01-04-2024, 04:31 PM
The sky is falling...the sky is falling. The world is coming to an end. Woe is us.
Always hate to see the aftermath of bucket biology bozos. But it is not likely they are going to destroy the fishery. There have been a few instances in Utah fishery history in which "unauthorized" species introductions have had either absolutely no impact on the fishery...or have even been more beneficial than detrimental. But drought and other natural occurrences have messed up more fishing holes than bucket biology. And who ya gonna blame for that?
Deer Creek is a good example. Walleyes were never "officially" planted by DWR, but did show up and they grew and prospered. Today they are probably more widely sought than the hatchery pet rainbows. Then there were the bucket bozo intros of crappies, white bass and bullheads. White bass have never shown up since. Crappies are a welcome occasional catch...and grow to good sizes. Bullheads are there but seldom caught. In short, no real noticeable effect on the fishery. Smallmouth...planted by DWR...are another story. They took over the lake from the formerly good maintaining population of largemouths, mopped up all the crawdads and put a big hurting on the perch population by chowing down on perch in all sizes from newly hatched fry to several inches long. Today the perch are only a fraction of their former numbers....and the smallmouth are stunted and not even very numerous.
Starvation is another example. DWR planted smallmouths and walleyes to control the vast chub population. They did too good of a job...quickly eating all but the biggest surviving chubs and then stunting themselves for lack of food. DWR did not plant perch in Starvy, but someone did...and their population exploded. Just in time to provide a forage base for the smallies and wallies. The predators grew bigger and fatter quickly...until a winter kill on the perch in about 2014 almost wiped out the perch. Since then, the perch have not been able to rebuild their populations and the smallies and wallies are mostly small and skinny.
There have been a few smallmouths show up in Strawberry. And each time someone catches one the doom and gloomers weep and wail about how the fishery is going to be ruined. In truth, Strawberry is just to the left of being hospitable to smallmouth propagation and survival, so we don't have to worry about that.
Echo is another lake where walleyes were illegally introduced. But with a good healthy perch population there has been fairly rapid growth and reproduction. And there is a growing contingent of anglers who now fish Echo that would never fish it if it only produced planted rainbows. The walleyes are not likely to have much affect on the trout...since they are maintained by stocking catchable size fish, rather than fingerlings. And if the walleyes reduce the perch population there will be more food for the trout.
I am the last one to defend illegal introductions. But some of them turn out to be more beneficial than negative. If the deed has been done we can lament it, but keep an open mind to the potential for a positive outcome.
Always hate to see the aftermath of bucket biology bozos. But it is not likely they are going to destroy the fishery. There have been a few instances in Utah fishery history in which "unauthorized" species introductions have had either absolutely no impact on the fishery...or have even been more beneficial than detrimental. But drought and other natural occurrences have messed up more fishing holes than bucket biology. And who ya gonna blame for that?
Deer Creek is a good example. Walleyes were never "officially" planted by DWR, but did show up and they grew and prospered. Today they are probably more widely sought than the hatchery pet rainbows. Then there were the bucket bozo intros of crappies, white bass and bullheads. White bass have never shown up since. Crappies are a welcome occasional catch...and grow to good sizes. Bullheads are there but seldom caught. In short, no real noticeable effect on the fishery. Smallmouth...planted by DWR...are another story. They took over the lake from the formerly good maintaining population of largemouths, mopped up all the crawdads and put a big hurting on the perch population by chowing down on perch in all sizes from newly hatched fry to several inches long. Today the perch are only a fraction of their former numbers....and the smallmouth are stunted and not even very numerous.
Starvation is another example. DWR planted smallmouths and walleyes to control the vast chub population. They did too good of a job...quickly eating all but the biggest surviving chubs and then stunting themselves for lack of food. DWR did not plant perch in Starvy, but someone did...and their population exploded. Just in time to provide a forage base for the smallies and wallies. The predators grew bigger and fatter quickly...until a winter kill on the perch in about 2014 almost wiped out the perch. Since then, the perch have not been able to rebuild their populations and the smallies and wallies are mostly small and skinny.
There have been a few smallmouths show up in Strawberry. And each time someone catches one the doom and gloomers weep and wail about how the fishery is going to be ruined. In truth, Strawberry is just to the left of being hospitable to smallmouth propagation and survival, so we don't have to worry about that.
Echo is another lake where walleyes were illegally introduced. But with a good healthy perch population there has been fairly rapid growth and reproduction. And there is a growing contingent of anglers who now fish Echo that would never fish it if it only produced planted rainbows. The walleyes are not likely to have much affect on the trout...since they are maintained by stocking catchable size fish, rather than fingerlings. And if the walleyes reduce the perch population there will be more food for the trout.
I am the last one to defend illegal introductions. But some of them turn out to be more beneficial than negative. If the deed has been done we can lament it, but keep an open mind to the potential for a positive outcome.