Bait run

[Kent]

I think we have had it proven to us in Utah that trout alone cannot or will not eliminate chubs from the ecosystem.  No matter how many species of trout are dumped in a chub pond they just won't get rid of chubkind. 

You may be right and I have no problem with some chubs being in the fishery.  When one can catch nothing except for chubs then the fishery ceases to be enjoyable for me to fish (Starvation and Koosharem Reservoirs come to mind, when I was a kid).

I am thinking that Strawberry may end up being the exception.  It wasn't that many years ago that I could catch all the chubs I wanted by using my casting net from any of the docks.  The record was over 100 chubs and shiners in one cast of my casting net.  Those were the days when Minnow Man had a license to collect chubs and shiners from Strawberry. 

These days, I would be lucky to catch 10 chubs in 25 casts of my casting net (the red-sided shiners disappeared years ago).  The cutthroat seem to be eating 100% (if not 100% it is darn close) of the newly hatched chubs.  I wouldn't be surprised if chubs become extinct in Strawberry.  It may be proven if enough Bear Lake Cutthroat are planted in a fishery, over an extended period of time, combined with a slot limit, that it is possible for trout to eliminate the chubs from a fishery.  Time will tell.