04-16-2023, 04:24 PM
This was all spawned by the "success" of the Hobble Creek restoration project. They are/were totally different projects. Hobble Creek emptied into Mud Lake/Provo Bay. It was a total channelized water after the floods of 83, when they put a trackhoe in the stream and removed all the undercut banks from Springville down to the lake. The "Delta" from west of I15 to the lake looks nice and it appears to be attracting fish. I have not walked out from the turnout to peruse the result though.
I did drive by the Provo project yesterday and observed as much as possible from the road. There is a good flow from the diversion out to the fields to the west. There is also a large "lake" to the north of the channel. Not sure if that is a permanent feature. Further down on the Provo channel there is a noticeable drop in flow., At the bridge over the river at the entrance of the park, they are removing some of the big Cottonwoods along the bank. So changes are taking place.
As to the June Sucker !! My feeling on that have been expressed many time over, it is a sham! From what I have learned over the past 20 years is that there are NO true June suckers ( there NEVER were ). The last "true" junie was found about 20 years ago. Since that time the project has been the preservation of " june sucker genetic material" harvested from the hybrids in the lake. The early young of the process had to be genetically tested and only those fry that met a "standard" ( no one has ever said "how much" genetic material qualified as a june sucker) . Many batches of those early fry were destroyed as they did not meet the standard. There is some theory that a species will "preserve" their genetic material by hybridizing with another species until such time that it can recover it's true genetic's. How that happens I do not know and have not read any papers that document it. So the June Sucker boondoggle continues. WE and Utah Lake have benefited from the expenditure of money to improve the ecosystem of Utah Lake. How long those improvements will last has yet to be determined.
Enjoy things while we can and we'll see how things play out !! A couple of things to watch. The rise of the Northern Pike population, how fast the carp return, and what will happen to the WB population after the winter kill in 2022. Also it appears that the "island builders" are trying to revive their scheme, we'll wait and see !!
PS: I am going to continue fishing the pond, enjoy the new Saratoga Springs marina on the north end and the rebuild of AF harbor when they are done !! Can't wait to see what they do !!!
I did drive by the Provo project yesterday and observed as much as possible from the road. There is a good flow from the diversion out to the fields to the west. There is also a large "lake" to the north of the channel. Not sure if that is a permanent feature. Further down on the Provo channel there is a noticeable drop in flow., At the bridge over the river at the entrance of the park, they are removing some of the big Cottonwoods along the bank. So changes are taking place.
As to the June Sucker !! My feeling on that have been expressed many time over, it is a sham! From what I have learned over the past 20 years is that there are NO true June suckers ( there NEVER were ). The last "true" junie was found about 20 years ago. Since that time the project has been the preservation of " june sucker genetic material" harvested from the hybrids in the lake. The early young of the process had to be genetically tested and only those fry that met a "standard" ( no one has ever said "how much" genetic material qualified as a june sucker) . Many batches of those early fry were destroyed as they did not meet the standard. There is some theory that a species will "preserve" their genetic material by hybridizing with another species until such time that it can recover it's true genetic's. How that happens I do not know and have not read any papers that document it. So the June Sucker boondoggle continues. WE and Utah Lake have benefited from the expenditure of money to improve the ecosystem of Utah Lake. How long those improvements will last has yet to be determined.
Enjoy things while we can and we'll see how things play out !! A couple of things to watch. The rise of the Northern Pike population, how fast the carp return, and what will happen to the WB population after the winter kill in 2022. Also it appears that the "island builders" are trying to revive their scheme, we'll wait and see !!
PS: I am going to continue fishing the pond, enjoy the new Saratoga Springs marina on the north end and the rebuild of AF harbor when they are done !! Can't wait to see what they do !!!