Lake Cascade Fishery Update for 2024

It's mid-January, and the ice fishing season on Lake Cascade is finally here. As of last weekend, ice anglers were spread out around the lake, reporting ice thickness ranges of 1 to 8 inches depending on their location. The widespread snow we're receiving this week in Valley County will make travel conditions on the lake difficult for the near future, but rest assured, the season is finally upon us. 

For the 2024 ice season, Fish and Game will not be providing routine updates on Lake Cascade ice conditions. However, many other resources are available, including Facebook groups and local tackle shops where you can get the latest information on ice and fishing conditions. 

Read below to learn about the current status of the fishery and what you can expect in the coming year on Lake Cascade, and we wish all ice anglers a successful and safe season ahead! 

2023 gill netting survey results

Every October, Idaho Fish and Game biologists and technicians carry out routine surveys on Lake Cascade to assess the status of the fishery. This year, a two-boat crew was able to capture and measure more than 1,200 fish, which provided valuable information about the current state of the fishery. The results of the survey were very encouraging.

Yellow perch outlook

Similar to what was reported in the 2022-2023 Lake Cascade Fishery Update Blog, we have continued to see an increase in the number of yellow perch caught during our annual surveys in recent years. Figure 1 (below) depicts the trend in overall perch abundance from 2012 to present. Numbers declined in 2017 and remained low for about three years, but we are now starting to see the rebound from that period. 

When abundance was low between 2017 and 2019, the perch fishery was mainly dominated by really large fish. That was great for fishing, but the problem was we weren’t seeing the next generation of perch (future Jumbos) recruiting into the fishery. 

In Figure 2 (below), you can see that we didn't see another strong group of 8- to 10-inch perch recruit into the fishery until 2020. Those jumbos that provided excellent fishing from 2015 through 2019 also consumed many of their own offspring, but as the abundance of jumbos started to decline, we started to observe an increase of smaller perch. 

We had another great year for the recruitment of 8- to 10-inch perch in 2023, which is why we are seeing an increase in the overall number of perch in the lake. It will take approximately three to four more years for those fish to reach "jumbo" status. 

Fortunately, there are still many big ones around in the meantime, and the recruitment we’ve seen over the past three years is sure to continue producing big perch in Lake Cascade for the foreseeable future.

Angler effort and harvest

We have heard concerns from some anglers that Lake Cascade is being overfished and that Fish and Game should consider bag limits or size limits for perch to sustain the fishery's quality. It’s true that the decline of many trophy perch fisheries in the midwestern US can been attributed to overfishing. However, Lake Cascade is a different beast. Here is what we know about fishing pressure and harvest on Lake Cascade.

In 2022, we conducted a year-long angler survey on Lake Cascade, and we estimated approximately 67,000 perch and 4,000 trout were harvested over the course of that year. We have been conducting tagging studies for over a decade, showing that around 10% of the lake's perch are harvested annually. Combining these two datasets, we can estimate that there are over 600,000 harvestable perch swimming in Lake Cascade – that's a lot of perch! 

If only 10% of those perch are being harvested on an annual basis, harvest is not the main driver of perch abundance and catch rates for the Lake Cascade fishery. After all – Lake Cascade perch can live up to 16 years which is unheard of for yellow perch. If perch can swim around Lake Cascade for that long without being harvested, overharvest is not an issue. 

Here’s another example of why limits are not warranted on Lake Cascade: One popular suggestion we’ve heard is to introduce a daily bag limit of 12 perch per angler. The first question to ask in considering this is: How many anglers actually harvest more than 12 perch per day?

During the year-long angler survey, we conducted around 1,400 angler interviews and found that only 3% of anglers harvest 12 or more perch per trip. In fact, 50% of the anglers we interviewed didn’t even harvest a perch. Therefore, imposing restrictive limits for perch on Cascade will not have a biological impact on the quality of the fishery. Rather, the cyclic nature described in the previous section, and shown in Figure 2, is what’s driving the characteristics of this perch fishery. 

When fishing is great, we anticipate some down years to follow, and when the fishing is slow, we expect a strong year class to build the fishery back up again. These are called density-dependent cycles, and these cycles are typical of perch populations. 

Since harvest is not the main driver for perch dynamics in lake Cascade, Fish and Game is not considering any changes to bag limits at this time.

Angler access

A reminder to all anglers, the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation maintains ice fishing access at Poison Creek, Boulder Creek, Crown Point, Van Wyck, and Blue Heron. The Stonebreaker parking lot, maintained by Fish and Game, is also open for the season. Anglers are reminded that this lot is on private property, so please be especially courteous and respectful when using this access point. Last fall, Fish and Game worked with Valley County Road Department to widen the shoulder of the road at the 90-degree turn location, which will provide a limited amount of additional parking – great for walk-in anglers. If you have a trailer, please consider using other access areas to leave room for walk-in anglers here. 

Camping is allowed ONLY at the Poison Creek, Van Wyck, and Blue Heron locations. Please do not leave vehicles overnight at any of the other locations. 

Another Walleye caught

Unfortunately, we caught another walleye in Lake Cascade during our annual October gillnetting survey. This is the third walleye to be caught in the last six years and it raises concerns about the illegal introduction of this species into Lake Cascade. We ask anglers to report any information they have on people illegally moving fish. Similar to the walleye caught in 2022, Fish and Game will be collaborating with researchers to better understand the source of this illegally introduced walleye. 

Currently, Fish and Game is unsure if walleye have established in Lake Cascade. However, given the size of the walleye captured this year and the lack of walleye caught from the year-round angling pressure and annual Fish and Game surveys, we are hopeful that walleye have yet to establish in Lake Cascade. You can learn more about the dangers and concerns of illegal walleye introductions in Idaho here: Walleye aren't bad fish, just the wrong fish for Idaho Blog.

For more information on Lake Cascade and the other McCall subregion fisheries, contact the McCall Fish and Game office (208)-634-8137, Regional Fisheries Biologist anthony.dangora@idfg.idaho.gov  or Regional Fisheries Manager jordan.messner@idfg.idaho.gov.