First soft water day at Jordanelle

[TubeDude]

I have thoughts of hitting Jordanelle early, its been 3yrs since I last went. My past experience with this lake will keep me in thought.   

Jordanelle has undergone a long-term metamorphosis.  In the early years, it was a premier smallmouth fishery...with many fish exceeding 20 inches...and is the source of the state C&R record...over 23 inches.  In those days you could not keep any smallies over about 12 inches and there were probably quite a few released...without measuring or weighing...that might have exceeded that record.

In those early days there was still a large population of chubs and hordes of yellow perch to provide a great forage base for the hefty smallies.  But...as happens in most smallie-infested waters...the chubs gradually disappeared as the smaller ones were eaten each year and the bigger ones aged and died out.  The smallies then switched to a mostly perch diet...eating perch from hatchlings to 7 or 8 inches.  There was a huge perch population, however and the culling by the smallmouth mainly served to provide some large perch that survived past smallie eating size.

And then...one winter there was a major perch dieoff under the ice...from some kind of parasite or virus.  The perch almost disappeared.  Of course that had an impact on the smallies.  Most of the big bass died of starvation.  The remaining ones had trouble growing past about 15 or 16 inches.  There is not a population of crawdads or any other typical food source in Jordanelle.

Trout?  Jordy has always been a good trout pond.   DWR plants a lot of rainbows but there is also a small population of cutthroats and more than a few browns.  I have caught lots of all species both in open water months and through the ice.

The past couple of years have seen a whole lotta new things happening to Jordy.  DWR has come up with a new management plan (see attached).  They are introducing new species (like kokanee) and are monitoring the results.

Even before Covid, Jordanelle began to experience/suffer/endure much greater boater traffic.  Both more anglers and many more of the "power squadron" persuasion.  This past year...with so many people being out of work...even weekdays the lake was as crowded as weekends.  More people and more pressure has noticeably reduced the overall quality of the fishing.  Who knows what it will be this year.