Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis is appealing to anglers to help control lake trout in Yellowstone Lake. "Lake trout are beginning to move to their spawning beds," notes Superintendent Lewis, "and are vulnerable to anglers during September and October." She asks that lake trout anglers focus their efforts on the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake where there is a large concentration of fish from 16 inches to 16 pounds. "There is no creel limit for lake trout on Yellowstone Lake, and the more removed, the better," she said.

Superintendent Lewis notes that Yellowstone Lake remains a primary destination for anglers visiting the park. "We hope the opportunity to fish for lake trout - with no creel limit and for the betterment of the cutthroat trout - will attract anglers, " states Superintendent Lewis. The fishing is expected to be excellent, but anglers need to avoid gill nets, which are marked by buoys and set on the spawning beds. Maps indicating the approximate locations of gill nets will be displayed at the Grant Backcountry Office and the Bridge Bay Marina on Yellowstone Lake. Anglers are also asked to report their fishing experience, via the Volunteer Angler Report (VAR) card obtained with their fishing permit, to Yellowstone National Park. VAR cards give the Park valuable information on harvest, sizes, and catch rates for Yellowstone's fisheries.

Late season lake trout anglers need to be aware that many of the visitor services in the Yellowstone Lake area will be closing soon for the season. Bridge Bay Marina including the store, gas dock, and backcountry office will close on September 14. The Fishing Bridge Service Station will close September 15. Facilities at Grant, which is located on the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, will remain open until September 28. In addition, the Backcountry Office at Grant will remain open until October 18. Courtesy docks at the Grant Marina will remain in place until mid-October, when freezing conditions will force their removal. Boating anglers on Yellowstone Lake are reminded to be prepared for quickly changing fall weather and potentially dangerous conditions.

Lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ), a voracious predator, were discovered in Yellowstone Lake in 1994. In other lakes where lake trout have been introduced in the Intermountain West, cutthroat trout were eliminated or severely reduced. According to the findings of a professional panel of experts convened in 1995, with effective suppression of lake trout numbers, cutthroat trout reduction may be held to 10-20 percent of present levels. Without some control of lake trout, cutthroat trout may be reduced by 70 percent in 100 years. A single large lake trout can consume 50 or more cutthroat trout each year.

Yellowstone Lake represents the largest remaining undisturbed natural habitat of Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Onchorhynchus clarki bouvieri ) in existence. This population of cutthroat trout is highly valued ecologically, economically, and socially. Cutthroat trout live and spawn in shallow streams and waters, providing an excellent prey base for possibly 42 species of birds and mammals. Grizzly bears, otters, eagles, white pelicans, and osprey are just a few of the species that will lose an important food source if the Yellowstone Lake cutthroat trout population is diminished. Cutthroat trout are the basis of a $ 36 million sport fishing activity in Yellowstone and surrounding communities with anglers coming from all over the world to fish for these wild native fish. Lake trout dwell and spawn in deep waters and would not be available as prey to other members of the ecological community. Therefore, this non-native introduction of lake trout has potential to lead to very severe ecological losses.

Upon learning of the lake trout invasion, the park immediately changed fishing regulations to require all lake trout caught, regardless of size, be killed. Park biologists also initiated an aggressive gillnetting program aimed at reducing the number of lake trout. Biologists and anglers have removed approximately 68,000 lake trout since 1994. Purchase of a new specialized gillnetting boat in 2001 has facilitated increasing netting effort nine-fold over 1999 levels, making gill net operations much more effective. Biologists are currently netting throughout the open water season and have already removed 11,500 lake trout from Yellowstone Lake in 2003. Lake trout are an extremely long-lived species (upwards of 20 years in many cold water areas). Effective control of this exotic predator will require a commitment to a long-term removal program using both gillnets and angler effort.