Anglers can expect a boost to warmwater fishing opportunities at six local community ponds in the Treasure Valley after receiving more than 10,000 fish from the Deer Flat Lowline Canal that were salvaged and transferred by Fish and Game staff.
F&G transfers warmwater fish to Treasure Valley Community Ponds
idfg-bpearson
Fish and Game staff in the Southwest Region scooped up netfuls of fish that included bass, bluegill, crappie, and yellow perch of various sizes from the outlet of Lake Lowell on Tuesday, Oct. 10, and distributed them between Red Top Pond in Caldwell, Dick Knox Pond in Emmett, Wilson Springs Beachs Pond in Nampa, Horseshoe Bend Pond, and McDevitt and Marianne Williams Pond in Boise. In total, about 450 pounds of fish were transferred.
“It’s exciting to boost fishing opportunities at some of the area’s community ponds, and to create or bolster self-sustaining populations of a variety of game fish that we know are popular with Treasure Valley anglers,” said Regional Fisheries Manager Art Butts. “We appreciate the support we received from the Boise Project Board of Control and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in making this happen.”
The transferred fish would have otherwise perished after the annual dewatering of the Deer Flat Lowline Canal, so it was a priority to get them into waters where they could continue to provide fishing opportunity for anglers, Butts added. Most of the fish moved were young-of-year, but there were also some older fish mixed in, which were spread out among the release sites.
“We are moving fish that would’ve wound up dead in the canal to places where people can continue to enjoy the resource – in many cases, right in their own neighborhood,” Butts said. “Hopefully these fish survive and reproduce in these ponds to reestablish self-sustaining populations, so that anglers can enjoy fishing for them for many years to come.”
Fish and Game also issued a salvage order that temporarily removed bag and possession limits on the Deer Flat Lowline Canal, downstream of the Deer Flat Lowline Dam. The order expired at 8 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2023.