01-31-2014, 06:26 PM
As far as laker removal at Flaming Gorge, the theory is there are too many monsters, and not enough trout and kokes to feed, and the fear is it'll crash.
The lake that it parallels with the most is Blue Mesa Reservoir, on the Gunnison River in Colorado. Great trophy lake trout fishery,best in Colorado, but it is now arguably being mismanaged as they are removing LOADS of lakers every year to protect the kokanee population.
The lakers are dependent on the kokanee as their main forage, and the felt protective measures were necessary as these kokes are used as brood stock in the entire lake. The issue I have with their plan is their lack of protecting kokes during the critical spawn. Not only is koke fishing legal year round, they also allow snagging of spawners, which in my mind is utterly ridiculous. Permitting snagging of a spawning broodstock??????
Flaming Gorge, because of the protective restrictions and conservative limits on kokanee are already ahead of the game, and then you also have liberal limits of smaller macs which help keep the population from bottle necking too much.
I'm all for watching to see how burbot will continue to effect the efficacy of the laker spawn, as many are on the rock pile sucking up eggs as they are dropped, and any effort to remove lakers are a bit premature in my opinion. The problem now is how many kokes are being removed by burbot and not lakers.
I know this is a yuba post, but I love any discussion on the Gorge. I hope Ryno sees this and chimes in, as I value his opinion more than any other regarding this topic.
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The lake that it parallels with the most is Blue Mesa Reservoir, on the Gunnison River in Colorado. Great trophy lake trout fishery,best in Colorado, but it is now arguably being mismanaged as they are removing LOADS of lakers every year to protect the kokanee population.
The lakers are dependent on the kokanee as their main forage, and the felt protective measures were necessary as these kokes are used as brood stock in the entire lake. The issue I have with their plan is their lack of protecting kokes during the critical spawn. Not only is koke fishing legal year round, they also allow snagging of spawners, which in my mind is utterly ridiculous. Permitting snagging of a spawning broodstock??????
Flaming Gorge, because of the protective restrictions and conservative limits on kokanee are already ahead of the game, and then you also have liberal limits of smaller macs which help keep the population from bottle necking too much.
I'm all for watching to see how burbot will continue to effect the efficacy of the laker spawn, as many are on the rock pile sucking up eggs as they are dropped, and any effort to remove lakers are a bit premature in my opinion. The problem now is how many kokes are being removed by burbot and not lakers.
I know this is a yuba post, but I love any discussion on the Gorge. I hope Ryno sees this and chimes in, as I value his opinion more than any other regarding this topic.
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