Montana FWP proposing to purge bass from Livingston lagoon

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks want to eradicate a population of smallmouth and largemouth bass from a lagoon in Livingston, where they threaten cutthroat trout and could escape into the Yellowstone River.

In a press release on Thursday, the state fisheries agency announced it will hold a public meeting on Oct. 1, to discuss the removal of the illegally introduced bass.

This spring, the agency received reports of smallmouth bass in Sacajawea Lagoon, a popular public fishing pond in Livingston that is stocked annually with Yellowstone cutthroat trout to provide recreational angling opportunities.

FWP staff investigated the reports and in early June, captured six largemouth bass and three smallmouth bass —ranging from 10-13 inches — through electrofishing.

Bass are predatory fish and will eat just about anything they can catch — including trout — threatening the pond’s fishing opportunities.

In addition, there is risk to the greater watershed’s trout population, according to FWP, as there is a culvert feeding directly from the lagoon into the Yellowstone River. Bass could further disperse downstream into Fleshman Creek, which also connects to the Yellowstone River.

While the agency said that smallmouth bass are reported in the Yellowstone River, especially downstream of Billings, officials don’t believe they have a large reproductive population near Livingston, and want to eliminate the possibility of establishing a permanent population there.

“Failing to address the illegal introductions in the Sacajawea Lagoon would establish source populations of largemouth bass and small mouth bass in the upper Yellowstone Drainage that could fundamentally alter the trout fisheries near Livingston,” the agency said in a press release.

FWP is proposing to remove all fish from the lagoon through periodic electrofishing while the lagoon is dewatered. The lagoon’s outlet will be screened to minimize fish escaping downstream into the river. The dewatering efforts will also run water out of roughly a mile of Fleshman Creek downstream of the lagoon, but a spring near M Street should maintain low flows in the creek to its confluence with the Yellowstone, according to the project plan.

Fisheries staff will capture and relocate as many fish as possible from the dewatered stream to a section below the spring; while captured fish from the lagoon will be euthanized. After removal efforts are completed next summer, Yellowstone cutthroat trout will be restocked.

Project documents can be viewed online and public comments on the project will be accepted through Oct. 2.

Written comments can be mailed to Scott Opitz, 6 Church Drive, Livingston Mont., 59047.

Emailed comments can be sent to: [email protected]