West River Fisheries Open House on Feb. 28th

The GF&P is hosting a Fisheries open house at the Outdoor Campus on Tuesday February 28th at 7:00pm. The meeting will focus on Western South Dakota fisheries management. Game Fish and Parks officials have told us that they will be soliciting input from anglers. This is an excellent chance to present what matters most to fly fishers here in the Black Hills and surrounding area. Be there to add your voice to the discussion.

Some ideas that have been in discussion amongst members of the BHFF board have been:

1) Asking for updated managment plans specific to individual trout streams or specific sections of streams in the Black Hills. By working with the GF&P staff it could be possible to make specific management targets to help our streams live up to their potential. An example could be a target managment plan to protect the fishery on Rapid Creek within Rapid City. This fishery has been gaining in popularity in recent years. This unique fishery offers fishing for wild brown trout in the heart of town. While easy to take for granted, this is a unique angling opportunity. By having a specific management plan for this fishery we have the possibility to improve and to protect its future.

2) Establishing a lake or reservoir managed as a trophy trout water. There are very few coldwater lake/reservoir fisheries in the state and currently there isn't a fishery managed specifically for large trout. Over the past decade many Black Hills lakes have seen illegal introductions of warmwater species. By picking a single lake that will be managed specifically with trophy trout in mind, and by forming a unique management plan for that body of water, it may open up more management tools available to GF&P. Deerfield Lake has good potential as a trophy trout lake- it is a no wake lake, has fewer introduced species, and it has a reproducing population of rainbow trout. 

3) Stressing the importance and unique variety of trout streams in the Black Hills. We need to let the Game Fish and Parks know how much we value our trout fisheries.