LOON AND LITTLE LOON LAKES 



Tjilcpiysfriptionst 



Because of their connections through the Pleasant Valley Fisher River, Loon Lake and Little Loon 

 Lake will be considered as a single management unit for the purposes of this document. Loon 

 Lake is a large lake south of U.S. Highway 2 and west of Horseshoe Lake. The Pleasant Valley 

 Fisher River flows into the lake on the northeast shore and out again at the southwest shoreline. 

 Loon Lake has a maximum depth of 1 14 feet and a surface area of 238 acres (Figure 10). 



Litfle Loon Lake is a small lake downstream of Loon Lake via the Pleasant Valley Fisher River. 

 Little Loon Lake has a maximum depth of 38 feet and a surface area of 11 .6 acres (Figure 1 1). 

 Between March 1, 1993 and February 28, 1994, FWP estimated that as many as 421 anglers, of 

 which 75 percent were Montana residents, fished at Loon and Little Loon Lakes (Montana 

 Statewide Angling Pressure Report). 



¥.alfP<: ManaftrntiPnt Sfatiis; 



Management of Loon and LitUe Loon lakes commenced in 1931 when 15,(X)0 chinook salmon 

 were planted (Table 18). The lakes have been planted with a variety of species since tiiat time 

 including rainbow trout, westslope cutthroat trout, brook trout, arctic grayling, and smallmouth 

 bass. Gill-netting and creel surveys from the 1950s and 1960s indicated Uiat Loon and Littie Loon 

 lakes had a wide variety of native and non-native species at one time or another. 



Native to the lakes in 1956 were westslope cutthroat tix)ut, bull trout, mountain whitefish, northern 

 squawfish, largescale suckers, longnose suckers, and Columbia River chubs (peamouths). Also 

 found in the lakes as the result of unauthorized plants were largemouth bass, pumpkinseeds, 

 yellow perch, and northern pike. Despite the tremendous diversity and species makeup, Loon 

 Lake continued to provide good to excellent fishing for bass, yellow perch, and rainbow trout into 

 the 1980s. 



Due to the high diversity of fish species, including four to six highly predacious species, and 

 because rehabilitation was impossible due to the open system, stocking trout as a management tool 

 was discontinued in Loon Lake in 1977. Currently the lakes are managed as a self-reproducing 

 bass/trout/yellow perch fishery. A gill-netting survey in Loon Lake in 1992 indicated both 

 largemouth bass and smallmouth bass and rainbow trout were relatively abundant and in good 

 condition. 



Northern squawfish and pumpkinseeds are present in high densities and bull trout apparently no 

 longer exist in the lakes or exist at such low densities that current sampling techniques have not 

 captured them. An additional gill-net survey conducted on Littie Loon Lake in 1994 showed 

 similar species compositions, excqH that rainbow trout were not captured. Currentiy most angling 

 is directed toward largemouUi and smallmouth bass and perch Trout catch rates are low but 

 steady. Catch rates on yellow perch are high in spring/summer and winter but only a moderate 

 percentage of the perch are ctmsidered to be of keeping size (greater than eight inches). Spearing 

 was banned on the lake in the 1970s to discourage poaching. 



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