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BEND, Ore. (AP) — North Twin Lake in Oregon will remain off-limits for fishing until later this winter -- not that there are any fish there at the moment.
In mid-November, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife workers poured poison into the lake to target illegally introduced brown bullhead catfish, but that meant killing other fish as well, reported the Bend Bulletin (http://bit.ly/1kFp0KY ).
A snowstorm hit the week after the rotenone treatment, so the agency won't be able to evaluate its effects until later this winter, according to assistant district biologist Erik Moberly.
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get up there, and we just have to wait," he said.
The lake is normally open for fishing year-round. It will be restocked with rainbow trout as soon as possible, perhaps in February, Moberly explained.
The first year of restocking will include 1,000 trophy-size rainbow trout, 5,000 legal-size trout and thousands of small fingerlings. Once the fish have re-established, the state will switch to only releasing fingerlings.
"We don't want to understock or overstock (the lake)," Moberly said, "so we will keep a good eye on it."
Rotenone is a root extract that comes from Peru, according to Moberly. He said the treatment was originally planned for October but was moved to December because of a delay in receiving the extract.
Bulletin archives say the rotenone treatments aimed at catfish were successful at Antelope Flat Reservoir and Walton Lake in the Ochocos in 2009 and at South Twin Lake in 2011.
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Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com
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