Bear Lake Food Chain

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000bf]While doing the TubeDude CSI thing on the fish we brought back from Bear Lake yesterday, I was impressed with how interdependent all the species are upon each other. Quite a food chain. The top predators (macks and cutts) feed on the lower species, and they in turn feed heavily upon the eggs and fry of their fellow forage species.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf][/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]I wasn't surprised to find most of the deep water cisco already spawned out. I was surprised to find that several of the ones we kept for the table also had newly spawned cisco eggs in their stomachs. THEY EAT THEIR YOUNG.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf][/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]I also was not surprised to find the stomach of our solo Bonneville whitefish absolutely stuffed with cisco eggs. But, I had never done an autopsy on a smaller Bear Lake Whitefish this time of year. It was interesting to find one with both a stomach full of cisco eggs and two egg skeins almost ready for their own spawn in a month or so.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf][/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Bear Lake must be a tough place to live...and make a living. That which does not eat you, is likely to be eaten by something else. [/#0000bf]
[signature]

[Flycasting]

Yummy. []
[signature]

[Carp_Punisher]

[#505000][cool] The next post from Tubedude will be a full pictorial on how to make Cisco Caviar. [][/#505000]
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Probably not. Never developed a real hankerin' fer salty fish eggs. The fact that they cost a lot of money doesn't make them taste any better. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I tried to make a a cisco fritata but do you know how many of those tiny eggs you gotta crack open to get enough to scramble?[/#0000ff]
[signature]