Ice Fishing Question

[KC5]

After spending the morning on DC this morning, I was really getting concerned about the pressure Ice fishing is putting on our Fisheries. Its really no wonder our lakes have fewer and fewer fish, and the Challange for the DWR to keep up with stocking and keeping catchable fish in the popular waters. I have ice fished for years, and I really don't remember this much pressure on these lakes. Is anyone else worried, Every fish I seen guys catching today stayed on the ice, not much being released. We are pulling a ton of fish off these lakes through the ice. What is everyone elses opinion, Don't get me wrong I love ice fishing, its my favorite type of fishing, But with popularity it is gaining, is it sustanible.
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[rcturbos]

Ya i'm. I go to some lakes see some people take more than their limit. Everytime you take a fish cook it and eat it dont waste it. Everytime you take it just 1 less fish u cant catch. Thats why i release all of mine i just do my fishing for fun!
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[Vivid-Dawn]

[font "Courier New"][#000050][size 3]I think I've eaten every fish I caught. It's half the reason I even go fishing (and for the fun, too).
I also only take my limit. I probably could use the excuse to stock up my freezer... but instead, I just use the limit to have an excuse to go fishing more often, when I do run out! [:p]
Besides, I also don't think I've ever caught my limit, anyway.

On second thought, I didn't eat the carp I got. But that was only my 2nd time fishing in my whole life, and my ex-husband told me to throw it back because it was trash fish. Of course, after it was back in the water, THEN he told me we could'a cut it up and used it for bait. This is partly why he's my ex... LOL
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Don't pet the sweaty stuff...or however that goes. Deer Creek and many other "close-in" waters are managed as trout fisheries for the masses. They receive regular plantings of rainbows and are monitored for the health and populations of the fish. On most of them it is better to have a good harvest of the rainbows than to have it overpopulated by small fish. Look at the size on the two year old fish...16" to 18". Deer Creek is fertile and produces large fat fish...if the population is kept in balance by DWR plantings.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On the other hand, species that must sustain themselves through natural reproduction...like brown trout...are more subject to overfishing. But, browns are more difficult to catch and not nearly as likely to be decimated by anglers. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Rainbows are great fish for angler harvest. Utah has several hatcheries that produce large numbers of them, at a reasonable cost. DWR wants to sell more licenses so they try to make sure that anglers have a good fishing experience. That includes being able to catch lots of fish and to keep enough for the table.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the "olden days", Strawberry was a favorite "family harvest" venue. Whole families would line up around the shoreline...or fill a small rowboat...and fish until everybody had limits of the small rainbows. Since Strawberry is now managed as a slot limit fishery, with more non-legal cutts than available rainbows, the masses go to other places to scratch their fish itch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, it is offensive to some of us to see such wholesale harvest on any species, anywhere. But, since it is a part of the program for Deer Creek and other lakes...and the plantings are managed to keep it productive...there is little reason to worry. I think it is great that a dad can take his kids there and have such a great expectation of having them catch fish through the ice. Much better for them than taking them all the way over to Starvation to be abused by the snooty walleyes and perch in that water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I put up two posts on Deer Creek in the last week. I have had calls, emails and PMs accusing me of "hot spotting" and causing the lake to be overrun with fishermen. What? I conducted my own survey on the ice and did not find even one other angler who knew what BFT was. Believe it or not, BFT is not the only source of information for anglers who want to find fish. A lot of anglers have fished there for years and are just returning to spots they already know. Others have been sent there by friends. Even more are sent there by Sportsmans, Cabelas or other tackle outlets. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sorry folks. I do not take the blame for Deer Creek being overrun this past few days. I would like to take some credit for helping a few folks while out on the ice, to catch a few fish and to enjoy their fishing experience a bit more. Guilty.[/#0000ff]
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[5wtrod]

[#0000ff]Even more are sent there by Sportsmans, Cabelas or other tackle outlets. [/#0000ff]
TubeDude I could not agree more. I asked around on DC last weekend and I only found one person that even knew what BFT was AND the only reason he knew is because he was at the FG when the Burbot Bash was on. He actually told me that the people at Sportsmans told him where to go, what to use, when to get there and how to do everything he was doing. AND he and the 6 other people he had with him were doing quite well I might add. They had alot of slimers on the deck. So TubeDude while I really enjoy your posts and have learned an extreme amount from them on the warm water fish that are fun to catch, I highly doubt that you are the reason that DC is being fished the way or amount that it is.
(But if people knew how much you knew about fishing there would probably be some sort of fishing church set up to you).
So I guess what I am shooting at is if we need someone to blame for hotspotting go to Sportsmans and Cabelas and take it up with them.
TubeDude keep doing what you are doing and Thank You for doing it.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks for the kindly comments.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you didn't misinterpret my rantings. I simply wanted to point out that rainbow trout are the ideal fish for the "average" angler...and that heavy harvest is built into the program.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Like most experienced anglers, who respect our resources, I too cringe when I see massive harvest of any species. That's because I know that a high percentage of all those fish that leave the water are not going to be well utilized. A lot of tanglers feel that they have to bring home a grundle of fish just to prove how great they are...and then the fish are either given away or left in the refrigerator or freezer until they are unfit for the table. I would really like to know the total poundage of game fish that ends up in the ground or in the garbage each year. I have narrowly avoided making "sushi" out of a few anglers who brag about all the fish they take home and just dump in the freezer...and when I ask how they cook them they admit they hate fish and never eat it.[/#0000ff]
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[SkinnyLynnie]

