Fishing Forum

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I had thought that the DWR wanted to protect one of their cutthroat brood stock lakes based on their regs of artificial flies and lures only, open only July - Dec., etc. I guess I was mistaken.

I went out of my way to to not name the lake, but I made the mistake of having pics up of it for a few hours, before removing them. However, they must have seen the report or somebody told them anyway, and they posted it on their website! So if they don't care about reporting on it, neither do I. It is , as reg enforcement is almost non-existent and the lake (as do most) has a poaching problem.

The lake is Manning Meadows Reservoir. It is not a trophy lake, but has nice scenery and has somewhat less people. The report is found here, under S. Utah, Monroe Mntn Lakes: [url "http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots/reports_sr.php"]http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots/reports_sr.php[/url]

Thank you DWR!!!

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This past weekend I decided to fish a special regs lake - artificial flies and lures only. When I got there, I saw 3 groups of poachers....approximately 12 people bait fishing from shore. No, I couldn't see the bait, but I wonder what artificial lure technique involves sitting on a chair, never casting? Ok, some fly fishing techniques involve this....small nymphs under an indicator....but they were never casting. The good news is, I never saw anyone catch a fish. They all became disgusted and left after only about 1 - 2 hours. I really wanted to call them in, but I wasn't in the mood to kick back across the lake to the truck to call them in, just to be gone when the officers arrive.

We fished with our go-to flies in places we have caught fish there before......no strikes. We brought spinning outfits as well and even tried our favorite spinners and jigs....no strikes. After about 3 hours of skunk, we decided to fish the shallow end of the lake and use much smaller flies. Finally! The fish were in the shallows, and loved our copper john and flash-back pheasant tail nymph trailers, behind a small, green wooly bugger with a red tail (they hit that one as well). The fishing was great (night and day difference from earlier) once we figured out what they wanted. There was another fisherman on a pontoon fishing with dries, and caught one, but it wasn't great dry-fly action that evening. Most fish were 14 - 18 inches. They were healthy and beautiful. Best of all, we basically had the lake to ourselves most of the day.
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How cool, Must have been fun!
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Beautiful !
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really sounds fun what res. where you at?
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wr[crazy]ong thread
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Ya, I should have put this into the fly fishing forum. I don't know how to move it now.
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No need to move the post, fishing is fishing. That's a nice cutt in the pic.
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Not sure if this is where you were, I talked to a fish cop while up on skyline fishing some high lakes last week and found out they have posted a 16 fish limit and any method at duck fork due to illegal introductions. (They are going to poison it out again soon) There is a note about it in fishing news on the dwr site. Judging from the fish you have I'm guessing thats where you were, and would explain the bait fisherman. Just a thought. I personaly don't use bait for anything but catfish, but hold nothing against those who do.
By the way its still illegal to keep cut throats at duck fork.In case anyone wondered about the 16 fish limit
update! This info did'nt seem right to me , so I phoned the price dwr. The receptionist was'nt sure but will find out and get back to me. I know the rumor has been out there a couple of weeks, however I don't want to be guilty of spreading it unless I can verify it's true. I'll post what I hear so if it's not true we can report violaters.
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Hope you arent talking about this?
[url "http://wildlife.utah.gov/news/02-07/duckfork.php"]http://wildlife.utah.gov/news/02-07/duckfork.php[/url]
Couple years old dude. I think youre up in the night but would like to know if you find something different!?
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No, that wasn't the location. I am not showing pictures of the lake, or giving out a name, as it doesn't need any more publicity for poachers. None of the rules for that lake I fished have changed.

On a side note, I regularly see poachers almost every time I fish. I happen to fish many special regs lakes (they are common in Utah). For instance, a lake you wouldn't think as special regs: Sand Hollow. The limit is 6 bass, only 1 over 12 inches. Well, I have seen guys lift up stringers, having more than 6 per person, and all of them over 12 inches. I have fished that lake a quite a few times in the past couple of years, and have never caught a bass under 12 inches, let alone enough for a full limit (I never keep fish anyway, unless they are from the ocean).

Or how about the Berry? I have seen people disregard the slot limit there as well. I have seen someone breaking a slot limit or bait restriction rule about every time I fish a special regs lake or stream. I have seen people fishing out of season as well on various lakes and streams.

Bottom line, I'm sick and tired of poachers, and the complete lack of enforcement/ lack of ability for enforcement. I have been checked about 4 times in my life, and I fish about 50 times a year. Yes, I know about the poaching hotline. However, if you are out of cell service, or many miles away from civilization, how are you to call? Also, the people see them coming a mile away, and change their mode of fishing, etc. I feel it is a waste of time. On this last occasion, if I had called the minute I saw a violation, the officers would not have arrived in time, as some of the people left within an hour (arrived before me).

I guess that in the future, if I can't name the location, I won't bother reporting on it.

My post wasn't really about poaching, but how it is important to constantly change location, fly pattern/ size, retrieve, etc. until something works. I know, it sounds pretty obvious. But in this case, I thought it was a very poor fishing day.....as the flies and techniques that had worked beautifully on every other lake I had fished this summer were worthless. I was able to catch a lot of fish on this lake only after I had completely changed how I had successfully fished most other lakes.
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Thanks a lot DWR!! Check out the edit at the top.
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I was checked by a conservation officer while fishing duck fork in early july! He wanted to see what I was using to fish with, asked about fish caught. He went around to everyone else fishing, checked them for bait. He made no mention of the artifical rule being lifted. He was a very nice officer to deal with. That was just a little over a month ago!!
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The reservoir is Manning Meadow...A few things: 1) Manning Meadow is far from a fragile water. The high volume of eggs taken from the cutts there each year and the number of fish trapped and spawned is proof enough that the lake is being well protected. 2) No ethical fisherman likes seeing people break the law. Like someone else suggested, I would have approached the fishermen and politely explained the law to them first (If I knew without doubt they were breaking it). If they refused to obey the law, I would have did my best to remember as much about them as possible--what were they driving? How many were there? Men? Women? Children? Then, as soon as I could, I would report their activity to a CO. And, as mentioned earlier, a very good CO lives in Monroe. I was able to do this exact thing several years ago at Minersville reservoir...as a result, several individuals were arrested weeks later back at the Reservoir for multiple infractions. My tip helped alert the CO to illegal activity. Simply do the most that you can... 3) I live in Monroe and frequent this reservoir throughout the summer both during the fishing season and before. I have also helped the DWR at Manning on numerous occasions with egg take. In my opinion, illegal activity at this reservoir is very low... 4) I too have had the DWR take posts I have made and use them on their own site. Personally, I have no problem with this. In fact, as soon as I post something on the world wide web--especially a fishing report--I expect that the whole wide world will read it. But, as far as Manning Meadow goes and this particular report goes, I too fish the shallow end with buggers and nymphs and I too made a face to face report to the person who writes the southern region fish reports. So, you might be assuming too much.
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I was working down in price this week and had an opportunity to stop in at the DWR . I ask about the duck fork rumor and found out it was false. They did mention they have had a few problems the past couple of years with different rumors being circulated on a few waters in the area. Like I said before It did'nt sound right to me, so I'm glad I checked. While I'm not personally fond of bait fishing, I don't have any problem with those who like to. And I rarely keep any fish. ( maybe 8-10 a year for an occational meal.) But there are those out there who insist on keeping everthing they catch. In any water they fish. So I think I will keep up on the regs with more diligence so I can educate the violaters I come by better. And I'm very relieved to hear duck fork regs are still in place.
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