What is wrong with chubs?

[Bigyfan]

let me preface this post with a story....

My grandpa had a cabin up at Strawberry and I darn near was raised up there. I spent countless days fishing off the dock and catching frogs, crawdads, and minnows as well as trout. I learned everything I know about fishing from him, everything he did I asked why, why, why, all day long and he educated me. I am the fisherman I am today because of that man...he was the greatest.

Ok so I was about 12 and fishing from the dock with my first and very own tackle box I bought from lawn mowing money....I went to Kmart and bought all kinds of little trinkets to put inside; hooks, swivels, bobbers, line, sinkers, those red cheese hook remover things. I even whittled a club out of a piece of walnut because that is what my grandpa had in his box....and I also bought some "trout" lures. I got bored fishing with a worm and a bobber one day, and tied on a gold kastmster type lure and I caught a fish on the very first cast....I went and got a bucket....I never had so much fun in my life...I caught my limit in 3 minutes and started catch and release I probably landed over 50 fish...

When my grandpa came back from trolling with some uncles, I quickly carried my catch over to him as proud as can be..not only did I have a limit, but I had figured out how to catch fish all day....he peered into my bucket and with a disgusted look on his face exclaimed "those are trash fish, kill them and bury them." I worshipped this guy so I quickly developed an attitude that if it wasn't a trout, it wasn't a fish.

This I carried with me for years, sure I would go to Utah Lake and catch the white bass for fun, but it was almost like I wasn't fishing...in my mind they were trash fish too. But I loved catching fish and it was easy just like the chubs.

Now fast forward to today, I am having fun targeting other species and am recognizing each for their own angling merits. Some are great fighters, some are elusive and others are both. Some can be caught in large quantities quickly and some take days and weeks sometimes to locate and land.

So being a guy who doesn't eat much fish anyway, what is wrong with catching a few chubs here and there? Yeah I know they got way out of control at Strawberry, but having them in there as food for trout is a good thing right? As long as it doesn't get like it did int he 80's. And having a fish that is easy to catch is also fun for the kids, or at least you would think....Am I off my rocker here????
[signature]

[PBH]

chubs compete directly with rainbow trout for food. They eat the same thing. Chubs also are able to reproduce easily in the majority of Utah's lakes and reservoirs, something that rainbow trout do not. Combine the two, and you have a recipe for disaster with rainbow trout.

chubs are only good in places that have some kind of system to limit their population size. Strawberry's current regulations are working. In other places, chubs quickly outcompete trout and make up the majority of the biomass. Prior to the last rotenone treatment at Panguitch lake, chubs made up about 85% of the entire biomass of fish in the lake. I don't think you'll find many people that would have said "what is wrong with chubs" with regards to that fishery.
[signature]

[PBH]

bigy -- using predators like tiger trout and cutthroat only work when they have a head start. Panguitch Lake and Strawberry both were treated with rotenone to remove as many fish as possible. After that, the lakes were stocked heavily to give the trout a headstart before the chubs. This gives the trout a chance to establish prior to the chubs, and get the pisciverous trout a chance to get large enough to start utilizing chubs effectively. Trout won't start to specifically prey on other fish until they reach about 24". They might opportunistically take other fish prior to reaching that size, but they won't switch to a strictly pisciverous diet until then.

If chubs are already established and high in numbers, then adding tiger trout won't put a dent in the chub numbers. Sure, you may end up with some big tiger trout, but the overall biomass will continue to be chubs.

As for chubs or rainbows being lazy eaters -- I'm not sure I follow you. Chubs are very efficient eaters. So are rainbows. Keep the two species separate, and both thrive.

One popular myth is that trout need chubs in order to get big. This is false. If Strawberry Reservoir had 0 chubs, you'd probably see larger rainbow trout -- 10+lb rainbow trout. Rainbow trout do not need to be pisciverous to get big.
[signature]

[PBH]

I've never eaten one, so I can't say personally whether they are good or bad. They certainly don't look appealing to me, but they may just be a bad perception.

How 'bout you go fillet a bunch up, and throw them on the grill and give us all a report?
[signature]