How long has Jones Lake been a hatchery lake and will it continue to be one?
Jones Lake is not a “hatchery lake” where fish of catchable size are introduced for purposes of supporting a fishery. In Jones Lake, annual introductions of juvenile cutthroat trout and kokanee started in 1997 as part of a group of techniques to restore the kokanee population that was once abundant. Stickleback were accidentally or illegally introduced sometime in the 1970 s and these fish compete for the same food that kokanee use. To give kokanee some help, cutthroat trout were introduced to prey on stickleback. That strategy resulted in a 94% drop in stickleback numbers (6 million fish in 1997 to 350,000 fish in 2000). Kokanee were introduced to restart that population and that stocking will continue until sufficient numbers of spawners are found in the inflow streams each fall to sustain the population. Fertiliser is added to the reservoir to increase production of zooplankton that kokanee use as food, thus optimizing the growth of kokanee.
