08-24-2017, 08:51 PM
[#0000FF]We had a brief discussion a week ago on one of the forage species in Willard Bay...the logperch. Got some good intel from Chris Penne of DWR to help enlighten us.
Had an inquiry from another BFTer who was wondering about the forage base in Pineview. My guess was that there were no shiners or chubs...but that the young of other species like perch, crappies, carp, bullheads, etc. were about it for the predators. I directed another inquiry to Chris and he replied:
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The sport fish in PV are basically both the predator and prey. There are some crayfish, but the young crappie, perch, carp, and bullheads all provide at least seasonal forage for the larger fish. I say at least seasonal because in the case of the adult crappie and perch, we've found plenty of guts full of plankton and invertebrates. The guts full of plankton and invertebrates also lend support to what we see in our age and growth studies of the perch and crappie, which is that these fish are growing slower than other populations that have consistent access to a forage fish population. The muskie obviously aren't very limited what they eat and neither are the larger bass. There may have been shiners and chubs in PV at one time, but as you could guess, both species have a hard time competing with the warm water species like crappie, perch and bass which reproduce at an earlier age (faster life cycle) and start eating other fish at a much earlier age. So any chubs and shiners are probably long gone.
Chris
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After that reply I asked him about any DWR plans to expand the forage base in any other reservoirs. Here is his reply to that:
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Good question. Really the only reservoirs that I am aware of where we are trying some alternative forage are the Red Fleet and Starvation in the Basin. Starvation just received black crappie from Pineview this year. The intent of that introduction was to both supplement and diversify the forage base and provide another sport fish for anglers to pursue. Same goes for the kokanee that were stocked there last year. Starvation has been very predator heavy the past couple years and the biologists there felt the yellow perch couldn't reliably sustain all the hungry mouths at Starvation (including the mouths of anglers). Red Fleet got a number of different species during it's restocking following the rotenone treatment, and those species included yellow perch, black crappie, fathead minnows and mountain whitefish. I know the species I listed may have not been the typical forage that one thinks of when they think forage fish, but its becoming pretty clear that most state fish and wildlife management agencies are not introducing new species to their states anymore. The last new species we brought into the state appears to have been gizzard shad and that was back in 1990 - so we haven't had anything new here in 27 years! There isn't really a formal policy written anywhere saying that we can't introduce a new prey species to the state, but I think most fishery managers today have a broader view than they used to in that they managing the whole watershed, which includes many of Utah's native fish too. I think that under this broader view of management, fishery managers feel they can't fully predict the impact a new forage species will have in a water or drainage, and beyond that, they have concerns that escapement of that species into the rivers and streams could have a negative impact on native fish that in many cases are already struggling.
Chris
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Had an inquiry from another BFTer who was wondering about the forage base in Pineview. My guess was that there were no shiners or chubs...but that the young of other species like perch, crappies, carp, bullheads, etc. were about it for the predators. I directed another inquiry to Chris and he replied:
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The sport fish in PV are basically both the predator and prey. There are some crayfish, but the young crappie, perch, carp, and bullheads all provide at least seasonal forage for the larger fish. I say at least seasonal because in the case of the adult crappie and perch, we've found plenty of guts full of plankton and invertebrates. The guts full of plankton and invertebrates also lend support to what we see in our age and growth studies of the perch and crappie, which is that these fish are growing slower than other populations that have consistent access to a forage fish population. The muskie obviously aren't very limited what they eat and neither are the larger bass. There may have been shiners and chubs in PV at one time, but as you could guess, both species have a hard time competing with the warm water species like crappie, perch and bass which reproduce at an earlier age (faster life cycle) and start eating other fish at a much earlier age. So any chubs and shiners are probably long gone.
Chris
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After that reply I asked him about any DWR plans to expand the forage base in any other reservoirs. Here is his reply to that:
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Good question. Really the only reservoirs that I am aware of where we are trying some alternative forage are the Red Fleet and Starvation in the Basin. Starvation just received black crappie from Pineview this year. The intent of that introduction was to both supplement and diversify the forage base and provide another sport fish for anglers to pursue. Same goes for the kokanee that were stocked there last year. Starvation has been very predator heavy the past couple years and the biologists there felt the yellow perch couldn't reliably sustain all the hungry mouths at Starvation (including the mouths of anglers). Red Fleet got a number of different species during it's restocking following the rotenone treatment, and those species included yellow perch, black crappie, fathead minnows and mountain whitefish. I know the species I listed may have not been the typical forage that one thinks of when they think forage fish, but its becoming pretty clear that most state fish and wildlife management agencies are not introducing new species to their states anymore. The last new species we brought into the state appears to have been gizzard shad and that was back in 1990 - so we haven't had anything new here in 27 years! There isn't really a formal policy written anywhere saying that we can't introduce a new prey species to the state, but I think most fishery managers today have a broader view than they used to in that they managing the whole watershed, which includes many of Utah's native fish too. I think that under this broader view of management, fishery managers feel they can't fully predict the impact a new forage species will have in a water or drainage, and beyond that, they have concerns that escapement of that species into the rivers and streams could have a negative impact on native fish that in many cases are already struggling.
Chris
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