Yesterday was a great day to go fishing! Caught twenty or so large bluegill on bits of worm, a few bass that were too small, and one secondhand catfish! An older couple caught the fish and attempted to release him but he was caught in the gill and was flopping around by the docks so I swam across the little cove, grabbed him, and swam back. He wasn't too big but I'm happy to just have seen one up close finally.
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That is a nice sized bluegill! The last time I was at Dierkes, a couple of years ago, the gills were an average of 4".
I knew they stocked them in there, but that is the first catfish I have heard of being caught there.
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Thats awesome! I have yet to catch a catfish at derkies. Nor have i been there when someone else caught one. Sounds like a good day indeed!
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Looks like F&G planted them a year ago. Previous to that the last planting was about 2000.
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They actually stock it a bit more frequently but there arent a whole lot of catfish pulled out of there. Last was about 5 weeks ago (I spoke with a F&G officer last week who was monitoring some kind of field trip fishing day) and they stock it at least once a year to eat the bluegill. The bluegills have been larger this year than in the past (at least, in my experience) but the bass are about the same size as usual. I see people catch a cat every once in a while but I have yet to... I only have luck at Milner and even thats not very good!
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I know a little bit about this subject. Derkies has NOT been planted since 2000. Last year I spent a lot of time fishing Carey lake to try to find the cats. Dog Creek and Carey lake were the two lakes that were designated to be planted by the IDFG. It was thought that thought that Carey was not being planted heavily enough so they stepped up the numbers of cats planted in the 07 and the 09 planting to over 2300 fish. This was to put enough fish there to see some caught. The F&G went to Carey and tried to sample count cats several times but had no luck. I went in and tried it like I said in 2010 and I also struck out several times. After much discussion with the F&G over cats I asked the regional biologist to suspend planting in Carey lake and go back to Dog Creek and Derkies lake as the two catfish lakes in our region. It was my opinion that Carey lake was just not suitable for cats, and I stand by that. I also believe that the cats were de-watered in the desert portion of the lake. I can't prove it but it and winter kill due to shallow water in the lake are the only reasons I can see.
Now back to Derkies. Yes Derkies was planted in 2010. That fish you have in the picture was a plant from then. we will most likely see more plants into Derkies, I hope. After the discussions I have had I believe they will continue to plant there because the cats don't have a way out other than in a cooler. One of the things that I like about Derkies is no night fishing. This will keep fishing for cats in the day time when most people don't think cats can be caught. And it will also keep the rough crowd to a minimum, at least I hope. I also hope that it will keep the harvest down a bit to allow some of them to get big.
This is another lake that is going to be a slow growth type lake like Dog Creek. The water is cold and they will never spawn. So what ever the F&G plants is all we have and in the last 11 years there has only been 1341 cats officially planted. With mortality and many other reasons I don't believe that the overall numbers are all that high.
This is another lake where yes it is legal to take home every fish you catch but it might be better to catch and release some. In reality how much meat is on a 10" catfish?
Milner is a different story. Well kind of. Idaho Power is the agency that plants Milner. Idaho F&G records the plants on their web site but IP does the planting. Again Milner is another spot that has no natural reproduction. I do think a lot of the cats are lost at milner due to them going down the irrigation canals. Milner does have cats but not like they would if there was natural reproduction. Milner has limited access for a lot of the res. I don't think over fishing is hurting it as much as flushing them down stream is.
I have been working with the F&G to improve catfishing here in the Magic valley I hope to recruit your help in convincing them to improve the resource. The one thing I do think we should have is a limit on Planted catfish. We have a Limited resource why do we have an unlimited harvest? Ron
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Hmm interesting, I'm just repeating what the fish and game guy told me when I was there a week or so ago. He said they don't publicize the plantings because they aren't there for fishing, necessarily, but to keep the breem down.
A limit would be a great idea but since I average one a year its not that bad, in my case.
I don't even eat fish lol
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Well we will have to get you into some cats. I think we need to get your toon into some cat action. Ron
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Didn't there used to be catfish in Wilson and Murtaugh? Do they get dewatered? Seems like they would be prime warm water for cats.
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That would be awesome, Ron! One of these days I wouldn't mind giving ya a hand in your tagging or something.
I've heard of em there (Wilson/murtaugh) but never seen one. Maybe bullheads, but no channel cats, yet. I caught this guy outta the twin falls canal out of milner that goes into murtaugh....
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Now back to Derkies. Yes Derkies was planted in 2010. That fish you have in the picture was a plant from then. we will most likely see more plants into Derkies, I hope. After the discussions I have had I believe they will continue to plant there because the cats don't have a way out other than in a cooler. One of the things that I like about Derkies is[#ff0000] no night fishing. This will keep fishing for cats in the day time when most people don't think cats can be caught. And it will also keep the rough crowd to a minimum, at least I hope[/#ff0000].[/quote]
What are your issues with night fishing? what do you mean by "the rough crowd?"
I fish for cats at night (where legal) and see myself as a responsible fisherman.
And I also fish for cats during the day and know they can be caught.
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I imagine he's referring to folks that'll fish and party at the same time. One of the spots I fish here around IF regularly has old campfire remains (no pit) and beer bottles strewn about. Just messy, like they came out to party and fish on the side and decided not to clean up after themselves.
I showed up one time and there was still a pretty large log burning from the night before, and that was our only clue that the ground was still on fire. Took 20 1-gallon bucket trips to soak the ground enough to put it out. That one especially got me mad because I bring my kids out with me, and my little son doesn't have a good track record with fire.
If folks are respectful of others and clean up after themselves I have absolutely no problem with the night owls. If I knew people interested to go out and fish at night I'd be doing it actually.
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That is the point. I have fished Dog creek at night and your taking a risk there. Between the kids partying and people looking for trouble I tend to go prepared for the worst and hope for the best.
Now I have fished several times at SFCR. When I go to the east side I sleep with one eye open there since they found that guy murdered there. Now when I stay on the west side I don't worry about a thing.
Milner on public land? I don't think so, but if I did I would be prepared for the worst and again hope for the best.
There could be cats in wilson and Murtaugh. Water goes there but I think it goes through some electric generation plants to wilson. Wilson was all but dry this March. I guess there was enough water to keep a few alive. I don't know about Murtaugh for power plants. It goes almost dry every year. Since it goes that far down I have NO interest in it at all. Ron
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