03-25-2019, 01:34 PM
[#0000FF]What Mike said.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I started using the term "cookie cutters" on Willard many years ago...to cover the most common size range. At that time they were about 16 to 18 inches. Since then there has been an upward shift in the both the average size and the largest fish available. Not a bad thing. But a cookie cutter now is closer to 20".[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]In Utah Lake the "cookies" size seems to fluctuate from year to year. About 22-24 inches seems to be the "average" cat currently...with good numbers of 2-footers and slightly larger.
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[#0000FF]There are always cats from several different age classes in Utah Lake. But during years of high water and good spawning there will be a large year class of survivors that show up as the cookie cutters several years into the future...each year getting a bit bigger. But attrition from angler harvest and natural causes gradually reduce the numbers of each year class. The very biggest fish are the survivors from otherwise decimated year classes.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]We are not seeing a lot of smaller cats in Utah Lake this past year or so because there have been several low water years...poor spawning. Cats spawn in underwater rocks and in flooded shoreline vegetation. Both of those spawning habitats are in short supply when water levels are down. There should be high water and a good spawn this year. So look for some 6-8 inch fish next year...and footlongs the year after.
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[#0000FF]I started using the term "cookie cutters" on Willard many years ago...to cover the most common size range. At that time they were about 16 to 18 inches. Since then there has been an upward shift in the both the average size and the largest fish available. Not a bad thing. But a cookie cutter now is closer to 20".[/#0000FF]
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[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]In Utah Lake the "cookies" size seems to fluctuate from year to year. About 22-24 inches seems to be the "average" cat currently...with good numbers of 2-footers and slightly larger.
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]There are always cats from several different age classes in Utah Lake. But during years of high water and good spawning there will be a large year class of survivors that show up as the cookie cutters several years into the future...each year getting a bit bigger. But attrition from angler harvest and natural causes gradually reduce the numbers of each year class. The very biggest fish are the survivors from otherwise decimated year classes.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]We are not seeing a lot of smaller cats in Utah Lake this past year or so because there have been several low water years...poor spawning. Cats spawn in underwater rocks and in flooded shoreline vegetation. Both of those spawning habitats are in short supply when water levels are down. There should be high water and a good spawn this year. So look for some 6-8 inch fish next year...and footlongs the year after.
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