02-04-2018, 12:55 PM
[#0000ff]The availability of minnows has changed over the past few years. There used to be "Minnow Man" minnows available in all Sportsmans and several other outlets. That operation had permits to harvest chubs and redside shiners for commercial resale and they kept their outlets well supplied. It used to be common to be able to find packages of minnows separated by size, etc.
One of the major sources of those minnows was Strawberry Reservoir. For years it was possible to throw a castnet around the docks and get enough chubs and shiners in one throw to provide bait for several trips. But as the lake changed...with heavier plantings of minnow-munching cutts...and the slot limits...the minnow dynamics of Strawberry changed also. First, the redside shiners all but disappeared from the lake. Next, with the cutts mopping up the smaller chubs it became difficult to find enough of the "bait size" ones to make it worthwhile to even throw a cast net.
Today there are still numbers of chubs in Strawberry, but most are too big for most cutts to dine on. They continue to spawn each year but the predatory big trout slurp up the young before they get very large. It is possible that in the future Strawberry will become like Jordanelle and Starvation...once overflowing with chubs of all sizes but with a declining population as older chubs died out and there was less spawning.
Starvation was once choked with chubs. But the introduction of walleye and smallmouths worked too well as an eradication program. Within a few years, the newly introduced predators had eaten up all the edible sized chubs and began to stunt. If perch had not magically found their way into Starvation the walleye and smallmouth would have "starved". There was still a population of "chubosaurus" sized chubs...that continued to spawn each year. But none of their young survived very long and the big ones gradually died out from old age. There have been no chubs captured in DWR nets or by anglers for several years now.
DWR has an absolute passionate dislike of chubs. Most of that is based upon the fact that chubs easily outcompete planted rainbows for available food resources...without the rainbows eating chubs. So rainbows do not do well in chub-infested waters. Other species suffer from chub competition too. This is especially true of smaller sized trout that rely on the same food as the chubs. It is tough for them to grow big enough, fast enough, to someday be able to add chubs to their diet.
In many waters there are periodic rotenone treatments to eliminate chubs or other undesirable competition with hatchery pet trout. If chubs were not as hardy as they are, they would have long since been completely eradicated from Utah. That is unfortunate for fish that need fishy forage for growth and survival. It is also unfortunate for anglers who rely on having a chub supply for their style of fishing.
Bottom line? No longer enough chubs to sustain a commercial fishery. Result? We have to rely more on still available redside shiners...that are not as good for bait once frozen. They degrade and turn mushy...and many fish seem to not like them as well. Ditto for fathead minnows. Chubs will outfish them in side by side comparisons on most waters.
Preserved and bottled minnows? My experience is that most fish do not respond well to the formaldehyde or other preservatives in which they are packaged. Fresher is always better.
If you do find minnows in the freezers at tackle outlets they are usually not vacuum packed...with no air inside. Instead, they are usually just laid on a foam pad, wrapped with clear plastic wrap and frozen. They are surrounded by air and are subject to freezer burn. And the longer they are in the package the more they are likely to degrade. You can't buy up a bunch and keep them in your own freezer with any hope of having good bait for an extended period of time.
About the only way to get LHBE minnows is to hunt up places to find live chubs, net some and then properly prep and freeze them for maximum firmness and freshness. I often end up with a few leftover packages each year...and when thawed more than a year after packaging they are usually in near-fresh condition. At least the fish still vote for them. That's the best you can hope for.
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One of the major sources of those minnows was Strawberry Reservoir. For years it was possible to throw a castnet around the docks and get enough chubs and shiners in one throw to provide bait for several trips. But as the lake changed...with heavier plantings of minnow-munching cutts...and the slot limits...the minnow dynamics of Strawberry changed also. First, the redside shiners all but disappeared from the lake. Next, with the cutts mopping up the smaller chubs it became difficult to find enough of the "bait size" ones to make it worthwhile to even throw a cast net.
Today there are still numbers of chubs in Strawberry, but most are too big for most cutts to dine on. They continue to spawn each year but the predatory big trout slurp up the young before they get very large. It is possible that in the future Strawberry will become like Jordanelle and Starvation...once overflowing with chubs of all sizes but with a declining population as older chubs died out and there was less spawning.
Starvation was once choked with chubs. But the introduction of walleye and smallmouths worked too well as an eradication program. Within a few years, the newly introduced predators had eaten up all the edible sized chubs and began to stunt. If perch had not magically found their way into Starvation the walleye and smallmouth would have "starved". There was still a population of "chubosaurus" sized chubs...that continued to spawn each year. But none of their young survived very long and the big ones gradually died out from old age. There have been no chubs captured in DWR nets or by anglers for several years now.
DWR has an absolute passionate dislike of chubs. Most of that is based upon the fact that chubs easily outcompete planted rainbows for available food resources...without the rainbows eating chubs. So rainbows do not do well in chub-infested waters. Other species suffer from chub competition too. This is especially true of smaller sized trout that rely on the same food as the chubs. It is tough for them to grow big enough, fast enough, to someday be able to add chubs to their diet.
In many waters there are periodic rotenone treatments to eliminate chubs or other undesirable competition with hatchery pet trout. If chubs were not as hardy as they are, they would have long since been completely eradicated from Utah. That is unfortunate for fish that need fishy forage for growth and survival. It is also unfortunate for anglers who rely on having a chub supply for their style of fishing.
Bottom line? No longer enough chubs to sustain a commercial fishery. Result? We have to rely more on still available redside shiners...that are not as good for bait once frozen. They degrade and turn mushy...and many fish seem to not like them as well. Ditto for fathead minnows. Chubs will outfish them in side by side comparisons on most waters.
Preserved and bottled minnows? My experience is that most fish do not respond well to the formaldehyde or other preservatives in which they are packaged. Fresher is always better.
If you do find minnows in the freezers at tackle outlets they are usually not vacuum packed...with no air inside. Instead, they are usually just laid on a foam pad, wrapped with clear plastic wrap and frozen. They are surrounded by air and are subject to freezer burn. And the longer they are in the package the more they are likely to degrade. You can't buy up a bunch and keep them in your own freezer with any hope of having good bait for an extended period of time.
About the only way to get LHBE minnows is to hunt up places to find live chubs, net some and then properly prep and freeze them for maximum firmness and freshness. I often end up with a few leftover packages each year...and when thawed more than a year after packaging they are usually in near-fresh condition. At least the fish still vote for them. That's the best you can hope for.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]