08-24-2018, 06:03 PM
The Kokanee catching at Strawberry this past season was fabulous. I think we even steered some folks over to Strawberry from Flaming Gorge. I was curious about why there were more fish to catch and even more curious as to how they got so big. What an awesome year. I took some time today to review the Stocking Reports to see if there was anything different. First I looked up the average life cycle for Kokanee and many of the publications would not give a specific year. Most of what I read said 2-5 years. There were a couple that came up with an average and that was
4 years. So I pulled up the 2014 and notice something was very different.
First of all there was the 412,000 3 inch fish stocked in the Spring. Then they put in another 267,000 very young fry in December. That was a total of nearly 680,000.
STRAWBERRY RES WASATCH KOKANEE 278300 3.12 04/28/2014
STRAWBERRY RES WASATCH KOKANEE 134200 3.12 04/28/2014
STRAWBERRY RES WASATCH KOKANEE 267432 0.94 12/09/2014
In reviewing most of the other years they usually only plant around 300 K to 400 K of the 3 in fish every Spring. So here is what I am thinking as the wheels start turning. Is there something different about the survival rate of those young fry that were stocked in December vs the 3 inchers in the Spring? Or was it just a better year because twice as many fish were planted that year? Would those baby fry not have as many predators coming after them in December? Seems like a lot of those bigger fish leave the shallows for the deep right before the ice forms in December. I would think the 3 inch fish would be easy prey in the Spring at ice off and I know the big cutts head for the shallows and the creeks in the Spring for their spawn.
After seeing the stocking report this year, I am a little worried for our 2022 season. They barely planted 300K this year.
Does anybody have an email for the DWR manager of Strawberry? I would like to pass this info on to them. I really think the December planting that year may have been the reason for this years great success. Maybe we could have them plant another 300 K this December and see how things are in 2022.
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4 years. So I pulled up the 2014 and notice something was very different.
First of all there was the 412,000 3 inch fish stocked in the Spring. Then they put in another 267,000 very young fry in December. That was a total of nearly 680,000.
STRAWBERRY RES WASATCH KOKANEE 278300 3.12 04/28/2014
STRAWBERRY RES WASATCH KOKANEE 134200 3.12 04/28/2014
STRAWBERRY RES WASATCH KOKANEE 267432 0.94 12/09/2014
In reviewing most of the other years they usually only plant around 300 K to 400 K of the 3 in fish every Spring. So here is what I am thinking as the wheels start turning. Is there something different about the survival rate of those young fry that were stocked in December vs the 3 inchers in the Spring? Or was it just a better year because twice as many fish were planted that year? Would those baby fry not have as many predators coming after them in December? Seems like a lot of those bigger fish leave the shallows for the deep right before the ice forms in December. I would think the 3 inch fish would be easy prey in the Spring at ice off and I know the big cutts head for the shallows and the creeks in the Spring for their spawn.
After seeing the stocking report this year, I am a little worried for our 2022 season. They barely planted 300K this year.
Does anybody have an email for the DWR manager of Strawberry? I would like to pass this info on to them. I really think the December planting that year may have been the reason for this years great success. Maybe we could have them plant another 300 K this December and see how things are in 2022.
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