebles do a great deal of physical damage to striped bass. Two single hooks are next for overall mortality. The predicted mortality for a treble/treble is 8.1%. For a single/single it is 4.4%. However, removing one hook gets you to a mortality rate of about 3%, which is a dramatic decrease in striped bass release mortality."

While fly anglers typically fish with single-hook streamers anyway for Atlantic striped bass, some fly anglers use conventional gear from time to time when conditions make fly rodding difficult. Or they have friends that they fish with who use traditional gear and the treble hooks on plugs. In either case, the ASGA encourages a change based on science and care for the striped bass resource.

"Every angler can have an immediate impact on their angling footprint by removing a single hook," reports the ASGA. "Many striped bass anglers have expressed their strong desire to help this fishery. Making the decision to fish a single hook lure is one easy action to start reducing release mortality. 

"If you still want to maximize your presentation, try replacing the back hooks with a “flag” (hookless bucktail) to draw predators attention. If you intend to release the fish, it is incumbent on the individual angler to make the right choices. This new science by Massachusetts DMF allows us to make informed choices based on the best available science."   

Nearly Three Dozen Rivers Face Wild Salmon Ban in Norway

The longstanding tradition of fishing for wild Atlantic salmon in Norway has hit a few costly speed bumps this summer, and in more ways than one.

First off, Midcurrent's Spencer Durrant and others have reported recently that Norway has banned salmon fishing on 33 of its rivers to try and protect dwindling Atlantic salmon stocks. With Norwegian officials pointing at climate change and fish farms as leading culprits in the declines, parasites from farmed salmon are also being blamed.

The perfect storm of parasites, warmer water temperatures, and diminishing food resources and beleaguered habitat among other things is impacting the size of salmon smolt, ultimately resulting in smaller salmon returning to spawn as adults. All of this—including fish farm mortality rates that reportedly totaled nearly 63 million last year—is causing big problems in Norway, leading to the dramatic action.

If that's not enough, the Norway News in English website notes that the government's controversial decision is producing strong reaction, and as news and photos get spread around of wealthy and powerful anglers—reportedly including Norway's own King Harald V to soccer legend David Beckham and even rock star Eric Clapton—finding ways to get on these off-limit waters that others can’t enjoy right now, tensions could be rising.

While the steep declines of wild salmon stocks this season has led to fishing closures in rivers from south of Trøndelag and on south through Østfold, the result is the closure of the 33 rivers declared off limits by authorities. In light of this, it should also be noted that most rivers in northern Norway remain open to fishing and that Norwegian officials were also reportedly reassessing the situation last month.

And while the fishing ban is a big blow to Norwegian anglers and visitors to the nation who hope to find a big Atlantic salmon at the end of their fly line, many are in support of the closure.

In fact, according to the Norwegian news site referenced above, that includes Norway's national organization that champions wild salmon fishing in the country, Norske Lakseelver. The group has reportedly supported the government's decision, despite looming revenue losses that could potentially total as much as "...NOK 1.3 billion tied to wild salmon."

“This is a deeply tragic situation,” noted the organization’s leader, Pål Mugaas, in the Norwegian news report. "But it’s about the destiny of wild salmon. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Texas' Billionth Saltwater Hatchery Fish Released

Hatchery fish production by government agencies in the U.S. can be a good thing—see tailwater trout streams like the Guadalupe River in Central Texas and Arkansas' White River tailwater in the Ozark Mountains, along with Florida strain largemouth bass genetics being introduced in numerous places all across North America—or it can be a bad thing as many Fly Fisherman readers know in the continuing salmon battles fought along the West Coast.

Biologists and leaders with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department watched the release of a single hatchery reared redfish fingerling—"Billie the Billionth,” as TPWD dubbed the one-inch long red drum—showed that the war over the potential demise of red drum has been successfully waged and won by conservationists intent on preserving an iconic Lone Star State saltwater game fish species that has thrived in Texas saltwater venues ever since creation began. 

