6-28 SS Sturgeon in Snake
Sturgeon fishing in downtown Idaho Falls. How could it be that sturgeon are now showing up above Twin Falls when Shoshone Falls used to hold them back? Here’s Greg Losinski, Fish Biologist for Idaho Fish and Game. “Shoshone Falls by Twin Falls has always been a natural barrier to Sturgeon. So anything above Twin Falls in the Snake River is an introduced species. So it is not a native fish to that area. A number of years ago they did get a population of fish planted, although not a reproducing population, and that is the problem that these areas don’t have a good spawning habitat but they have a population of fish going down below American Falls dam. Now, 1st back in 2007 we had 74 Sturgeon planted in the Idaho Falls area stretch of the snake River and now we have put another 402 Sturgeon in that same stretch of river and again this is literally the downtown Idaho Falls stretch of the river. The reason we are able to do that is because there are some very deep holes that go along with the River Canyon before it was flooded by the hydropower that exists in Idaho Falls and there are some holes that are 100 foot plus deep in the snake River in downtown Idaho Falls. That is a habitat sturgeon love and that is why we have been bringing them up here and of the 402 that were planted, 400 of them were nice little 18 inchers and they will grow forever because they can live 100 years but we did plant two 6 footers so those fish are already giants and they will continue to grow as long as they are alive.”
