Montana state record Chinook

[tikkalover]

FORT PECK MARINA, Mont. (KFYR) - A new state record Chinook salmon was caught on Fort Peck Reservoir on Aug. 9.

Jim Fauth of Malta was fishing east of the Fort Peck Marina, trolling a flasher and squid.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks-Region 6, Fauth’s fish weighed in at 32.62 pounds on a certified scale, measuring 38 inches long with a 28-inch girth.

The previous Montana Chinook salmon record was set in 2020 by Greg Haug of Bismarck, N.D. That fish weighed 32.05 pounds. It was also from Fort Peck Reservoir.

 

[Traxion]

There have been some pigs that have come out of Peck this year. Tons of nice lakers too.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Picture would look better if he would have held the fish out away from him a little bit, just my opinion though

Congrats to the angler

 

[wslayer]

What a beauty . . .

 

[Sum1]

What a beast! Awsome!

 

[Sum1]

I wonder why ND had such little salmon?

 

[Twitch]

Different forage

 

[Trip McNeely]

I wonder why ND had such little salmon?

Smelt vs Cisco.

 

[Trip McNeely]

Maybe our salmon guys could experiment with stocking more Cisco or lake herring here Not complaining as I still enjoying dropping my balls all summer but our salmon are so damn fickle here. Undersized and overfed with smelt. I bet if we started stocking lakers that would thin some smelt out of the forage pool and make hungrier salmon

 

[Twitch]

They tried lakers a few times and they never took here.

 

[Trip McNeely]

They tried lakers a few times and they never took here.

heard various renditions of the supposed attempts. Last effort was in the 70s-80s. Stocked during warmer months. Smaller fingerings. I’m sure with the advances in hatchery rearing and just the overall advancement in stocking knowledge over 40 years it would be worth the effort to try again. Point blank. 1) Our salmon (cold water) fishery is below average most days and average at best on the best days to other places. 2) I’m quite certain there is money spent on way more idiotic things than this in our federal or state governments. I have a theory as to why they don’t try again and it has nothing to do with “we tried 40 years ago and it didn’t work”

 

[Slappy]

Smelt vs Cisco.

I know this is the reason given by NDGF and it would make sense except that 10-12" cisco are commonly caught on salmon gear. It seems there are plenty of Cisco in Sak, and they're large. Are they too big?

 

[Trip McNeely]

I know this is the reason given by NDGF and it would make sense except that 10-12" cisco are commonly caught on salmon gear. It seems there are plenty of Cisco in Sak, and they're large. Are they too big?

I can’t say for certain but I’m wondering it’s one of two things. 1) Cisco populations aren’t dense enough to make them an abundant food source as compared to peck. 2) smelt are much more abundant than on peck and easier for salmon to gorge on so they focus their energy on smelt as forage and follow the smelt. In the end the salmon spend more time gorging on lesser energy food source so growth rates slow as compared to peck. Kinda like filling up on popcorn so you don’t eat your steak at a restaurant. Missing out on the better nutrients for growth because the popcorn is in front of your face and easy to get at. This may also explain why they seem sometimes very fickle and harder to catch than it is seemingly at Peck.

 

[Trip McNeely]

So in theory years with crappy smelt production should yield larger and more catchable salmon….. which a declining or low smelt population is in complete opposition to the goal for a sustainable and thriving walleye population.

 

[Riggen&Jiggen]

I think they should just stop stocking king salmon and start stocking steel head and brown trout. I used to fish every year for salmon and got sick of calling a 3 fish (5 to 7 lbers) day a great day. I am surprised that more people don't complain to the G&F of the crappy Salmon fishing. Not sure why when they first put salmon in the lake we were getting 30 lb salmon and now you are lucky to find them over 10 lbs. Something definitely is not working with the salmon program. Why keep banging your head against the wall and spending all that money. Oahe and Fort Pecks salmon fishing is way better so obviously something is not working on Sak. If it is because we don't have enough cold water habitat then why continue with it. I just think they should try other cold water species.

 

[Traxion]

I’d argue the Oahe salmon fishing is very similar to Sak in terms or numbers and quality. Tough bite most of the time.

 

[1bigfokker]

Zander

 

[Trip McNeely]

I think they should just stop stocking king salmon and start stocking steel head and brown trout. I used to fish every year for salmon and got sick of calling a 3 fish (5 to 7 lbers) day a great day. I am surprised that more people don't complain to the G&F of the crappy Salmon fishing. Not sure why when they first put salmon in the lake we were getting 30 lb salmon and now you are lucky to find them over 10 lbs. Something definitely is not working with the salmon program. Why keep banging your head against the wall and spending all that money. Oahe and Fort Pecks salmon fishing is way better so obviously something is not working on Sak. If it is because we don't have enough cold water habitat then why continue with it. I just think they should try other cold water species.

I guess this is been what I’m getting at. I don’t know why they can’t start putting in some other salmonoids to fill the gap or notch up the program a level or two so to speak. I’m not saying stock the shit out of sakakawea with trout but why couldn’t they put in 20-30k steelies or browns in rodeo, government or scoria bay every year to supplement the cold water program? Try I feel now they have a baseline set that’s average to below average most days and declining.

 

[wslayer]

Lot of people I know from Jmst, Wimbledon, Kensal, Carrington area use to go up for salmon fishing 20 yrs ago. The 5-7 lb fish were no longer worthy of the trip.

 

[Trip McNeely]

I don’t think they want lakers because lakers would become the dominant predator and add pressure to the smelt population that the walleye guys would have a kinipshit over. And since lakers would naturally reproduce they couldn’t control the population if it got out of hand. That and stocked fish need a “program”. You know they won’t cut a “program” I don’t think it has as much to do with amount of cold water habitat as they lead on.