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Ok so im going over the stocking report to see if any new species were introduced into waters and I come across Willard bay. Now I didn't find any new species but I did see they stocked Willard with over
250,000 wipers ? Is that a typo or ???
Water Name Species Quantity
WILLARD BAY RES WIPER 150000 .37" 06/15/2011
WILLARD BAY RES WIPER 23820 1.24" 07/08/2011
WILLARD BAY RES WIPER 23820 1.24" 07/08/2011
WILLARD BAY RES WIPER 23820 1.24" 07/08/2011
WILLARD BAY RES WIPER 36229 1.7" 08/04/2011
WILLARD BAY RES WIPER 10128 1.81" 08/09/2011
[#bf0000]Total
267,817[/#bf0000]
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The reason they stock so many tiny fry is the survival rate is like 1% so they have to decide... lots of tiny ones for cheap, or raise them until they're bigger for higher costs.
Bottom line is the almighty dolla....
Maybe with the abundant shad more survive in this round.... keepin my fingers crossed. Plus they plan on changing the regs to limit to 3 per day should help too.
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Two questions:
What is their growth rate?
How many will become food for other fish to grow bigger?
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If you look back over the last few years they have been planting as many if not more than that. Last year was the exception. Few were planted last year. I would like to here from any of the Biologists out there as to the question to growth rate. Does a 1.5 inch planter become a 12inch fish in just one year? This may be. I dont catch any wiper less than 12 inches, but many from 12 to 23 inch. So is a 12 inch fish 1 year old, and a 18 inch fish 2 years old?
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You aren't kidding about abundant shad. Was there saturday and there are shadlets everywhere! Managed to snag a couple of 1" shad on a trolled 1 oz. kastmaster (only fish I caught).
Hopefully all the shad will allow more of the wipers to survive to catchable sizes. I heard a rumor that the DWR didn't have much success this year breeding wipers. Guess that wasn't true or these fish came from out-of-state.
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[cool][#0000ff]The "Catch 22" of the whole thing is that the overabundant shad may be a deterrant to the survival and growth of the new wipers. Baby shad filter out huge quantities of the zooplankton needed by young wipers to grow to their next size level. Once the wipers get big enough, they eat shad, but until they do get big enough the shad can starve them. That is a big part of the downfall in the numbers of crappies in Willard...infant mortality due to starvation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Things got really out of balance and now we are trying to play catchup. [/#0000ff]
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Good thing the walleye are really starting to multiply. The fishing for them will just keep getting better and better. Especially if the high water keeps up.
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I thought it was 20%. I really think after what I have read that for the almighty dollar and fisherman they are doing the best they can.
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So my next question is why waste all that time breeding the Hybrids to just have 99% of them become food for the other fish? Wouldn't it be easier to just breed some other species to throw in there as bait? Or even wait till they are 10 -12 inches before releasing them?
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[cool][#0000ff]It's all about money...or lack of same. DWR has not the space nor resources to rear multi thousands of young wipers...even to a few inches. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wipers have always been planted as "sac fry"...fresh out of the eggs. They can survive a few days without having to eat and are still mostly too small to be heavily preyed upon by other species. It is all a game of numbers. DWR knows there is a low percentage of survival but if they are able to dump enough fry and they get even a little bit lucky that has been enough to produce the numbers that worked in the past.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They are still working through the logistics of getting the appropriate eggs and milt products from Powell stripers and Utah Lake white bass at the right times for the hybidizing process. A few days difference in the system can greatly affect the numbers of viable fry available for stocking.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Not a consideration to add more forage species. The shad are overabundant as it is.[/#0000ff]
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It is not really a waste if they get the numbers of wipers they need at a lower cost. It seems to me the waste would be to pay twice the money or more to get the same size fish as the final result. I totally agree with Pat's comments, there are plenty of bait fish in Willard. This will all equal out with the wiper numbers get back to the levels they once were but it will take some time.
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It could be worse. They could put white bass in there. They'd spawn and there would be millions upon millions of small bass to grow up in a few years.
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[#502800]I read somewhere that in the midwest, they have been putting large mesh wire fish pens in the target stocking waters.......... This allows them to grow to a self sustaining size, and I presume that it keeps the predators at bay.......... Would this work for Willard?[/#502800]
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[cool][#0000ff]I have heard of similar "fry protection programs" in other states and have wondered myself if that might be a good move at Willard.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have no idea where they dump the wiperettes or what protective measures they take...if any. But it would seem that there JUST HAS to be something to be done to increase the odds a bit.[/#0000ff]
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