06-26-2013, 06:51 PM
[#0000FF]In 2011 there was super high water through the summer months. All species spawned well and there was plenty of food for all fish in the lake. The winter of 2011 - 2012 produced poor snow levels and the runoff was almost nonexistent at the time the white bass spawned...in the tributaries and around the shoreline. Much of the rocky shoreline they used for spawning was above the water level so spawning was poor.
With the low water there was also little protection for baby white bass, since the reeds were too shallow or even high and dry. And the mud flats that had been producing midge larvae, leeches and other edible invertebrates were dried out and barren. In short...fewer baby white bass for the predators to eat and less food for the baby white bass to eat.
White bass that had grown beyond 10 or 11 inches were able to make a living on the stunted baby white bass. Ditto for walleye and catfish. But there was just not enough food for the middle year class whities and many of them stunted, got skinny and suffered some winter kill under the lengthy ice cap of this past winter.
It was probably a good thing for the overall health of Utah Lake...and the June Suckers...that the white bass population has taken a hit. We were approachng a white bass overload in the lake. But now that their numbers have been reduced anglers notice the dropoff in catch rates. And the fish that are being caught are mostly small and skinny. There are a few healthy 10 inchers in the lake. And there are even some 12 to 14 inchers.
The skinny undernourished whities had a poor spawn this year. When they do not have enough body weight and fat stored they will not develop eggs and milt. Many anglers reported catching the skinny fish that were not ready for spawning even during the time they should have been massing up in big spawning schools.
There have been a few areas around the lake where the white bass have managed to make a better living on available resources. And there has been some successful spawning. It does not take many white bass to maintain a population and to ultimately bring the numbers back up. But that will also take a few years of decent water levels.
The bad news is that Utah Lake is liable to get even lower this year than last year...maybe even approaching the low levels of the last drought about 10 years ago. Those of us who fished Utah Lake at that time remember the decreased numbers of white bass and the skinny walleyes...that would hit almost anything we threw at them. Right now the walleyes are still dining well on the unhealthy whities but if the numbers drop the walleyes will not be so fat and sassy.
We get spoiled by white bass when they are plentiful. They are so easy to catch that they become nuisances. But when Utah shows its drier side the lakes take a hit and the fishing undergoes some changes. Back in the 1930s there was a major drought that left Utah Lake with an average depth of just over 1 foot deep. That was the last time a cutthroat was seen out of Utah Lake and that was when the carp population exploded.
The lake has gone through many boom and bust cycles since then and somehow the white bass always seem to hold on well enough to explode again when the water situation improves. But who knows how bad it will get before we see that kind of turnaround?
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
With the low water there was also little protection for baby white bass, since the reeds were too shallow or even high and dry. And the mud flats that had been producing midge larvae, leeches and other edible invertebrates were dried out and barren. In short...fewer baby white bass for the predators to eat and less food for the baby white bass to eat.
White bass that had grown beyond 10 or 11 inches were able to make a living on the stunted baby white bass. Ditto for walleye and catfish. But there was just not enough food for the middle year class whities and many of them stunted, got skinny and suffered some winter kill under the lengthy ice cap of this past winter.
It was probably a good thing for the overall health of Utah Lake...and the June Suckers...that the white bass population has taken a hit. We were approachng a white bass overload in the lake. But now that their numbers have been reduced anglers notice the dropoff in catch rates. And the fish that are being caught are mostly small and skinny. There are a few healthy 10 inchers in the lake. And there are even some 12 to 14 inchers.
The skinny undernourished whities had a poor spawn this year. When they do not have enough body weight and fat stored they will not develop eggs and milt. Many anglers reported catching the skinny fish that were not ready for spawning even during the time they should have been massing up in big spawning schools.
There have been a few areas around the lake where the white bass have managed to make a better living on available resources. And there has been some successful spawning. It does not take many white bass to maintain a population and to ultimately bring the numbers back up. But that will also take a few years of decent water levels.
The bad news is that Utah Lake is liable to get even lower this year than last year...maybe even approaching the low levels of the last drought about 10 years ago. Those of us who fished Utah Lake at that time remember the decreased numbers of white bass and the skinny walleyes...that would hit almost anything we threw at them. Right now the walleyes are still dining well on the unhealthy whities but if the numbers drop the walleyes will not be so fat and sassy.
We get spoiled by white bass when they are plentiful. They are so easy to catch that they become nuisances. But when Utah shows its drier side the lakes take a hit and the fishing undergoes some changes. Back in the 1930s there was a major drought that left Utah Lake with an average depth of just over 1 foot deep. That was the last time a cutthroat was seen out of Utah Lake and that was when the carp population exploded.
The lake has gone through many boom and bust cycles since then and somehow the white bass always seem to hold on well enough to explode again when the water situation improves. But who knows how bad it will get before we see that kind of turnaround?
[/#0000FF]
[signature]