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There has been a fair bit of discussion here about the new Jordanelle regulations and stories told about large numbers of big fish being harvested there, particularly by spearfishermen. I asked the DWR about it and got this reply. It is self explanantory:
"I just spoke with my creel clerk to confirm what I already thought was happening. All of our creel data are preliminary at this point as I won't do any rigorous analysis until after the survey is complete in December. The vast majority of anglers fishing at Jordanelle for bass are catch-and-release fishing. Those that are keeping bass are generally following the regulation of six bass and some are keeping one over 12 inches. At this point there is no indication that there is a "massive" harvest of large bass by any group of anglers. It appears that wild rumors are just rumors and there is no need to be alarmed. I appreciate you coming directly to us to ask for information instead of spreading more of those rumors.
Thanks
Jordan Nielson
Aquatics Biologist
Central Region
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources"
Can we please put the silly stories to rest about Jordanelle?
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Jordanelle is a big lake. There are a lot of smallies in it.
It also has a pretty good # of big smallies and due to the structure / ecosystem of the lake I would predict that won't change any time soon as long as any other species are not illegally introduced. Angler harvest, and of bass in particular, is really not that high anywhere in Utah.
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Thanks for posting this.
"Angler harvest, and of bass in particular, is really not that high anywhere in Utah."
I would also mention that diver bass harvest is low in Utah as well despite what many think.
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Thanks for posting this. It is nice to hear the truth instead of rumor.
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OK where did the bass go????????
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[quote CRB]OK where did the bass go????????[/quote]
"Why does the rabbit sit un-afraid smoking his pipe? Because he knows he is smarter than the panther!" -The Edge
Glad to hear something from a reliable source! Thanks for the info on this topic.
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I've only been surveyed twice over the last six or seven years and I fish every weekend. How can these survey's be considered accurate. They spend a couple weekends on the water surveying and think they know what happens all year?
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A couple more comments:
1. RE " How can these survey's be considered accurate. They spend a couple weekends on the water surveying and think they know what happens all year?"
Fair question. They do have a pretty good idea on how many people fish a State Park fishery over a given time based on boat counts and usage. They then can put in their data and extrapolate over the year. It isn't exact, but it isn't too far off either. I hate to repeat the original BS, but remember, one of the debunked "rumors" being spread was that the DWR creel guys actually checked 60-90 trophy class bass (20+ inches) being speared. This is absolutely false.
2. RE;"OK where did the bass go????????"
I have my ideas, and have to admit that I had a good year up there, but instead of espousing conspiracy theories or spreading rumors, why don't you give the DWR a couple more months to process the creel data, the gillnetting, and electroshocking (if done) and then ask them yourself? They will be happy to answer your questions. They won't bite you for inquiring.
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[quote scartinez]I've only been surveyed twice over the last six or seven years and I fish every weekend. How can these survey's be considered accurate. They spend a couple weekends on the water surveying and think they know what happens all year?[/quote]
First of all, creel surveys occur much more often than just a couple weekends during the year....second of all, if these surveys are combined with gill netting information, electro-shocking information, and compared to past year's data, they have a pretty darn good idea of what is or is not going on. I would venture to say that they have a much better handle on the fishery than the fishermen do...
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One day I visited Jordanelle with a tournament fishermen, who caught about 20 nice bass to my four or five. He showed me hook marks on almost every fish. Some of the bigger fish had missing mouth parts and even hooks in them. He wanted me to see that even in a reservoir the size of Jordanelle and even with fairly limited numbers of expert smallmouth fishermen that almost every fish in Jordanelle is caguht multiple times. The lesson was clear: If people had been allowed to keep large bass, there would be very few trophy bass in the reservoir.
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