South Fork rainbow trout being removed

In spite of efforts to remove non-native rainbow trout from the South Fork of the Snake River, two successful spawning years in a row have resulted in a population that is double what it was just two years ago.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department is working to reduce hybridization between non-native rainbow trout and native cutthroat trout in the South Fork of the Snake River. Biologists will be manually removing rainbow and hybrid trout. Fish will be stunned with electro-shocking equipment and transported to local ponds around the upper Snake Region, like Ryder Park near Idaho Falls.

The manual removal effort will not affect the Angler Incentive Program. Using that program, biologists have marked rainbows and hybrids with money tags. Fish and Game will continue to pay anglers between $50 to $1,000 for each of the fish heads turned in with those tags.

Any of the tagged fish caught in the electro-shocking will be returned to the river for anglers to catch.