01-17-2013, 10:35 PM
I wanted to give the perch in Fish Lake a break for awhile so who has what to say about the unauthorized introduction of small mouth bass in to Lake Powell?
I love em!
[signature]
I love em!
[signature]
01-17-2013, 10:35 PM
01-17-2013, 11:00 PM
Who really cares I love catching Largies and Smallies in Lake Powell when I get a change too fish it. LP is my favorite bass lake in utah. It's a huge lake so let them swim around so we can catch them.
[signature]
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:14 PM
[#0000FF]Smallies in Lake Powell were planted by DWR, from stocks obtained from Flaming Gorge.
Ditto for smallies in Deer Creek. That was the ruination of Deer Creek. They ate all the crawdads and have been a big part of the problem with perch numbers always being so low.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Ditto for smallies in Deer Creek. That was the ruination of Deer Creek. They ate all the crawdads and have been a big part of the problem with perch numbers always being so low.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:18 PM
FFL, it is my favorite place in the world too. I would rather be there than Disneyland.
The only thing that really bothers me is that it has the wrong name, it should correctly be named Reservoir Powell and not Lake Powell.
[signature]
The only thing that really bothers me is that it has the wrong name, it should correctly be named Reservoir Powell and not Lake Powell.
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:21 PM
True enough the DWR planted them, I agree. They just didn't have permission from the feds.
I think it was one of the DWR's best ' mistakes' ever made!
[signature]
I think it was one of the DWR's best ' mistakes' ever made!
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:29 PM
[quote SBennett]True enough the DWR planted them, I agree. They just didn't have permission from the feds.
I think it was one of the DWR's best ' mistakes' ever made![/quote]
[cool][#0000FF]When dealing with the feds it is sometimes better to use the married man's philosophy: Easier to beg forgiveness than to get permission.[/#0000FF]
[signature]
I think it was one of the DWR's best ' mistakes' ever made![/quote]
[cool][#0000FF]When dealing with the feds it is sometimes better to use the married man's philosophy: Easier to beg forgiveness than to get permission.[/#0000FF]
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:35 PM
[quote TubeDude][#0000FF]Smallies in Lake Powell were planted by DWR, from stocks obtained from Flaming Gorge.
Ditto for smallies in Deer Creek. That was the ruination of Deer Creek. They ate all the crawdads and have been a big part of the problem with perch numbers always being so low.
[/#0000FF][/quote]
This is all very interesting reading, thanks TD.
[signature]
Ditto for smallies in Deer Creek. That was the ruination of Deer Creek. They ate all the crawdads and have been a big part of the problem with perch numbers always being so low.
[/#0000FF][/quote]
This is all very interesting reading, thanks TD.
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:37 PM
Amen Pat. I too am a married man.
[signature]
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:47 PM
For the Deer Creek side. I'm sorry that I slayed your precious perch in the summer. [laugh]
I hope this summer with my special date with be the same. If life can repeat it's magical dates but in different a year would be amazing. We shall wait and see XD.
[signature]
I hope this summer with my special date with be the same. If life can repeat it's magical dates but in different a year would be amazing. We shall wait and see XD.
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:49 PM
[quote Flyfishinglover]For the Deer Creek side. I'm sorry that I slayed your precious perch in the summer. [laugh]
I hope this summer with my special date with be the same. If life can repeat it's magical dates but in different a year would be amazing. We shall wait and see XD.[/quote]
excuse me but...HUH?
[signature]
I hope this summer with my special date with be the same. If life can repeat it's magical dates but in different a year would be amazing. We shall wait and see XD.[/quote]
excuse me but...HUH?
[signature]
01-17-2013, 11:55 PM
[#0000FF]Perch are always at the bottom of the food chain...and at the top too. They eat their own young and without a lot of baby perch the adults go hungry. Vicious circle.
In days of old the perch population in Deer Creek was enormous. And there were lots of big ones too. Got lots of them footlong and better...and always fat and healthy. And the bottom of the lake was crawling with crawdads...good food for the largemouths and other species.
Perch got along fine with the growing population of walleyes. But once the smallmouths hit Deer Creek the perch population took a hit. And it is not just the larger adult smallies munching on midsize perch. The real predation comes from the yearling smallies...hordes of 4-6 inchers...forming wolf packs and decimating the newly hatched perch fry by the thousands. And at every stage of development of the young perch there are smallmouth bass just large enough to prey on them. Suddenly there were whole year classes of perch missing from the food chain. And the smallmouths that had been growing fast and doing well began to decrease in average size too. Now there are not many over 13 inches.
A similar thing happened in Jordanelle. After it filled there were grundles of chubs and soon lots of young perch. There were no crawdads but the smallies ate well on the buffet of perch and chubs. That is until they knocked the chub population way down...like they did in Starvation. Then they had to live mostly on perch. And that was okay...as long as the perch were abundant. For a couple of years there were probably more 5# smallmouth in Jordanelle than any other lake in the west.
Then there was a perch crash during the winter...about 2008 or 2009. The hordes of perch schools disappeared. Couldn't even catch more than a few during the prime summer times at the best perch spots. Guess what? The big bass crashed too. Suddenly it was rare to catch a smallie over about 3#. Divers reported seeing lots of big dead fish littering the bottom in some spots...having died of starvation...in Jordanelle. Bass anglers were quick to blame "happy harvesters" but the truth (as I suspect it) had more to do with the food chain. Remove the formerly abundant chubs and perch and the big smallies got nothing left to eat.
