I checked the DWR website and they list small-mouth as a possible catch at Strawberry. I talked to a few people I consider knowledgeable and they say they think they heard the DWR was going to try and put them in there....I called the Marina and they thought I was crazy. I even referred them to the DWR site and they said the DWR would tell them if they were in there and they haven't....has anyone here heard one way or another for sure?
Thanks is advance
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A few have been caught out of Strawberry; however, the population appears to be extremely small. This topic has been discussed several times on this forum. If you do a search you will find those threads.
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Yeah I found one post with a picture WOW I seriously cant believe it...good thing my G-Pa is dead or that would probably have done him in....he lived in a cabin on Strawberry and any non-trout was a trash fish....
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wish they would plant them! better than those roll on there side and float up to the top cutts. those smallies sure do pull hard! love em!
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The problem is that young-of-the-year smallmouth bass will never be very successful at surviving through the winter. There just isn't a long enough summer growing season for them to grow to a size big enough to survive winter.
Due to elevation and water temps, spring spawn for bass would be delayed until later than many lower elevation waters. Then, to compound the late spawn, winter sets in earlier. This creates a much shorter time period for young-of-the-year to establish.
I seriously doubt smallmouth will ever establish any significant numbers in Strawberry. The DWR knows this, and isn't going to waste their time stocking them.
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I wonder about that...are they not being caught because they are not being targeted? or are they not targeted because there aren't any???? Looking at past threads on this subject I can see that the ones that have been photographed are trophy sized, not just big, but borderline state record quality (keeping in mind inch per inch smallies are heavier than largies)...the question is do we know for sure the baby bass are being killed off 100% by the winter? if it is any number less than 100% that will establish a population eventually.
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[cool][#0000ff]Popular opinion is that the smallies in Strawberry have been "transplanted" from Starvation by anglers who kept a few in their live wells and then relaunched on Strawberry. Not nice and not legal. But if planted in larger sizes the illegal immigrants find plenty of crawdads to eat and WILL grown to good size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are not a lot of smallies caught from Strawberry because there are not a lot in there. Nobody knows what the population is but there have never been any fingerlings observed. At least that is what I have been told by DWR and by other knowledgeable anglers. As PBH states, the problem is not that smallies can't spawn. They probably do. But by the time the water warms enough for them to spawn the growing season for hatchlings is already short. And the tiny invertebrates upon which they must survive for several months all disappear after the early fall and early freezeover. There are several months in which there is virtually nothing to eat for baby bass. If they could make it through their first winter it would be a different story.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Planting smallmouth in Strawberry is almost like planting wipers. Makes for fun fishing but no problems of rampant reproduction.[/#0000ff]
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[quote Bigyfan]...do we know for sure the baby bass are being killed off 100% by the winter? if it is any number less than 100% that will establish a population eventually.[/quote]
No, I doubt that 100% (if there are spawning adults) would die. I would imagine that just going by percentages, a few may make it through that first winter.
Again, no -- just because some might make it does not mean that a population will eventually establish. Unless you count a hundred fish or so as an established population.
Plain and simple, Strawberry doesn't provide conditions suitable for a sustainable smallmouth population.
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[quote Bigyfan]I checked the DWR website and they list small-mouth as a possible catch at Strawberry. I talked to a few people I consider knowledgeable and they say they think they heard the DWR was going to try and put them in there....I called the Marina and they thought I was crazy.[/quote]
so, here's the question I just can't figure out: Why not get it from the horses mouth, instead of from the other end???
So, you see something you're not sure about. You ask your friends who you consider knowledgeable, and then you call a boat marina. Finally, you post it on the internet. You get 3 differing answers from a bunch of people that truly don't have a clue (this includes myself!).
Why in the world don't you just ask the biologists???? Alan Ward is really a pretty good guy, and he knows a thing or two about Strawberry. Just call him. He'll give you the answer straight from the horses mouth.
Why are people so scared to talk to the people who would actually know the answers to their questions? Is it because they really don't want to know the correct answer? We'd rather build things up into some kind of urban legend, I guess...
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good point...I will call or email him. I did call the DWR office here locally, the answer I got was if it is on the website then they are in there....so I wanted to get it from the "horses mouth" as in any angler who has caught one there...older posts on the subject was also a great resource, my curisoty stems from all the millions of crawdads I have caught there and wondering if they are in Deer Creek (trout pond), Jordanelle (trout pond) then logically they could also be in there ....I am now educated on the problems they would face there.
However, hypothetically, if you have one fish and it spawns, and only 5 or 6 of its fry make it to adulthood...then when they spawn they do the same in 4 generations (eight years) you could have as many as 1,697,616 fish..now of course there are other factors at play but the point is, even two healthy adults from one spawn, would theoretically increase exponentially the population of that species.
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[quote Bigyfan]
However, hypothetically, if you have one fish and it spawns...[/quote]
It takes two.
I don't know who you called, but next time ask to speak to a fisheries biologist (or, ask for a specific person by name, if you know their name). When you go to the Dr., you certainly don't listen to the receptionist concerning your diagnosis...
