Impact of Harvest in High Alpine Lakes

Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie

If you’re like most anglers in the country, you can’t wait to get up into the high country and fish some alpine lakes this year. But have you wondered what impact your own fishing may have on the size – and how often you catch – the fish in your favorite alpine lake?

Officials with Idaho Fish & Game had that same question, which is what spurred them to study the impact of catch and harvest rates on trout populations in high-elevation lakes. The study has concluded, and their finding were that catch-and-release or harvest didn’t impact fish size, or the rate of catch. It’s an interesting finding, which you can read more about here.