I went up the logan river to break out the old fly rod for a few hours. I get so frusterated at catching freakin white fish. I caught 100% white fish. I know that they are leaving them in there and taking out the browns. I hate it. Those things are nasty as can be and they steal all the cuts' food so the trout can't get big. Is there anyone else that gets upset at this? I hate it, I hate it, I hate it![mad]
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Smoke them White Fish up and you'll learn to appreciate them.[bobhappy]
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I agree those whitefish are amazing smoked.
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agree they are great smoked. heres another idea.... you are allowed to keep 10 at a time, then keep 10, take them home, and then fertilize your garden
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well, I am glad to hear that someone likes them. I think the difference is I only eat a few fish a year and most of them are camping in the high mountains. Maybe I should try my luck cooking one but I don't know if i can bring myself to eat something that looks so much like a carp. No offence to those of you from the south. I just don't like it. So tell me one more thing? Would you guys rather catch a white fish or a cut?
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[quote kochanut]agree they are great smoked. heres another idea.... you are allowed to keep 10 at a time, then keep 10, take them home, and then fertilize your garden[/quote]
Eh, eh, eh. you can't legally or ethically do that! Bad idea to encourage/promote that behavior.
[#211d1e][#211d1e][#211d1e]Wasting[/#211d1e]
[/#211d1e][/#211d1e][#211d1e]Utah Code § 23-20-8[/#211d1e][#211d1e]You may not waste any fish or crayfish or permit them to be wasted or spoiled. (Waste means [/#211d1e][#211d1e]to abandon a fish or crayfish or allow it to spoil or be used in a manner not normally associated with its beneficial use. For example, using the meat of game fish as fertilizer or for trapping bait is not considered a beneficial use of the meat.)[/#211d1e]
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[#211d1e]Right out of the 2010 Fishing Guide Book pg 15.[/#211d1e]
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[#211d1e]Notice that it says "any fish" NOT simply game fish. so you may even get in trouble doing that with the lowly carp. Just a heads up, you can do what you want since it's still a free country for a while yet.[/#211d1e]
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[#211d1e]As for me, I love catching them then letting them swim away to annoy someone else[sly].[/#211d1e]
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[#502800]Did you happen to catch "Roughin it Outdoors" this week?[/#502800]
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Some odd years ago I was fishing the Middle Fork of the Salmon with a couple friends. While two of us fished for Salmon the younger just fished. He caught a trout and a white fish. Before he could release the white fish I stopped him and told him we would have the two fish for dinner. Of course noses were soon turned up. I cooked the two then asked the two friends to tell me which was which. Neither could from the taste. They are good to eat, but as others have said they are excellent smoked. A lot of folks would rather have smoked white fish than smoked trout. Try it you might agree.
I too know it's a let down when you have in mind to catch one species then all you get is the so called undesirable. Think of the take and the fight, is it that much different?
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You know, the whitefish and cutthroat are both native to The Logan. They've coexisted for a long time and gotten along just fine. Whitefish are a good sign of a healthy river, so you should be glad they're there.
You may want to adjust how and where you're fishing. I fish The Logan quite often, and have mostly caught cutthroat, with a fair number of browns. I've only caught a small handful of whitefish. Maybe 3 at the most.
Sure I prefer catching trout more, but I'll take whitefish over nothing. I've never eaten them, but despite their ugly little mouths, they are more closely related to trout than suckers or carp. I'd imagine they have a similar flavor.
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[quote fishnate][quote kochanut]agree they are great smoked. heres another idea.... you are allowed to keep 10 at a time, then keep 10, take them home, and then fertilize your garden[/quote]
Eh, eh, eh. you can't legally or ethically do that! Bad idea to encourage/promote that behavior.
