The Province is closing angling on Windy Lake and Little Windy Lake in an effort to prevent the spread of yellow perch to other parts of the Nicola River system. The closure begins on July 9, 2016.

Biologists believe the fish, which are not native to the lake, were deliberately released by someone who wanted to create a local perch sports-fishery. The fish are very adaptive, have few native predators and reproduce quickly. Once perch are introduced into a lake, they out-compete native species for food and habitat.

Windy Lake is 32 kilometres west of Kelowna, at the headwaters of the Nicola River drainage. Little Windy Lake is immediately upstream of Windy Lake. The closure will be in effect until further notice.

Provincial biologists are investigating the lakes and outlet streams to determine the extent of the yellow perch population and are working to remove the fish from the Nicola and Thompson watersheds.

The Province closed 11 lakes in the Thompson region between 2006 and 2012 due to environmental threats posed by illegally introduced invasive fish species.

(flickr.com)

• In large lakes, yellow perch can reach lengths of 30 centimetres. 
• They are extremely fertile. A female perch can deposit up to 15,000 eggs at a time, compared to an average trout, which lays up to 110 eggs at a time.

Learn More:

• See a map of the closure area at: https://flic.kr/p/HTFodu
• See a photo of a yellow perch at: https://flic.kr/p/JM3XiG