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Bigyfan,
I don't know where your math went fuzzy, but let's see if we can figure out how many fish you would have in 8 years, starting with one pair. If they get 6 of their offspring to grow to adulthood with each spawn. And if with all the luck in the world those 6 are 3 males and 3 females that pair up in their 2nd year of life. 1st year, one pair produces 3 pairs. 2nd year, one pair produces 3 additional pair. 3rd year, 4 pairs (that's the original plus the offspring from the first year) produce 12 pairs. 4th year, 7 pairs produce 21 pairs. 5th year, 19 pairs produce 57 pairs. 6th year, 40 pairs (that's the 19 pairs from the year before, plus the 21 pairs that are now old enough to spawn) produce 120 pairs. 7th year, 97 pairs (40 that were old enough last year, and 57 pairs that were spawned in the 5th year) produce 291 pairs of fish. In the 8th year, 217 pairs are now old enough to spawn (provided nothing happens to the adults) and produce 651 additional pairs. The total population would be 868 pairs, or 1,736 fish from the original pair. Provided they were able to produce 6 offspring that would reach adulthood and spawn in the next year and have the same spawning success year after year, age class after age class.
If it continued into the 9th year there would be 508 pairs that were old enough to spawn and if each pair produced 6 offspring that survived to adulthood there would be 1,528 additional pairs.
But it's probably a moot point, because the growing season is too short in Strawberry for Smallmouth bass to get through their 1st cold water period. The young would have to have enough body mass by October to survive without another meal until roughly mid May.
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2 years ago i saw a guy cleaning 2 full limits of smallies for him and his son at strawberry. they werent very big but they are there and i know where. wont say in post but pm me for location.
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Ive personally seen 40 fish days on smallys at the Berry & dont give a rats a$$ what you really think .. Your known for bein one the most critical guys on the forum and have been forever ..They are there and have been for many moons the Bass Boys have been whackinem the whole time u just dont hear it boutit cause of guys like you that know everything bout anything..Why postit so you can argue it right ?? If you gota factual report than great .. Wheres your Berry post BTW ??? Your info is not 1st hand and has never been other than your Salmon trips right ??
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[quote FISHAMANIAC801] Ive personally seen 40 fish days on smallys at the Berry & dont give a rats a$$ what you really think .. Your known for bein one the most critical guys on the forum and have been forever ..They are there and have been for many moons the Bass Boys have been whackinem the whole time u just dont hear it boutit cause of guys like you that know everything bout anything..Why postit so you can argue it right ?? If you gota factual report than great .. Wheres your Berry post BTW ??? Your info is not 1st hand and has never been other than your Salmon trips right ??[/quote]
Hey Fishamaniac,
Perhaps this may help you make you point mate. If you were to search this forum looking for Berry reports including Bass it may add weight to your argument mate. for example I searched "Berry Bass" just out of curiosity and got the following -
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=265501;search_string=berry%20bass;#265501"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...berry%20bass;#265501[/url]
If you scroll down to the 8th post in the thread it has a report about bass in the Berry (and a pic). Now I am not sure it is the Bass (cos I aint from these here parts old mate) you guys are discussing, just saying, use the search function and it may help you support your case. As my boss says..."In God we trust, all others must bring data"
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Cheers
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[quote Funchy][quote FISHAMANIAC801] Ive personally seen 40 fish days on smallys at the Berry & dont give a rats a$$ what you really think .. Your known for bein one the most critical guys on the forum and have been forever ..They are there and have been for many moons the Bass Boys have been whackinem the whole time u just dont hear it boutit cause of guys like you that know everything bout anything..Why postit so you can argue it right ?? If you gota factual report than great ..Wheres your Berry post BTW ??? Your info is not 1st hand and has never been other than your Salmon trips right ??[/quote]
Hey Fishamaniac,
Perhaps this may help you make you point mate. If you were to search this forum looking for Berry reports including Bass it may add weight to your argument mate. for example I searched "Berry Bass" just out of curiosity and got the following -
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=265501;search_string=berry%20bass;#265501"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...berry%20bass;#265501[/url]
If you scroll down to the 8th post in the thread it has a report about bass in the Berry (and a pic). Now I am not sure it is the Bass (cos I aint from these here parts old mate) you guys are discussing, just saying, use the search function and it may help you support your case. As my boss says..."In God we trust, all others must bring data"
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Cheers[/quote]
Fuchy, that berry bass is a chub.
To fishmaniac801 catching 40 smallies a day at Strawberry?
Time to put the waders on.
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Hey mojorizing,
I knew I shoulda butt out. Thanks for clearing that up. Don't know fish species in this part of the world as well as back home. I suppose my point was that sometimes fcats and data are left out of some peoples debates. Facts and data don't lie.
Cheers mate
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"As my boss says..."In God we trust, all others must bring data"
That is absolutely beautiful!!! HAHA!
As far as the post goes, it's been beat pretty hard on this forum. The smallies are in there, if I thought I had a small chance of catching one I'd be there right now and not sitting in front of my computer after a hard week working out of town. Not many skiers up at the berry and I like that. I've got a buddy who is always bugging me to go up there and try to catch one but it's not his boat, his gas, his fuel, his mileage nor his no job lazy butt that has to miss work (sorry, venting) so I stick to my spots that produce...boat or no boat [
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That maniac guy needs to cool off, he sounds like me.
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[quote westonater1980]2 years ago i saw a guy cleaning 2 full limits of smallies for him and his son at strawberry. they werent very big but they are there and i know where. wont say in post but pm me for location.[/quote]
Lemme guess. In the water. Some place with lots of rocks.[crazy]
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