MISSOULA — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks wants anglers to help eliminate the newest non-native fish illegally introduced into Placid Lake.
The FWP Commission unanimously approved a short-notice regulation on Thursday requiring fishermen to “catch, kill and report” all smallmouth bass caught in Placid Lake.
This policy helps biologists to assess the extent of the problem - how many smallmouth bass have invaded the lake and where they are found — so they can decide how best to control or eliminate the invasive population.
Adam Strainer, recently hired as the new fisheries division administrator after Eileen Ryce resigned, told the commission that catch, kill and report procedures are the standard approach for managing small populations of nonnative fish introduced into waters where they don’t belong.
“An angler caught a smallmouth bass on Placid Lake in September and reported it to FWP. This is a really big deal,” Strainer said. “With your adoption, this regulation will be included in the 2025 regulation booklet.”
A Placid Lake cabin owner caught the smallmouth bass, about 10 inches long, from her dock on Sept. 13. Knowing it was unusual, she sent information and photos of the bass to FWP, who verified it was the first reported observation of smallmouth bass in Placid Lake.
Smallmouth bass normally reside in warmer water, which can exist in Lake Placid. But they are not native to Placid Lake or any waters of the Swan Valley. Since they are predatory, they could take a toll on the cold-water fishery that FWP has worked to maintain.
Placid Lake is a popular fishing spot for those who like kokanee, largemouth bass and westslope cutthroat trout. Threatened bull trout also migrate through the lake.
In the early 2000s, someone illegally introduced smallmouth bass to Seeley Lake, north of Placid Lake, and that population has continued to expand throughout the Clearwater River chain of lakes.
However, an outlet dam at Placid Lake was modified to prevent any fish from migrating into the lake, according to FWP. So the smallmouth bass reported in September was likely deliberately moved into Placid Lake.
The lakes in the Seeley-Swan Valley have been the target of other bucket biologists, a term that refers to citizens who illegally transplant species into waters where they shouldn’t be.
In May 2020, FWP biologists reported the first northern pike found in Placid Lake, which sparked similar concern because northern pike are even bigger predators than smallmouth bass.
Similar to the situation with smallmouth bass, bucket biologists previously introduced pike into Seeley Lake in the early 1990s, and the trout fishery has suffered since. Pike have also worked their way down the Clearwater and Blackfoot rivers.
FWP has documented more than 600 illegal introductions in state lakes, reservoirs, ponds and rivers since the 1980s, and most introductions have involved Northern pike.
Introduced pike ruined the largemouth bass fishery on the Thompson Chain of Lakes west of Kalispell, so biologists didn’t want largemouth bass in Placid Lake to suffer the same fate. No report was given as to the current situation.
In 2015, biologists found illegally introduced walleye in Swan Lake, north of Seeley Lake. Their analysis of the otoliths, or ear bones, of the walleye proved the fish had come from Lake Helena. Biologists can conduct a similar analysis to learn where the smallmouth bass in Placid Lake came from.
