Pining for lake whitefish

Remember when schools of lake whitefish in Flathead Lake in July were so thick, you could almost walk across the boats at Woods Bay Point and the mouth of the Flathead River?

Nothing was more frustrating than a having a boat that couldn't hold anchor drift through a tight pack of anglers intent on jigging a limit of lake whitefish.

On my most memorable day on Flathead Lake, we actually watched fish on my Aqua-Vu underwater camera, 50 feet below the boat, hit our green lead head jigs.

Daily limit, at one time, was 100 whities. A hundred, 3-pounders would almost equal two more people in the boat!

Limit was later reduced to 50, which is still about 40 more whitefish than I like to clean at one sitting.

For years, huge schools of lake whitefish had congregated at the Flathead River mouth and Woods Bay and other spots on the big lake to feed on massive schools of perch fry.

Then it ended.

Jim Vashro, then FWP Region One fisheries manager, believed spring cold fronts, high winds and big runoffs upset the perch eggs adhering to shallow water vegetation and significantly reduced perch fry survival.

That seemed to be the prevailing theory for eight years!

Recently Vashro told me, "Good spawn, good spring weather, no cold fronts or big blows.

"No big runoff to flush the perch.

"Now the lake surface is warming unusually fast, should be lots of zooplankton to feed the perch."

Vashro also sent me results of a study in Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille that found year classes of lake whitefish ranging from age two to age 47.

Also, males and females didn't reach full sexual maturity until ages 11 and 12, respectively.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for some good ol' days of lake whitefish jigging in Flathead Lake this summer.