10-17-2010, 11:50 PM
[cool][#0000ff]There are still browns in Deer Creek, but not like the good old days. But what is?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Same old story. Only so much food in the grocery store. When you divide it up among all of the predators something has to change to accomodate a shortage. Once the smallies (and wallies) helped reduce the population of perchlets and crawdads in the lake, the brown population sagged accordingly. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Browns used to feast heavily each year on baby perch. These days the smallies, wallies, big perch, rainbows...and now the white bass and crappies...don't leave much for the browns to munch on. Almost impossible to find large schools of baby perch in the spring like there used to be. And whenever you DO see a small school of perchlets it is usually being shadowed by a wolf pack of little smallmouths...mopping them up systematically until the school is decimated.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There ARE still some BIG browns in Deer Creek. But not as many because there are not as many small to middle sized ones. And, yes they do run up the Provo to spawn in the fall...but not in the numbers we used to see. The good news is that the bigguns are not as heavily harvested in the middle Provo because it is fished mostly by fly flingers and C&R anglers. Most large fish are returned to finish spawning and return to the lake. HOWSOMEVER, that is not the case in the main lake. The prevailing mentality is to keep all browns...regardless of size...and especially the big spawning sized fish. Trophies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Basic biology. Reduce or remove the main food sources and keep whackin' on the gene pool and you will have an adverse affect on the fishery.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Same old story. Only so much food in the grocery store. When you divide it up among all of the predators something has to change to accomodate a shortage. Once the smallies (and wallies) helped reduce the population of perchlets and crawdads in the lake, the brown population sagged accordingly. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Browns used to feast heavily each year on baby perch. These days the smallies, wallies, big perch, rainbows...and now the white bass and crappies...don't leave much for the browns to munch on. Almost impossible to find large schools of baby perch in the spring like there used to be. And whenever you DO see a small school of perchlets it is usually being shadowed by a wolf pack of little smallmouths...mopping them up systematically until the school is decimated.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There ARE still some BIG browns in Deer Creek. But not as many because there are not as many small to middle sized ones. And, yes they do run up the Provo to spawn in the fall...but not in the numbers we used to see. The good news is that the bigguns are not as heavily harvested in the middle Provo because it is fished mostly by fly flingers and C&R anglers. Most large fish are returned to finish spawning and return to the lake. HOWSOMEVER, that is not the case in the main lake. The prevailing mentality is to keep all browns...regardless of size...and especially the big spawning sized fish. Trophies.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Basic biology. Reduce or remove the main food sources and keep whackin' on the gene pool and you will have an adverse affect on the fishery.[/#0000ff]
[signature]