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Boise man sets latest state C&R record for grayling

A Boise man holds the latest Idaho catch and release record for Arctic grayling.

Brian Brooks landed a 16.2–inch grayling, caught July 4 in Alpine Creek Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains south of Stanley. Brooks’ fish topped the previous record of 14 inches, held by Lanson Stavast. Stavast caught his fish two years earlier at Rough Lake, an alpine lake in the White Cloud Range of the Sawtooths.

Two previous Idaho Arctic grayling catch-and-release records came from the same area. A 12¾ and 13½-inch Arctic grayling came from Alpine Creek Lake in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Once indigenous to pockets of the Mountain West, grayling have been stocked in a handful of high alpine lakes in Idaho’s backcountry.

Panhandle lakes stocked with grayling include Smith, or Callahan, Lake in the Cabinet Mountains in Bonner County. The eight-acre lake is a Kootenai River tributary. It was stocked with 4,000 grayling in 2018. Boundary County’s three-acre Long Mountain Lake, also a Kootenai River tributary, was stocked with 900 grayling the same year. Fish in both lakes were less than 6 inches when they were last stocked.

Crater Lake in the Floodwood area of Shoshone County was stocked last year with 2,000 grayling under 6 inches along with 8-acre Steamboat Lake. Panhandle lakes have been stocked with grayling since the 1990s.

Grayling grow slowly in cold, high-mountain lakes, and a grayling more than 12 inches should be considered a big one, according to Fish and Game, which includes an Idaho Fishing Planner on its website for anglers who want to target a specific species.

“Most grayling live in high alpine lakes that require strenuous hikes, so come prepared to hit the trail and break a sweat, Martin Koenig of Fish and Game said.