That's according to Tom Weaver, fisheries biologist for the state, who recently returned from a month of counting fish.
In the mid-1990s, biologists counting “redds” - the underwater nests where fish lay their eggs - tallied fewer than 100 bull trout spawning sites in tributaries of the Flathead River's north and middle forks. That was down from more than 600 a decade before.
Since then, though, much time and energy has been spent rehabilitating streambed habitats, and this year the redd count for Flathead Lake bull trout hit 203.
That's actually a bit lower than last year, biologists said, but still well within the historic average, as measured these past 28 years.
In the North Fork Flathead River drainage, Trail Creek - north of Polebridge, just beyond Glacier National Park's western edge - proved the big producer with 51 redds. That's more than have been seen there since 1990.
In fact, Trail Creek's strong showing was particularly good news, Weaver said, given the disappointing returns from other North Fork tributaries. Whale Creek, for instance, produced only half the redds it did last year, and Coal Creek continues to struggle.
In the Middle Fork Flathead, Morrison Creek helped the overall average with 10 more redds than last year's 11, despite several beaver dam barriers downstream.
Weaver's team of biologists also counted Swan Lake bull trout, which spawn in small tributaries of the Swan River. At 521, this year's Swan redd count was the highest in nearly a decade, and well above the 26-year average of 395.
This year, the fourth-highest count on record, was well above the low point of 109 in 1983, and not far off the high mark of 612 in 1998, he said.
And in the Hungry Horse Reservoir area, biologists have been counting redds for 15 years now, and have averaged 81 egg nests per year. This year's tally doubled that mark, making it the second-highest count in history.
The highest there came last fall, when scientists found 174 redds in the Hungry Horse drainage.
Bull trout remain for a few years in the small streams where they are born, before migrating down into larger lakes such as Flathead and Swan. They return to their birth streams at about age 6 or 7 to spawn the next generation.
That means this season's above-average showing should result in solid returns come 2013, when fish from eggs laid this season return to spawn for the first time.
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com.
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