I'm not sure I agree with you when you say, 'Everytime you take it just 1 less fish u can't catch." That may be true in the short run, but fish do reproduce (either in the wild or with DWR help in the hatcheries). That means that fish that are taken out are eventually replaced in the long run. In fact, many of our waters (such as the Provo River, where "catch and release" is practiced religiously by most anglers) have so many fish in them that they don't have room to grow to full size. Taking some out is good for the overall population. That's not just my opinion. That's what the fishery experts say.

Also, I'm not sure that releasing every fish you catch ensures that it lives to be caught another day. Even fish that seem to be uninjured do not always survive the trauma of being caught and released. And then there are those that are bleeding and swim slowly away. Are you sure they are going to live to be caught another day? The statistics reported by those who study such things show that a good percentage of released fish die--even when they are properly handled. In my book, "releasing" an injured fish to die out of sight is just as big a waste as taking a fish home and putting it in the freezer. Of course, I recommend eating them sooner or later. I don't know why people who don't eat fish take them home.
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[KC5]

Tubedude,

I was just asking a question, how the Dwr is able to keep up with the masses, after saturday, it was unbelievible the amount of folks on the ice, which i do not discourage, I think is is so cool to see Scoutmasters with tons of boys, or groups of family members on the ice, catching fish and enjoying each other, And I for one fish to provide meals for my family, we love to eat fish, we do not waste it but thouroghly enjoy it. I was just feeling a bit over whelmed at the huge task it would be for the DWR to maintain the quality of fishing that they do, especially because of the huge increase of hardwater anglers, Thats all. I do think that such large groups like that can "fish out" an area quickly, fortunately Deer Creek is large and 90% of the lake goes unfished because of distance. Only those few with sleds and wheeler venture away from the walkable areas. AND by the way Tubedude, I love your posts, and look forward to them each week, and I so much want to learn to build those jigs you use, Fish like something different and thats what you offer them and you are succsesfull. So Keep "Hotspotting" (, ) You and I both know that the guys who jump on the bandwagon are usually the ones that get there to late and rarely catch fish, If you LOVE fishing, part of the thrill is finding, patterning, spending long hours searching, and are usually rewarded for you persistance and hard work. Even the best fishermen don't catch fish every cast of the pole like some would think.
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[TubeDude]

"I was just asking a question, how the Dwr is able to keep up with the masses"

[cool][#0000ff]It is all a part of the GREAT PLAN. Yeah, for the past couple of weeks and probably another couple of weeks Deer Creek is getting hammered. DWR anticipated that and dumps in a bajillion catchables late in the summer. They adapt, feed naturally and are decent 12 to 13 inchers by ice season. Many of them survive to become fat fourteen and fifteen inch fish by the next summer. There are other plantings along the way.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When the ice starts breaking up, so will the crowds on Deer Creek. A month of heavy action followed by a fairly long time until the pop gear contingent cranks up for the warm weather trolling. And, the way those guys dredge the trout out of Deer Creek I thing the iceaholics are probably at least second in the overall harvest numbers. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The point is that DWR has a great hatchery program going that could conceivable produce more fish than they need. Not sure of how the numbers are working these days but most rainbow waters seem to be producing pretty well. If there were not the numbers of trout...and the success rate...the fishermen would go elsewhere. Right now the troutin' is easy so that is where the "average" tanglers go to catch fish. Many of them would go fishless on other waters for other species. I personally am glad to see so many folks having such a good time. Like you, I ain't too happy about the guys that drag off lots of fish just to show off.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hats off to DWR and the great job they have done to bring Deer Creek back so fast. It was very low for a couple of years, while the work was being done on the alternate roadway and other dam modifications. During that time the plantings were not as heavy and the trout populations were much lower. Because launching was often iffy, in the low water, there were not the numbers of angler days and everybody went somewhere else. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Deer Creek is back. Even the perch seem to be more plentiful than in years past. Good times.[/#0000ff]
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[Troll]

There have been some good comments made so far. I'll see if I can keep up.
It must also be remembered that, for so many fish to be caught there have to be a lot of fish in there. Consider that most fishers are fishing a 30 square inch section of a lake that is 2,965 acres large. You must think of all the unfished area and consider that all of that unfished water may have the same number of fish as those areas being fished. Lastly there is the population curve. The more fish taken the less there are to take. Multitudes of fishers still bagging limits from a 30 sq inch hole x a couple of hundred fishers, indicates there are still many fish left.
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[JohnnyTheHook]

I recall a post, not sure by whom, a few weeks back in reguards to the species and amount along with dates of stocked waters. I, myself, was AMAZED at the 10s of thousands of fish that are planted.

Our 26 smackeroos pay for that I'm assuming. Some catch and release others catch and eat and the others do whatever. When I pay for a $26 steak dinner I eat every last bit...others I guess take a few bites then feed it to their dogs....
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