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So why the language change? Maybe I'll call for clarification, but the last time I left a message at the DWR Fisheries department they never called back [mad].
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So I went ahead and found the pertinent rule in the Utah Code. And I quote:
(g) Dead mountain sucker, white sucker, Utah sucker, redside shiner, speckled dace, mottled sculpin, fat head minnow (all color variants including rosy red minnows), Utah chub, and common carp may be used as bait in any water where bait is permitted.
So it doesn't appear to be an oversight, misinterpretation, or error in the Guidebook. Could it be that they have changed a rule that some anglers asked for? What's next, use of live bait in the water where it is caught? In-the-field donation of fish?
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[#0000FF]At one time there was the regulation that NO suckers could be possessed or used for bait in Utah Lake. The current regs do state that any suckers...besides Junies...CAN be used anywhere bait is allowed. But the regs for Utah Lake specifically only say that all suckers caught in Utah Lake must be immediately released. Room there for misinterpretation.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I have sent an email to Chris Crockett of the Springville DWR office for clarification. Will post the reply.
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I submit to the tilapia interpretation from Chris.
The Utah Lake and sucker question may come down to that one word "dead". Sucker meat you bring in as cut bait would be legal (barring any other specific regulation for that lake) but any sucker you catch at Utah Lake - which would obviously be NOT dead - has to be released.
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Exactly what I was thinking, Rocky. So, the sucker I caught at Pruess Reservoir the other day should be legal to use at the Flotilla on Saturday if we are correct. I won't use it until I am certain. Civil disobedience is for seriouser things [
]. Hopefully I will catch some white bass by then anyway.
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[#0000ff]This is just one of numerous nebulous regulations in the Fishing Guide that could bear some clarification.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here is the reply I got back from Chris Crockett of the DWR Springville office. Thanks Chris.
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It's definitely illegal to harm/harvest any sucker from Utah Lake ("all suckers must be immediately released"). The intent of the law is no suckers as bait on Utah Lake. We should add a specific line on page 12 under bait about no suckers as bait in Utah Lake, but if you think about it, if you aren't allowed to possess a sucker on Utah Lake, how can you use a sucker as bait without breaking the law. I totally agree the language should be more clear, I will add this to the things to "fix" on future proclamations. I will also run it by our Law Enforcement officers, but I would encourage anglers NOT to use Utah/June suckers for bait on Utah Lake.
More later after I hear back from LE.
Chris Crockett
Central Region Aquatics Manager
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
1115 North Main Street
Springville, UT 84663
(801) 491-5655
[url "mailto:chriscrockett@utah.gov"]chriscrockett@utah.gov[/url]
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I would suggest they copy the language about gizzard shad at Willard. That seems clear enough.
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[#0000FF]Agreed. But astute observation and common sense do not always prevail during the annual compilation of the Fishing Guide. A lot of people from multiple departments involved...and a lot of input...some good...some not so good.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]For what it's worth, I have been told by DWR folks that they value our forum as a source of spotting needed upgrades and changes in the regs. Good to know we at least have some members that can read...even if some of them have trouble writing.
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Talk about confusing. I just got off the phone with Drew Cushing at the Salt Lake office and he told me that it was legal to use the sucker I caught at Pruess Lake as catfish bait in Utah Lake. I think that they are going to have to make a change in the Rule in the Utah Code to clarify this question, not just a note in the next Guidebook. Just my opinion.
Out of curiosity, has anyone ever caught a June sucker? Circumstances?
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"Out of curiosity, has anyone ever caught a June sucker? Circumstances?"
[#0000FF]Never caught any in June...but I did catch one in January...through the ice at Lincoln Beach. See pic.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Back in my earliest days on Utah Lake and the lower Provo River there were grundles of suckers in the river right after the walleye spawn...May into June. I suspect most were Utah suckers but I didn't check their ID. I would simply catch a couple and then move downstream a ways to the first deeper holes. There I would cut chunks from the sides of the suckers and proceed to catch upriver channel cats as fast as I could get the bait in the water.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I also discovered that channel cats loved the gobs of Velveeta cheese I soaked for the big browns and bows that drifted downstream to the lower end of the Provo during the winter and were catchable in the early spring.
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[#0000FF]In those days there were also lots of "salmon fly" larvae (hellgramites) in the river and the cats chowed down on them too. Couldn't begin to count how many cats I caught on big stone fly nymphs and a fly rod in the slow runs of the lower Provo.
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Dubob,
I probably should have made it more clear as I’m surprised some of us fishing nuts were actually contemplating buying tilapia to use as cut bait. Hotdogs are cheaper and a likely a far more effective bait.
Now I wonder if there are any issues with using live or dead mice, gerbils or guinea pig as bait- besides with PETA anyways.
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about the use of Utah sucker at Utah Lake. I thought that it was not legal but the Fishing Guide says: "Dead ... Utah sucker... may be used as bait in any water where bait is permitted." Is this accurate? If not, why not?" 
