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WALLEYE NEWS: Flathead WU members who helped on the project included, left to right: Doug Green, Thad Briggs, Jerry Barker, Trent Young and Bob Hickey. Flathead WU helps with dock at Smith Lake A greatly improved fishing dock will greet anglers this spring on Smith Lake west of Kalispell. The Flathead Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited contributed funds to add a refurbished dock that, along with the existing dock, will more than double opportunity for anglers at this popular lake. Chancy Jeschke and Frank Danner were the project leaders for FWU. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Fisheries Manager Jim Vashro notes that Smith Lake is one of the few places where shore anglers can catch perch and pike, but the existing dock was very overcrowded. The Flathead Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited paid for materials to refurbish an additional dock recycled from Whitefish State Park and add a T-extension at the end, more than doubling the number of anglers who can take advantage of the dock. The existing dock will accommodate wheelchairs. "This is the kind of project that benefits everyone that likes to fish," says Vashro. "These docks especially provide good fishing opportunities for kids and people with disabilities. We really appreciate the Flathead Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited helping to expand fishing opportunity in the valley." Bridgham selected as Fort Peck Hatchery manager Charlie Bridgham GLASGOW, Mont. - Longtime biologist and scientific researcher Charlie Bridgham has been appointed as the new manager of the Fort Peck Multi-Species State Fish Hatchery. Bridgham formerly served as assistant manager at the facility and was named acting manager after former Fort Peck Hatchery head Andrew Ollenburg left the position late last year. “Charlie will be an excellent manager of the Fort Peck Hatchery,” said FWP Hatchery Bureau Chief Bob Snyder. “He has a lot of warm-water fish culture experience and is very familiar with the hatchery’s program and complex infrastructure. Charlie will provide continuity to the hatchery’s program, as the Fort Peck Hatchery staff has proven that they work effectively as a team. Under Charlie’s supervision, I expect this to continue.” Bridgham, 45, grew up in a military family that frequently moved. He was born in Monterey, Calif., and his family lived in Southern California and Rhode Island for a time before settling in South Carolina. Bridgham graduated from Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, S.C. in 1981. He completed bachelor degrees in biology and geology at South Carolina’s College of Charleston in 1987. Prior to entering the fisheries management field, Bridgham worked as a radiological technician at a South Carolina shipyard. In the early 1990s, he signed on with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, where he served in the agency’s Marine Resources Division. Among other duties, Bridgham’s research team was involved with identifying candidate fish species for potential culturing. Much of the mariculture team’s work focused on red drum, a popular saltwater species commonly known as redfish or channel bass. Mariculture is the marine, or saltwater, branch of aquaculture. Bridgham said red drum populations had been depleted from a variety of factors, including early commercial fishing and a later lack of sport fishing seasons and limits. Team members were tasked with determining the feasibility of stocking hatchery-raised red drum to augment natural populations. They also needed to look at the potential environment impacts of adding another artificially raised fish into the local estuary. “Red drum is a relatively easy species to culture, but (full-blown culturing) never took off,” Bridgham said. One of the biggest challenges, he said, was determining whether red drum stocking programs were economically feasible. “We knew we could raise and release the fish and they would survive,” he explained. “But the question was always: How many would survive?” Along with red drum, Bridgham’s team conducted groundbreaking research on a variety of other fish species, including the endangered shortnose sturgeon, cobia, spotted sea trout, black sea bass, flounder, striped bass, white bass and striper-white bass hybrids. The work was split with time in the field studying the fish and their habitats and countless hours in the laboratory trying to manipulate their reproduction traits and behavior. “I’ve worked with a bunch of different species,” Bridgham said. “It was all looking at spawning and raising fish.” In 1997, Bridgham’s team received national recognition when it won the American Fisheries Society’s Outstanding Sportfish Restoration Award for their work on red drum. In late 2004, Bridgham, an avid waterfowl and upland bird hunter, left South Carolina to become a fish culturist at FWP’s Giant Springs State Fish Hatchery in Great Falls. He was promoted to the Fort Peck Hatchery assistant manager position in early 2006. A great example of passing our fishing heritage on to youth: Great Falls WU's 2008 Camp Walleye at Tiber Reservoir August 15-18, 2008 Video courtesy of Pat Volkmar, Great Falls North Middle School Fishing Club Best viewed in Internet Explorer -- other browsers may not show video Missoula angler catches new state record walleye By BRUCE AUCHLY Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks On Saturday, Nov. 17, Bob Hart, of Missoula, caught his first walleye, a 14-incher. On Sunday, Nov. 18, for his second walleye, he broke the Montana state record. Hart, 46, caught a 17.75-pound walleye at 7:15 a.m., Sunday, on the north shore of Tiber Reservoir southeast of Shelby. The fish measured 35 inches long with a 22-inch girth.The previous state record – 16.63 pounds and 31.5 inches long – was caught January 2000 in Fort Peck Reservoir. “We were just sitting on shore fishing with a minnow and a weight to keep it on the bottom,” Hart says. He had the five-inch minnow at about 20 to 30 feet when the walleye struck. It took about 15 minutes to land, Hart says. He had 6- or 8-pound test line on his reel. “I said ‘Ohmigod,’ and called my friend to get the net,” says Hart, who was fishing with Gordon Smedsrud of Shelby.The pair immediately took the fish to Shelby. “It took us a while to find a certified scale in Shelby on Sunday morning,” Hart says.Fortunately Taylor’s Hardware Store was open. The fish was then taken to a local taxidermist. So how does a fish grow that big in Tiber, not known for extremely large walleye?“There is a very abundant forage fish, cisco, in Tiber for a large fish,” said Dave Yerk, fisheries biologist for FWP. During previous netting surveys, Yerk and his crew have sampled a 14-pound walleye from Tiber. As for Hart, a life-long fisherman, he has caught bigger saltwater fish – a 180-pound marlin – but no freshwater fish even close to this one.Now, several friends are offering to take the fish off his hands. No dice, Hart says.“I think I’ll hang it in my office,” says Hart, sales director for Blue Cross-Blue Shield. Back to top of page

MONTANA VIDEO OUTDOOR REPORTS: Here are some Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Outdoor Report videos that deal with walleyes, sauger and other warm water fish species and issues. These videos require a Free QuickTime player for Windows or Macs. You can download the free player at: Download Free QuickTime player. Montana Sauger Study Pallid Sturgeon Tongue River Fish Passage Aquatic Invasions Problem on the Bighorn Prairie Ponds Cash Walleyes Ice Fishing Gear, 2007 Hook Mortality Study Burbot Study Fort Peck Hatchery Radio-implanted fish Stopping Zebra Mussels Back to top of page FISHING RECORDS: Check out Montana's state record fish Back to top of page

FISHING LOGS: Click here to e-mail and join the FWP Fishing Log program Back to top of page

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