The Province of British Columbia is calling on local anglers to help collect data on cutthroat trout in Comox Lake and earn free fishing tackle along the way.
Government staff are attaching orange tags to 200 adult cutthroat in the lake. Each tag has a four-digit identification number on it along with the phone number for the ministry’s regional Fish and Wildlife office in Nanaimo.
Anglers who land a tagged fish should contact the office, to provide basic information including date and time of catch, and whether the fish was kept or released.
The data will help inform a review of fishing regulations and of the Province’s management of cutthroat populations in the lake.
Everyone who calls in a catch report gets a $20 gift card that can be redeemed at a local tackle shop.
Staff will be tagging trout until early in 2017. The results will inform decisions about fishing regulations and cutthroat management.
The Province is working in partnership with the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. and the Courtenay and District Fish and Game Protective Association, a local volunteer organization.
Comox Lake is a large freshwater lake in Vancouver Island. The lake is located near Cumberland, British Columbia.
Comox Lake Cutthroat Trout Facts:
Comox Lake supports one of the highest use lake-fisheries on Vancouver Island, with most of the angler effort focused on large-bodied cutthroat trout.
Comox Lake Cutthroat trout forage on other fish species such as kokanee and stickleback, allowing some fish to reach sizes of close to 60 centimetres.
source: Province of British Columbia