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Here is a completely random thought i've had lately as I have been fishing Strawberry. If I were sponsoring the tagged fish contest and I could release the tagged fish anywhere on the lake that I wanted, where would I put them? My first thought is that if I owned the Marina I would put the majority of the fish on the south side of the lake where the fishermen would have to at least be going by the marina. Then I would probably place 1 or 2 in each of the most popular bays. I wonder if any were planted in the middle of the lake if they would ever be caught? How far do you think a planted rainbow would move from where it is planted? Do you think it would stay in the same bay? What are your guys' thoughts? Has any one on this forum caught a tagged fish?
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I have been told that all rainbows are planted on the Soldier Creek side, but I just sent an email to Alan Ward, the Strawberry Project Leader with the UDWR, to confirm this. Rainbow fishing is typically better on the Soldier Creek side but many are caught throughout the Strawberry Side. I have a hunch that individual fish move far and wide throughout the entire reservoir during their lifetimes.
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Remember, in any body of water, there's one place where you can find 90% of all the fish...
Between the head and the tail.
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Not quite sure if the math is 100% accurate, but assuming that is true, then it isn't always the same place. Thus reinforcing my point that the fish move around.
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When you read the whole post you'll get it, my friend.
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You got me.[blush] Reel me in.
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LOL, I like it!!!
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Well here is the answer from Alan Ward:
"We have not studied it extensively, but we have ancillary data that suggest that a portion of them are prone to staying put, and another portion will wander considerably. For instance, during our last tagged fish contest, some were caught very close to where they were stocked, and others moved to far ends of the reservoir. Just depends on the individual fish."
So there you go, they scattered them over the reservoir when they planted the tagged fish and then some of them moved from where they were planted. Bottom line -- good luck in having any idea on where one can increase their odds of catching one.
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Alan also stated,
"We stock the rainbows and cutthroat all over the reservoir, we try not to concentrate them too much in one area. We typically use the fish stocking barge, and scatter them along near shore areas, with a few of the cutthroat stocked in the open water at times. Kokanee are stocked in the tributaries to promote returns to the streams to spawn. We typically stock 400,000 to 500,000 8" rainbows in the fall, 500,000 to 600,000 8" cutthroat in the spring, 400,000 kokanee in the spring, and another 300,000 small 3" cutthroat into the streams in the fall."
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