02-22-2013, 01:43 PM
[#0000ff][cool]Folks keep comparing Strawberry to Scofield. And there are comparisons in terms of chubs. But what a lot of anglers are overlooking...or don't read the ongoing stats...is that there has been a correlation between minnow populations (shiners and chubs) and the size ranges of the largest fish.
When the slot limit on Strawberry was first put into place...along with massive plantings of Bear Lake Cutts...there was a huge population of both redside shiners and chubs. Within only a couple of years it was rare to be able to find any redsides...with a cast net or inside harvested trout. And within the past three or four years DWR sample nettings are not producing any quantities of SMALL chubs. The slot and the cutts are doing what they were supposed to do...reducing the numbers of chubs. There are still lots of large older chubs in the lake...and they spawn every year...but the predators are removing most of the smaller ones every year before they can get larger than eating size.
What effect is that having on fish sizes? In the earlier years of the slot there were more cutts over 22 inches available for harvest. As the food supply (chubs) was reduced the upper size range of the cutts dropped noticeably...with far fewer over slotters being caught. Still a few big fish...the ones that can easily munch 12 inch chubs. But not many legitimate slot busters. And those that are caught usually leave the lake in coolers.
DWR samplings show that the cutts are now relying more on non-chub diets to survive. They are eating more invertebrates...including crawdads and zooplankton. The latter are rainbow food and while producing nice pink flesh for the hook and cook crowd they do not add a lot of bulk to the fish. It takes more energy per bite to eat invertebrates than it does to raid a school of chubs and fill their bellies with a few quick chomps.
I have been around Utah long enough to remember the "glory days" at Flaming Gorge. It was world famous as a huge brown trout fishery. Lots of big macks too. Why? Because of the chubs. The lake was full of them. The water inside some marinas was brown with masses of the little beasts. And the big predators had unlimited food supply. When the chubs were all eaten up the fishery changed. Still some great fishing for some species but the chance at a world record brown is bye bye.
For some reason, DWR and anglers have an aversion to chubs and want to remove them from all waters. In actual fact, they should be stocked in some lakes as a supplemental food supply...like they do in other states with fish food problems. But as long as the state is in the rainbow trout business chubs will be the bad guys...because they compete with the hatchery pets for food and space.
Would removing all the chubs from Scofield be the solution? Yes if you want it to be only a rainbow fishery. No if you want a lake with big fish potential.
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When the slot limit on Strawberry was first put into place...along with massive plantings of Bear Lake Cutts...there was a huge population of both redside shiners and chubs. Within only a couple of years it was rare to be able to find any redsides...with a cast net or inside harvested trout. And within the past three or four years DWR sample nettings are not producing any quantities of SMALL chubs. The slot and the cutts are doing what they were supposed to do...reducing the numbers of chubs. There are still lots of large older chubs in the lake...and they spawn every year...but the predators are removing most of the smaller ones every year before they can get larger than eating size.
What effect is that having on fish sizes? In the earlier years of the slot there were more cutts over 22 inches available for harvest. As the food supply (chubs) was reduced the upper size range of the cutts dropped noticeably...with far fewer over slotters being caught. Still a few big fish...the ones that can easily munch 12 inch chubs. But not many legitimate slot busters. And those that are caught usually leave the lake in coolers.
DWR samplings show that the cutts are now relying more on non-chub diets to survive. They are eating more invertebrates...including crawdads and zooplankton. The latter are rainbow food and while producing nice pink flesh for the hook and cook crowd they do not add a lot of bulk to the fish. It takes more energy per bite to eat invertebrates than it does to raid a school of chubs and fill their bellies with a few quick chomps.
I have been around Utah long enough to remember the "glory days" at Flaming Gorge. It was world famous as a huge brown trout fishery. Lots of big macks too. Why? Because of the chubs. The lake was full of them. The water inside some marinas was brown with masses of the little beasts. And the big predators had unlimited food supply. When the chubs were all eaten up the fishery changed. Still some great fishing for some species but the chance at a world record brown is bye bye.
For some reason, DWR and anglers have an aversion to chubs and want to remove them from all waters. In actual fact, they should be stocked in some lakes as a supplemental food supply...like they do in other states with fish food problems. But as long as the state is in the rainbow trout business chubs will be the bad guys...because they compete with the hatchery pets for food and space.
Would removing all the chubs from Scofield be the solution? Yes if you want it to be only a rainbow fishery. No if you want a lake with big fish potential.
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