Fish Lake is a different water than our more northerly reservoirs. More stable water levels, natural weed beds and low level fertility...aquatic bug goodies. The perch have food, shelter and little predation. The apex predators (macks) don't like them and the other trout don't get big enough to eat them once they survive to a few inches in length. But, as with most perch waters, there is a "tipping point" situation in which the perch can thrive as long as there are enough baby perch for them to eat. The only thing that will drastically reduce the perch in FL is a major water drawdown and poor spawning for a few years...with heavy harvest and heavy predation. Not likely.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
In days of old the perch population in Deer Creek was enormous. And there were lots of big ones too. Got lots of them footlong and better...and always fat and healthy. And the bottom of the lake was crawling with crawdads...good food for the largemouths and other species.
Perch got along fine with the growing population of walleyes. But once the smallmouths hit Deer Creek the perch population took a hit. And it is not just the larger adult smallies munching on midsize perch. The real predation comes from the yearling smallies...hordes of 4-6 inchers...forming wolf packs and decimating the newly hatched perch fry by the thousands. And at every stage of development of the young perch there are smallmouth bass just large enough to prey on them. Suddenly there were whole year classes of perch missing from the food chain. And the smallmouths that had been growing fast and doing well began to decrease in average size too. Now there are not many over 13 inches.
A similar thing happened in Jordanelle. After it filled there were grundles of chubs and soon lots of young perch. There were no crawdads but the smallies ate well on the buffet of perch and chubs. That is until they knocked the chub population way down...like they did in Starvation. Then they had to live mostly on perch. And that was okay...as long as the perch were abundant. For a couple of years there were probably more 5# smallmouth in Jordanelle than any other lake in the west.
Then there was a perch crash during the winter...about 2008 or 2009. The hordes of perch schools disappeared. Couldn't even catch more than a few during the prime summer times at the best perch spots. Guess what? The big bass crashed too. Suddenly it was rare to catch a smallie over about 3#. Divers reported seeing lots of big dead fish littering the bottom in some spots...having died of starvation...in Jordanelle. Bass anglers were quick to blame "happy harvesters" but the truth (as I suspect it) had more to do with the food chain. Remove the formerly abundant chubs and perch and the big smallies got nothing left to eat.
Fish Lake is a different water than our more northerly reservoirs. More stable water levels, natural weed beds and low level fertility...aquatic bug goodies. The perch have food, shelter and little predation. The apex predators (macks) don't like them and the other trout don't get big enough to eat them once they survive to a few inches in length. But, as with most perch waters, there is a "tipping point" situation in which the perch can thrive as long as there are enough baby perch for them to eat. The only thing that will drastically reduce the perch in FL is a major water drawdown and poor spawning for a few years...with heavy harvest and heavy predation. Not likely.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
01-18-2013, 12:38 AM
Wayne Gustaveson, with the UDWR put Smallmouth bass into Lake Powell. From his website:
"Lake Powell Smallmouth StoryThe smallmouth story is very interesting. It was my first year raising bass at the Wahweap hatchery (1982). The priorities were to stock two other lakes in Utah and if any fish were left over then we could stock Lake Powell. As luck would have it our production was small and only enough bass to stock one lake were produced.
The pond was lowered and fish placed in a net enclosure overnight to await the arrival of the airplane the next day which would take them to their final destination. When the plane arrived we noticed that some of the bass had escaped through a small hole. The choices were to send the fish we had or spend another half day draining the pond again to recover what turned out to be 2000 fish. Being young and full of vigor I took it upon myself to decide the most cost effective approach would be to send the airplane with the majority of the harvest. It wasn't worth another days airplane rent to send another 2000 fish.
The next day I drained the pond and put the 3000 two inch fish in Crosby Canyon. Turns out had I asked for permission to do this it would not have been granted. In fact, my Chief of Fisheries began clutching his chest and gasping for breath when informed of the stocking in a routine report a month later. There was no agency approval within Utah or any agreement with any other state or federal agency to do this and if I had not blundered along in my innocent naivety I doubt that smallmouth would ever have made it into Lake Powell.
We had to ask forgiveness for this one and it has NEVER been given. But oh, what a fishery has developed!"
[signature]
"Lake Powell Smallmouth StoryThe smallmouth story is very interesting. It was my first year raising bass at the Wahweap hatchery (1982). The priorities were to stock two other lakes in Utah and if any fish were left over then we could stock Lake Powell. As luck would have it our production was small and only enough bass to stock one lake were produced.
The pond was lowered and fish placed in a net enclosure overnight to await the arrival of the airplane the next day which would take them to their final destination. When the plane arrived we noticed that some of the bass had escaped through a small hole. The choices were to send the fish we had or spend another half day draining the pond again to recover what turned out to be 2000 fish. Being young and full of vigor I took it upon myself to decide the most cost effective approach would be to send the airplane with the majority of the harvest. It wasn't worth another days airplane rent to send another 2000 fish.
The next day I drained the pond and put the 3000 two inch fish in Crosby Canyon. Turns out had I asked for permission to do this it would not have been granted. In fact, my Chief of Fisheries began clutching his chest and gasping for breath when informed of the stocking in a routine report a month later. There was no agency approval within Utah or any agreement with any other state or federal agency to do this and if I had not blundered along in my innocent naivety I doubt that smallmouth would ever have made it into Lake Powell.
We had to ask forgiveness for this one and it has NEVER been given. But oh, what a fishery has developed!"
[signature]