Fishing

Why are white bass in Utah lake so small? I understand they are prolific and eat all their forage but I use to catch lots of 12 to 15 inches. I use to fish with a guy named Ken Hummel. I'm pretty sure he was one of the guys who pioneered ice fish in for whities. I was just a youngin back then and was invited along cause I was friends with ken's grandson but the fish seemed a lot healthier and bigger back then. Anyone think the no limit/heavy harvest could be hurting instead of helping?


"All my life I have had secret places. I like secret places. They make me feel smug and superior, two of the really great feelings."

-Pat MacManus

Absolutely not. If there isn't enough food to allow a billion white bass to grow big, what makes you think there would be enough to allow 2 billion of them to grow big.


Fishrmn

"I tolerate with the utmost latitude the right of others to differ from me in opinion."
— Thomas Jefferson

"The difference between genius and stupidity is; genius has its limits."
— Albert Einstein

As many as the anglers of Utah Lake catch just remember the size of that place. Think of all the water anglers are not fishing that are loaded with white bass. If anything we need to do more harvest.

I bet that the carp are eating lots of the food that is ment for the rest of the residents of Utah Lake like our white bass friends.



-TDT (AKA Spike's Pike)

"Like you were gonna marry a carp and put in a tank or something, let it wear a pink dress, and have coffee and conversations with it." - harlin

Fishrmn, nothing makes me think. Just ask my wife. I'm just seeing if there are any theories out there. That's why I asked a ?. I didn't make any statements. Whoops just did.


"All my life I have had secret places. I like secret places. They make me feel smug and superior, two of the really great feelings."

-Pat MacManus

The white bass in UT lake have to complete with the thousands and thousands of carp for food. Carp eat everything and anything hence it being called a trash fish and because of there size the white bass dont have a chance. Then you add amount of pressure it gets and well you got Utah Lake :)

Despite all the challenges Utah lake has there are still some Big Fish in there you just got to weed through the dinks


Is it just me but the fish seemed bigger back when Geneva was using it as there toilet.

What do you do with the fish when harvested? I mean, if you aren't eating them do you kill them and toss them in the trash?

I release what I catch, mostly because i fish for fun and don't want to clean/cook them. what is the best way to go about responsibly harvesting those fish in the waters that need it?

I am pretty sure that they make good garden fertilizer.



-TDT (AKA Spike's Pike)

"Like you were gonna marry a carp and put in a tank or something, let it wear a pink dress, and have coffee and conversations with it." - harlin

I only go for whities when I want to eat them and i always secretly hope for a walleye so i don't have to spend hours filleting those spiny little s%$#.


"All my life I have had secret places. I like secret places. They make me feel smug and superior, two of the really great feelings."

-Pat MacManus

I also think that the carp are a factor.

Back in the day there were people commercialy fishing for the carp.

I think that it helped keep the carp numbers in check allowing more food for other types of fish.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the fishery when they get done with their latest netting campaign.
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Light travels faster than sound.

So some people seem really bright until you hear them talk.

There was not even a dent placed in the carp numbers from commercial fishing. There are more carp in the lake than most can imagine. As far as I know they still fish the lake.

They stopped for a number of years.

The netting that they are doing now is for the June Sucker Recovery Program. The carp and white bass that they haul out of there now just get dumped out on the ground.
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Light travels faster than sound.

So some people seem really bright until you hear them talk.

If im not mistaken that agains the law just release them dont trash them. Thell be feed for the other species like LMB and walleye.

There is no simple answer for the how and why of the whities. It is a complex combination of water levels, spawning conditions, recruitment of the young, food supply, predation by other species and angler harvest. Note...angler harvest is last on the list. It is virtually impossible for anglers to have as much influence on white bass numbers as any or all of the other factors.

Utah and Utah Lake go through cycles...feast or famine on water levels. When levels are up all species spawn well, feed well and grow fast and large during the short growing season. Then they have to survive during several months of reduced food supply. Unlike lakes in their native ranges Utah Lake is not full of threadfin shad nor does it have deep waters for the whities to hole up in during cold months. And since the lake is often murky the white bass are often unable to feed by sight...their most effective feeding pattern.

During the drought years that ended in 2005 Utah Lake got a bit lower than it is right now. There were diminished flows from all tributaries and no shoreline structure covered by water for them to bring off good spawning. White bass numbers plummeted and the walleyes and catfish numbers dropped off too. Thousands of predators starved to death under the ice that last year and the survivors were skinny and ugly by the next spring.

It took two or three years of good spawning conditions...together with flooded shoreline vegetation...to bring back large numbers of white bass...and then walleyes and catfish. The last three years have seen them all return in numbers not enjoyed for many years.

But the balance has been tipped backward again. Utah Lake began the season about 2 feet down from the previous year's high water level. And the reduced snowpack meant less runoff and lower flows in the tributaries. Together with a cold late spring that delayed the spawn both for white bass and carp. There were no young of the year for predators until later in the spring than usual.

The white bass came out of last winter in good health. There were some of the largest whities being caught that most of us could remember for a while. And they had good healthy fillets. It looked like a good year ahead. Then the lake started dropping fast and the annual fry-feed was delayed. The white bass started getting skinnier and the small ones were not growing as they usually do.

Because Utah Lake is shallow by nature, it is prone to getting muddy when the wind blows. This last year there has been a lot less water and a lot more wind. That has kept the lake murky and made it much harder for the sight-feeding white bass to feed well. After the spawn there has been lots of baby white bass and carp but the shoreline vegetation has not been there for a nursery and the predators have not been able to find and eat enough to put on weight.

By this time of year the white bass are usually getting pretty fat and sassy. I have been apalled at how small and skinny they are. It does not bode well for them if they go under the winter ice without enough flesh and fat to sustain them through a lean winter. And as the whities go, so go the walleyes. The cats will always do fine on the "fallout" of dead and dying fish from the "purge".

My personal forecast is for there to be fewer large white bass next spring. And if we do not get a bunch of snow and runoff the numbers will quickly decline even further. The smaller than usual young from this year will be mopped up by the bigger predators and not many will survive to spawn.

The good news is that once an abundance of water returns the whities will once again explode. They can take a major hit and still come back strong. They are prolific and produce large numbers of eggs and fry.

I have fished UL for over 5 decades and have seen it go through many cycles. There HAVE been years when there were both large numbers and large fish. But it is usually either only a few fish...some growing larger than usual...or hordes of dinks that drive you nuts but don't have enough meat to justify putting them on a fillet board.

White bass are a lot like perch in Utah. They have to spawn to provide a big part of their own food supply. And there is not a constant population. It is an up and down thing with some years being better than others. And anglers are only a minor part of the big picture. We get to play the game but we really don't have much influence on the outcome.

Thanks for the info.


"All my life I have had secret places. I like secret places. They make me feel smug and superior, two of the really great feelings."

-Pat MacManus

We went out yesterday and of the 21 whites we kept 6 of them were on the larger size but they all fillet up real nice and were delicious

That's the biggest white bass I've seen off that lake in a decade and I've caught thousands in that time. Good on ya.


"All my life I have had secret places. I like secret places. They make me feel smug and superior, two of the really great feelings."

-Pat MacManus