Q: My questions concern Mormon Reservoir.

It was my understanding that some time ago Idaho Fish and Game wanted to turn this facility into a trophy fishery.

I went there last spring to float-tube fish and was surprised to find nobody was around.

It looked like camping facilities had been built, including vault toilets, but they appeared to be in a state of disrepair and run down.

Do you have any insight into this facility and how Fish and Game intends to manage it?

BRENT JENNINGS, e-mail

A: Mormon Reservoir near Fairfield has seen better days, that's for sure.

I remember the reservoir being well known as a great trout fishing hole in the '70s and '80s.

In fact, over the years the reservoir went from being under the general trout limit (it's six now) to a two-trout limit and back to the general trout limit.

Fish and Game put the two-trout limit in place to create a trophy trout fishery. In its heyday, Mormon Reservoir was known to grow big trout.

The fish would have been able to grow an inch a month and fingerlings stocked one year would carry over through the winter and be little fat footballs.

Then came the drought years and the influx of smartweed. The reservoir has never recovered.

Low water going into winter and weeds made it impossible to have carry-over fish, according to Fish and Game. Carry-over trout are the ones that live through the winter and grow into trophy fish the next spring.

To have a trophy trout fishery, you need enough water during the winter for trout to survive. Because of drought conditions in recent years, there hasn't been enough water left in the irrigation reservoir to support fish over the colder months.

The overload of smartweed and low water almost eliminates any useable oxygen for fish in the winter.

Fish and Game doesn't stock fingerlings in the reservoir anymore. It is still maintaining the reservoir by stocking catchable trout.

But by mid-June, the weeds can be so thick that anglers don't want to fish there. Visitors can be few and far between.

Fish and Game is still maintaining the facilities, and their condition may be a reflection of the lack of use.

The 2,000-acre reservoir still has potential if water conditions are right.

Let's hope we get some good water years.

LOOKING FOR PHEASANTS

Q: My family will be here from Alaska for the Thanksgiving holiday.

My son-in-law would like to hunt pheasants.

Are there any places near Boise where he could hunt?

SARAH W., e-mail

A: It's pretty tough to find pheasants in the Treasure Valley and get access to hunt on private land.

Your son-in-law's best bet might be to hunt Idaho Fish and Game's Wildlife Management Areas, which are stocked with pheasants.

In many places throughout southwestern Idaho, they are the only places with ringnecks. You might try these WMAs: Fort Boise near Parma, Montour near Emmett, Payette River near New Plymouth and C.J. Strike near Bruneau. They are stocked throughout the season, which runs through Dec. 31.

He'll need a non-resident small game hunting license, which costs $97.75. He will also need a non-resident WMA permit at $51.75 to take pheasants.

By the way, all upland game hunters are required to wear at least 36 square inches of visible hunter orange above the waist during pheasant season when hunting on WMAs where pheasants are stocked.

Fish and Game says a hunter orange hat meets this requirement.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Q: Are Lower Goose Creek Reservoir and Oakley Reservoir one in the same?

CHUCK B., e-mail

A: Right on. Lower Goose Creek Reservoir and Oakley Reservoir are the same reservoir.

Oakley Reservoir got some notoriety when the state-record walleye was caught there Oct. 10.

The fish was 17 pounds, 12 ounces, which was 6 ounces more than the previous record.

The 1,350-acre reservoir is called Lower Goose Creek Reservoir on Idaho's state highway map and the "Idaho Atlas & Gazetteer."

Idaho Fish and Game lists it as Oakley Reservoir in its "Official Guide to Fishing in Idaho."

The reservoir 3 miles south of Oakley is on Goose Creek and backed up by Oakley Dam.

According to Fish and Game it has hatchery rainbow trout and yellow perch in addition to walleye.