[cool][#0000ff]On another thread, I provided a quote from Alan Ward, a DWR specialist on Strawberry. He offered an opinion on a uniquely colored cutt and stated that he had seen a tiger from Strawberry.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I sent a followup email, asking whether or not the tiger was likely an "accidental" plant by DWR, or the result of bucket biology. Thought BFTers might be interested in his response.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]" [#000000]The tiger trout would most likely have been an accidental stocking. It would not make sense for someone to try and illegally stock it in Strawberry since the tigers do not reproduce, and it would have no effect in the long run. Fish often get moved around in the hatcheries, and it is not uncommon for the occasional stray fish to make his way to the wrong raceway.
As far as "bucket biology", that is always a huge concern. You probably know that some smallmouth bass have been found in Strawberry during the last 5 years or so. These are obviously the result of illegal introductions. It is unlikely that these bass will take off in Strawberry due to the 236 starvation days (temperatures <10 deg C) that they encounter there, and the fact that the young-of-the-year would not have a long enough growing season to survive the starvation period in the winter. We have monitored bass populations for the last 5 years, and have not verified any recruitment yet. In fact, our monitoring has yielded only two adult bass. There has been some recent discussion on how to ramp up efforts to try and catch some of these individuals who would illegally introduce fish. It really comes down to the public. If anyone hears of someone doing this sort of activity, we want to know about it. Illegal introductions have the potential to harm our fisheries more severely than most other potential problems." [/#000000]
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[cool]Very interesting. I'm sure 'ol bassrods or tome will have something to say about this...
I think I'll go plant some perch and walleye up there.[
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Isn't that what happened at Mantua?[/size][/black][/font]
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[cool][#0000ff]If I am not mistaken, I think the bluegills and bass were planted by DWR. The perch, on the other hand, were DEFINITEly compliments of a bucket bozo.[/#0000ff]
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Kinda makes you wonder if the Tigers would grow large in da berry. I know they would directly compete with the cutts though. I don't think the bows compete with them as much.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]They might, I mean they are in Scofield and it gets cold.[/size][/black][/font]
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[cool][#0000ff]The cutts were put in charge of minnow control and they have been doing a great job. Tigers are usually introduced for the same reasons. They would be a redundancy in Strawberry, especially since the redside shiners have been almost eradicated and so have the small chubs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In this case, tigers would be in direct competition with the cutts.[/#0000ff]
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Panguitch Lake is like a miniature Strawberry. Like Strawberry, Panguitch has had a history of excellent fishing but with the problem of Utah chubs detracting from that excellence. In an effort to fix this problem and keep the length of excellent fishing longer, Panguitch Lake was poisoned and has since been stocked with tiger trout, cutts, and rainbows. The tiger trout and cutts are expected to help control the chubs much like the cutts at Strawberry...I think the tiger trout will do well in Panguitch and would do well at Strawberry. I think one of the major reasons tigers are not stocked in Strawberry is because of the sheer numbers it would take to make a difference--the state doesn't have enough tiger trout to stock such a large reservoir.
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[cool][#4040ff]Good point. Strawberry is a tad bit larger than Huntington.[/#4040ff]
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I say, if you are going to practice bucket biology, it should be limited to trophy sized tarpon.[
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It seems like there are a lot of perch planted by the friendly neighborhood BB.
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Looks like a Photoshop job to me 2 different fish look at it close
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Dang you fellers sure are easy-prey for someone that's semi-adept with Photoshop. Photo's a fake, no doubt.
