09-21-2013, 02:35 AM
[quote PBH]
this is EXACTLY why you see trophy brook trout on the Boulder mountain -- but ONLY in lakes that have poor spawning habitat or partial winterkill. You have to keep the population of all fish in check so that the growth rates stay high. As soon as you move out of that zone, the growth rates slow and the average fish size goes down.
but, you guys just keep saying "protect the big ones" and we'll continue to have a fishery full of small ones. Sounds like that's the consensus.[/quote]
You realize that the DWR could easily keep the fish population in check in most of the boulder mountain lakes if they would just plant fewer fish or do a quick survey of the lake and only plant fish if the lake needed it. Instead they have blindly planted 50 Brookies per acre per year in most lakes. It has ruined some very productive fisheries on that mountain. If the DWR understands what you are preaching I hope they act accordingly and only plant the Boulder Mountain lakes as needed and only with the amount of fish needed to keep things in balance.
With that said, I agree with almost everything you have said up to this point. If a large fish is pulled out of a fishery, a smaller will quickly take it's place. However, if there are too many fish in the fishery then the "hole" left by the big fish that was taken from the fishery is spread thin across many fish trying to fill it at once, the result is the growth rate slows down and the many fish don't get as big.
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this is EXACTLY why you see trophy brook trout on the Boulder mountain -- but ONLY in lakes that have poor spawning habitat or partial winterkill. You have to keep the population of all fish in check so that the growth rates stay high. As soon as you move out of that zone, the growth rates slow and the average fish size goes down.
but, you guys just keep saying "protect the big ones" and we'll continue to have a fishery full of small ones. Sounds like that's the consensus.[/quote]
You realize that the DWR could easily keep the fish population in check in most of the boulder mountain lakes if they would just plant fewer fish or do a quick survey of the lake and only plant fish if the lake needed it. Instead they have blindly planted 50 Brookies per acre per year in most lakes. It has ruined some very productive fisheries on that mountain. If the DWR understands what you are preaching I hope they act accordingly and only plant the Boulder Mountain lakes as needed and only with the amount of fish needed to keep things in balance.
With that said, I agree with almost everything you have said up to this point. If a large fish is pulled out of a fishery, a smaller will quickly take it's place. However, if there are too many fish in the fishery then the "hole" left by the big fish that was taken from the fishery is spread thin across many fish trying to fill it at once, the result is the growth rate slows down and the many fish don't get as big.
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