Lakes/and Steams in Utah that don't have sterile fish?

[FishingLunatic]

Hey guys, I'm just wondering what bodies of water in Utah have non sterile fish? I don't care if it's trout, catfish, etc...I just want to know some places with native fish or at least a place with planted fish that can reproduce. Any1 know anywhere?
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[Bama_Boy]

Plenty of places have non-sterile fish. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think Utah does any planting of bass, bluegill, or perch. Utah Lake, Mantua, Hyrum, Newton, and a ton of other places hold all those fish, and they reproduce just fine. Cutler Reservoir and the Bear River have a variety of species as well, like bass, bluegill, walleye, etc. I don't know much about other waters, but anywhere you find those warm water species, they will be spawning and reproducing. I would imagine the same goes for any waters that have trout as well. The only sterile fish I know of are the hybrids - tiger muskie and wipers. I can't recall off the top of my head if there are any other hybrids in Utah. But other than those two species, the other fish can reproduce. Just about anywhere you fish will have non sterile fish.
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[gstott]

The rainbows they now plant are supposed to be sterile too. Whether or not they always succeed in making a sterile fish has commonly been debated as hybridization with cutthroat seems to occur on occasion in waters with bows that should be sterile. I think there are quite a few places that received rainbow plantings before they began this practice and they now have wild populations of rainbows. For example, there is a small stream not far from my house here in Cache Valley that has some gorgeous little bows and cuttbows, but it's very small and I don't want to post it up here.
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[Bama_Boy]

I don't blame you about not wanting to post it here. No prying from me either.

I did not know that the planter bows were supposed to be sterile. Thanks for the info. And I agree with you about places that have wild populations of rainbows. They have to be out there.
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[pookiebar]

Um let's see Strawberry, the cuts are not sterile. The rainbows are.

As far as I know all the panfish that are in any lake are not sterile. Catfish as well are not sterile, in fact that is why the DWR planted them is so that there will hopefully be a reproducing population.

I don't think I really understand your question? [:/]
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[FishingLunatic]

Well I just have been seeing a lot of threads and most people say the trout they catch, etc were sterile. So it made me wonder if what I catch was sterile or not. Also, does anyone know why they make the rainbows sterile that they plant? Are the brooke trout, rainbows and cut throats sterile in places like the mirror lake area where it's been left more natural?
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[gstott]

They make the rainbows sterile to try preserving the genetic purity of the cutthroat that also inhabit many of the waters where they plant rainbows.
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[Deadeye008]

I would say that nearly every lake or river in utah has non-sterile fish in it. Only sterile fish I know of in Utah are Tiger Muskie, Wipers, Tiger Trout, Splake, and some planted Rainbows.
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[pookiebar]

"Are the brooke trout, rainbows and cut throats sterile in places like the mirror lake area where it's been left more natural?"

In answer to this question, the brooke trout, cut troats and browns in all streams and lakes in the uintahs are not sterile. The rainbows might be, and might not be. Generally speaking if the lake is "way back in dere" as my grampa would've said then the rainbows are likely not sterile because they were planted a long time ago.

The new generation of rainbows are what are called triploid, making them sterile. I guess it is pretty easy to make a sterile rainbow, by altering the water temperature in the tanks at just the right moment in their development the fish cannot decide if they are officially boys or girls. That makes them sterile. Although they will still try to spawn, and produce eggs and milt like they are spawning, they are 99% of the time shooting blanks. There is a very remote chance that the 1% who make real eggs and milt will find each other, but that chance is very very small.

Hope this helps. []
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[FSBO_SLAYER]

It's probably easier to identify and understand which species of fish are sterile than it is to identify where naturally reproducing populations exist. If it came from a laboratory ie tiger, splake, albino, tiger muskie, wiper, it's sterile as hybrids don't reproduce. I'm probably leaving a couple hybrids off the list that aren't coming to mind. As others have said the vast majority of rainbows will be sterile as well. Some areas are using sterile brookies to control populations. The DWR is apparently going to start using sterile brookies to control numbers in the Uinta mountains as well.
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[Fishrmn]

Albinos aren't hybrids. I guess they could make some triploids, but they gotta keep enough of 'em fertile to keep making more.
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[FSBO_SLAYER]

Thanks for that clarification. Not a hybrid. They don't stock fertile albinos though, do they? In my mind I just lump them in with the others since I've always assumed they don't reproduce in the wild.
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[Fishrmn]

Not sure if they're triploid or sterile. Probably don't get much natural reproduction anyway. Like I said, they gotta keep some fertile ones or they'll run out.[crazy]
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