[#211d1e][#211d1e][#211d1e]Wasting[/#211d1e]
[/#211d1e][/#211d1e][#211d1e]Utah Code § 23-20-8[/#211d1e][#211d1e]You may not waste any fish or crayfish or permit them to be wasted or spoiled. (Waste means [/#211d1e][#211d1e]to abandon a fish or crayfish or allow it to spoil or be used in a manner not normally associated with its beneficial use. For example, using the meat of game fish as fertilizer or for trapping bait is not considered a beneficial use of the meat.)[/#211d1e]
[#211d1e][/#211d1e]
[#211d1e]Right out of the 2010 Fishing Guide Book pg 15.[/#211d1e]
[#211d1e][/#211d1e]
[#211d1e]Notice that it says "any fish" NOT simply game fish. so you may even get in trouble doing that with the lowly carp. Just a heads up, you can do what you want since it's still a free country for a while yet.[/#211d1e]
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[#211d1e]As for me, I love catching them then letting them swim away to annoy someone else[sly].[/#211d1e][/quote]
thanks for posting that! i had no idea what so ever at all, it pays to be informed!
so yea.... dont do that lol
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[quote Widastick] I know that they are leaving them in there and taking out the browns. I hate it. Those things are nasty as can be and they steal all the cuts' food so the trout can't get big. Is there anyone else that gets upset at this? I hate it, I hate it, I hate it![mad][/quote]
Who are these "they" you mention, leaving them in and taking out the browns? If you don't take a few home with you and eat them, it's you.
It's their food as much as the trouts'. They look very little like carp, (try to think of them as looking more like grayling..) they are cousins to trout and salmon, and taste as good as most trout do. I'd rather eat whitefish than a planter trout 2:1.
Learning to cook is a great thing no matter what. Whitefish might be a good place to start...
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id rather eat a white fish then a cutt..there great baked in the oven alsoyou really need to try there alot better then they look
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Sounds like I am pretty much all alone on this one. I will try to keep a more open mind. Having said that when I hook on to a bigger fish I get excited and most of the time its not so exciting once I see it is a white fish. I do like gstotts point on location on the Logan does change the species. There are not as many white fish up high as the lower parts of the river. This time of year i don't fish very high just because of the snow levels. Don't get me wrong i do like white fish over no fish but just for me I like browns, cuts over white fish any day. Thanks for the input on eating them. Like I said I don't really fish for the food but maybe one of these days I will try a white fish and then i can give my opinion on the taste.
One more question, I know that white fish are native to the logan and i know that Browns are not. On one of these posts someone said that white fish are a sign that a river is healthy. Just courious, what is it about white fish that says a river is healthy?
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the way it was explained to me (please correct me if im wrong someone) is that whiteys prefer cold CLEAN water, and whitties in a river means the water does not reach lethal levels except on overly hot summers that happen only every once in a while and that the insect/forage base is very healthy and plentiful
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Yep Whites make for a fun day as mentioned earlier Id rather be catching whities than a skunk. [
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Browns and Cuts are a aggressive feeding fish so the mt white fish are no competition for them plus juvenile whitefish make for a good food source for larger browns and cuts.
Mt White Fish are bottom feeders hence the sucker fish like lips and aside from the lips they are part os Salmon\Trout Family.
Best tactic to avoid Mt white fish is to fish higher in water column. Stop dragging your flies on the bottom and use less weight. You cant completely avoid them but fishing higher will minimize it or fish a different river. [
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[quote Widastick]Sounds like I am pretty much all alone on this one... I will try to keep a more open mind... Like I said I don't really fish for the food... [/quote]
Don't be worried about standing alone. But here's my thoughts for you to consider. I used to be concerned about what others would think about what I caught, so I would concentrate on the "pretty species," trout, bass, yada, yada. Then I read an InFisherman article that talked about being a multispecies fisherman for the enjoyment of catching fish and not ever going home skunked. Do I go fishing to please the crowd or to have fun catching fish? I go fishing to catch fish for my pleasure. As for me, I will target trout, bass or whatever but if for some reason they don't want to play, I will switch to what will play so I can still enjoy what I went fishing for. Whitefish, carp, suckers are fun to catch so long as they are big enough to fight. My kids like carp fishing so much that they request it over fishing for large trout at the Gorge or the Green R. I nailed a big ol' carp at Pelican last year and now we are going to go target them some days. You said you don't care much to eat fish so fish for the pleasure of catching fish, enjoy the fight and don't worry about anything else. My two cents. Do what you want.
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As was said, fish a little higher in the water column. Try using a dry dropper instead of straight up nymphing. Often, the actively feeding trout will be in shallower faster moving runs, often only a foot or two deep. As for switching rivers as was suggested, don't go to the Blacksmith Fork, I catch way more whitefish there than on the Logan. Strangely, on that stream I catch them in some shallower, swifter water, but that can be fun. Last summer I had a great time spot fishing pods of feeding white fish there.
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