Fish and Game staff in the Southwest Region scooped up netfuls of fish that included bass, bluegill, crappie, and yellow perch of various sizes from the outlet of Lake Lowell on Tuesday, Oct. 10, and distributed them between Red Top Pond in Caldwell, Dick Knox Pond in Emmett, Wilson Springs Beachs Pond in Nampa, Horseshoe Bend Pond, and McDevitt and Marianne Williams Pond in Boise. In total, about 450 pounds of fish were transferred. 

“It’s exciting to boost fishing opportunities at some of the area’s community ponds, and to create or bolster self-sustaining populations of a variety of game fish that we know are popular with Treasure Valley anglers,” said Regional Fisheries Manager Art Butts. “We appreciate the support we received from the Boise Project Board of Control and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in making this happen.”

The transferred fish would have otherwise perished after the annual dewatering of the Deer Flat Lowline Canal, so it was a priority to get them into waters where they could continue to provide fishing opportunity for anglers, Butts added. Most of the fish moved were young-of-year, but there were also some older fish mixed in, which were spread out among the release sites.