That game fish, the redfish, which was dubbed as "America's Fish" in a recent Fly Fisherman story by Blane Chocklett, is more accurately known as the red drum, and can be found along the mid-Atlantic and southeastern coastline, around both sides of the Florida peninsula, and all across the Gulf of Mexico from Panama City to South Texas’ famed Lower Laguna Madre.

The redfish is, of course, an iconic inshore species that is synonymous with saltwater fishing the length and breadth of the Texas Gulf Coast from Beaumont on the Louisiana border and all the way down to the Lower Laguna Madre near South Padre Island, Brownsville, and the U.S./Mexico border. Throughout its lengthy range in Texas, the redfish was once nearly lost as the population plummeted after commercial overfishing in the 1960s and 1970s along with a disastrous freeze in December 1983 that left stocks reeling. 

But the near catastrophic plunge of redfish numbers in Texas also brought a hatchery science breakthrough in 1975 that eventually paved the way for a remarkable comeback story—arguably the greatest one ever told in the Lone Star State—leaving the iconic inshore species finally secure and prospering, for now at least.

“We are proud to celebrate this historic milestone with the people of Texas and shed light on the work biologists and technicians have put in to keep these fisheries healthy,” said Robin Riechers, director of TPWDs Coastal Fisheries Division, in a news release. “Coastal Fisheries staff have been stocking saltwater fish into Texas bays since the 1980s to revitalize historic fisheries and speed up the recovery of overfished stocks. TPWD’s long withstanding history of implementing strategic fishery management practices have helped keep fish stocks healthy and sustainable for Texas anglers. We could not have reached the stocking of the billionth fish without the support of Texas’ anglers, our partners and staff.” 

Bob Clouser’s Florida Fly Fishing School

If you'd like to up your fly angling game in the Sunshine State, there are two fly fishing schools coming up over the next few months that promise to deliver instruction from some of history's best saltwater fly anglers and the inshore angling waters they are renowned for being experts in.

First up is Bob Clouser's Fly Fishing School, featuring the legendary designer of the Clouser Deep Minnow, perhaps the single greatest multi-species fly pattern of all-time. The school will be held Sept. 20-21, 2024 at Camp Weed in Live Oak, Florida, starting with a meet and greet on Friday evening. The next day, the school will have casting instruction, fly tying instruction, and fishing instruction on Saturday.

As many know, the fly shop owner, fly tying guru, author, and Hall of Famer—Clouser was inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Catskill Fly Fishing Hall of Fame in 2009—was once a renowned smallmouth fly-fishing authority in Pennsylvania, with the Susquehanna River playing a key role in the Clouser Minnow's development.

But after losing his special needs son Michael in 2007 and his wife Joan, whom he was married to for 63 years, in 2018, Clouser found a fresh start in the saltwater riches of Florida's mid-Atlantic coastline near Cocoa Beach. There, Clouser has found new purpose and love after meeting his wife Jackie during a chance encounter at the Renzetti fly tying vise manufacturing facility during an instructional appearance.

These days, Clouser has an online fly shop, ties flies and teaches fly tying, gives fly casting instruction, and teaches effective fly angling strategies in events like the upcoming school and at fly club presentations.

The longtime close friend of the late Lefty Kreh, who actually broke the news to the Fly Fisherman world about Clouser's wonder fly in the July 1989 issue, will present at the school along with Jackie and friend David Lambert. The cost to attend the school—a total which includes all instruction, lunch on Saturday and loaner gear upon request—is $300 and space is limited. With the last day to register being Sept. 6, 2024., anyone interested can visit the fly shop website, e-mail the shop at sales@clouserflyshop.com, or contact Jackie Clouser at (321) 890-4876.

The Florida Boat

The Florida Boat is an initiative by the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) to raise awareness about the critical threats facing Florida's marine ecosystems, especially those impacting bonefish and tarpon populations by entering to win a fabulous Florida fishing boat and supporting BTT. This campaign emphasizes the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect these vital species and their habitats from issues like water quality degradation, habitat loss, and climate change. To enter the sweepstakes, visit BTT's website.

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Lynn Burkhead is a Senior Digital Editor with Outdoor Sportsman Group.

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