Over the past several weeks, I have been amazed at how full most of our reservoirs are !! Deer Creek, Jordanelle, Echo, and Pineview are all at levels that you would not expect at this time of the year, under drought conditions. Unfortunately, Utah Lake remains at a disappointingly low level, bummer.
I get on UL and have to fight the urge to move to the shoreline, but there ain't no water in there. I am learning how to fish in open water out there, and not much of it!! It is a new experience for sure !!!
[#0000FF]As a fellow UL lover I share your pain. We have seen the lake at lower levels and dread them getting down that low again.
However, there may be a glimmer of hope. In talking with the manager of Lindon this week he said that he was advised that there are scheduled to be larger releases from Deer Creek during this summer to try to keep the levels of UL up a bit. That happens every year during the June Sucker spawn time but hopefully it continues through the major agricultural drawdowns of late summer.
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Pat, maybe a dumb question: Will water released from Deer Creek to UL spread the invasive species that have been reported to be in DC? I saw a DNR truck at LB last weekend towing a hot / high pressure decon unit. I figured he had it to decon any boats that were launching there and had out of state registrations.
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Yes the mussels will be taken downstream to UL. There's no stopping that assuming a reproducing population does infest Deer Creek.
The question will be how well they do in UL. Quagga prefer deeper waters and grow best 30' below the surface.
As filter feeders, they should help the water clarity at UL should the establish -- as an upside to all the issues they cause.
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[#0000FF]Not a dumb question. A good one. The short answer is yes the larvae (veligers) WOULD potentially go downstream. But, the good news (so far) is that there have been no other findings of quagga infestation in Deer Creek. Five veligers were found in a drag net survey by the dam in late fall of last year. Since then there have been no others found...and no adults found by divers checking all around the lake, on docks, etc. The expectation is that the one-time finding came from a single infected boat and that there is not an actual infestation. Let's hope.
According to input we received from DWR at the recent float tubing seminar, they have budgeted additional decon units to be on site at most of the popular waters within the next couple of years. Let's hope they are not needed but be glad they will be there and that DWR is trying to be ahead of the game.
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OK. Always told my kids and my troops in the AF, the only dumb question was the one you don't ask. So thanks, Pat. Make me feel some better
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Moot point, the river has been flowing out of DC this whole time. Invertebrates like that aren't going to do well going down a shallow river like the LP though.
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