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Must be a different strain of smallmouth here. They seem to do just fine in many of the Canadian waters, and the temp in that country in the winter is much colder than Strawberry and lasts longer.[cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]That is something I have not been able to understand either. I know there are lakes far up into the frozen wastelands of Canada that hold good populations of smallies. But, in most of those lakes the smallmouth have existed for hundreds (thousands ??) of years and they are well established.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, "recruitment" is dependent upon several factors. First, there have to be at least a few spawning adults to bring off a spawn. Then, the younguns have to be able to compete against all of the other species. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Unless smallies were planted in numbers, and conditions were ideal, they would have a tough time being "the new kids on the block" in a lake full of fish-eating large trout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Even in Jordanelle the smallmouth are not doing as well as you might think. According to DWR biologists the larger adults have dieoffs from disease and lack of food. Two years ago the lake kicked out bunches of big fish. Last year the size classes were much smaller after an observed large fish dieoff. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I suspect that if Jordanelle had all of the crawdads that Strawberry has (food), the Lake X smallies would be bigger, healthier and more plentiful. I have never heard of anybody capturing a crawdad out of Jordanelle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]PS...That is not an invitation to the bucket bozos.[/#0000ff]
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Here I was planning a trip to the Berry in late spring with my grandsons bucket. Guess I'll have to put it away and hope they *migrate* to LakeX.
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[reply]Must be a different strain of smallmouth here. They seem to do just fine in many of the Canadian waters, and the temp in that country in the winter is much colder than Strawberry and lasts longer.[cool][/reply]
IT AIN'T THE TEMPERATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The water doesn't get any colder up in Canada than it does up at Strawberry! It stays cold for a longer period of time at Strawberry. Any smallmouth fry will STARVE during the time that they wait for the ice to melt and the water to warm up to the point that the food chain begins to get going.
Fishrmn
What guys continually forget about when they think of Canadian smallies or smallies in the Minnesota/great lakes area is that the elevation is totally different. Because of the elevation at Strawberry the starvation period is simply longer...the elevation is probably 5000-6000 feet higher!
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[reply][cool][#0000ff]But, "recruitment" is dependent upon several factors. First, there have to be at least a few spawning adults to bring off a spawn. Then, the younguns have to be able to compete against all of the other species. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Unless smallies were planted in numbers, and conditions were ideal, they would have a tough time being "the new kids on the block" in a lake full of fish-eating large trout.[/#0000ff]
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Not necessarily true...bucket bios have been very successful at establishing populations of minnows, chubs, and other forage fish as well as perch, bass, and bluegill in reservoirs full of predators after dumping only a handful of fish in a lake. Fish like smallmouth are very proficient at reproduction and establishing populations...they find a way. The problem at Strawberry has nothing to do with predation from other fish...
Also, remember when the DWR stocks smallmouth into lakes they often do it after other predators are well-established and they only stock a few fish--Flaming Gorge is an excellent example...lake trout were well established, but both Wyoming and Utah were able to successfully establish a smallmouth population that was at least partially the cause of the chub decline in the gorge. Same thing with Lake Powell. More recently, the DWR also established smallmouth populations in lakes like Piute, Otter Creek, and Minersville (all full of large fish-eating trout). In these lakes only a handful of smallmouth were stocked in 2005 and already last summer the DWR was finding so many smallmouth that the need to stock more was not there.
In Strawberry, spawning adults have been stocked (illegally) many many times...these spawning adults are definitely spawning; the small fish just aren't surviving the starvation period as mentioned.
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[#0000ff]I know there are lakes far up into the frozen wastelands of Canada that hold good populations of smallies. But, in most of those lakes the smallmouth have existed for hundreds (thousands ??) of years and they are well established.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff][/reply]
Elevation has already been mentioned as a factor. With the exception of the Rocky Mountains, Canada is relatively low elevation.
But, another consideration is rivers. Look at those lakes in Canada, and look at the rivers coming in and going out of those lakes with smallie populations. Now, compare that to Strawberry. What factors do those rivers affect?
The simple fact is that young of the year smallmouth bass have NEVER been found in Strawberry? Why is that? Obvioulsy, Strawberry is not conducive to self-sustaining populations of smallmouth bass. Say what you want about the winters in Canada, Minnesota or Wisconsin -- but something is keeping those young of the year from living through the winter at Strawberry.
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