Angler assistance is critical to managing invasive walleye in salmon and steelhead waters
Walleye are voracious, predatory fish that can consume young salmon and steelhead that are rearing, or migrating, in Idaho rivers.
Idaho Fish and Game
Salmon and steelhead are valuable resources to Idaho that already face many challenges, and they don’t need more, particularly from illegally introduced walleye that have been creeping up the Snake River. Walleye are voracious, predatory fish that can consume young salmon and steelhead that are rearing, or migrating, in Idaho rivers. Knowing how many walleye are out there is challenging without anglers reporting any walleye they catch (and keep).
Anyone who catches a walleye in an Idaho river is asked to kill it, take a photo and contact Idaho Fish and Game Biologist Marika Dobos at the Lewiston Regional Office by email at marika.dobos@idfg.idaho.gov, or by calling 208-750-4228.
Information provided by anglers — along with a fish trap at Lower Granite Dam — indicate that walleye are moving upstream of Lower Granite in increasing numbers. The Snake River is immense and long sections of it are difficult to access and monitor fish populations, so trying to understand what is going on with walleye is challenging. Anglers have been key to helping biologists understand walleye distribution in these areas.
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