11-19-2019, 11:14 PM
[quote fuzzyfisher]lol no you miss took me i think.. the lake trout in fish lake have been in really great shape for a lot of years! and that's more so to eating rainbows then anything. as for the fish getting fat on kokanee? I'm sure they will and seem to be hanging out around twin creeks so i would say they have at least started to eat them.. but i still think they are targeting rainbows more then Kokanee. but perch, sucker, and carp are mixed in as well.. [/quote]
what you have to keep in mind is that the whole plan includes a way to reduce the amount of rainbows that the State stocks in Fish Lake -- essentially a feeding program. It is expensive to stock rainbows and expect a good return to creel, and kokanee may be cheaper with a more desirable return to creel.
[quote fuzzyfisher]
and don't get me wrong i think to Kokanee are a great addition to the lake and be more so if they can get some natural reoccurrence going to. from what i have heard tho thats not doing as good as hoped..[/quote]
Some natural reproduction would be nice. Keep in mind, the DWR started this program (kokanee at Fish Lake) fully expecting it to be reliant upon hatchery stocking. We already know that Twin Creeks is too cold for good reproduction (for any species). For this reason, the DWR wants to utilize more "lake spawning" strain kokanee in hopes that maybe some would naturally reproduce. But, again, the whole program is designed around hatchery stocking. Remember, this isn't the first time salmon have been stocked in Fish Lake.
The real question at this point is: have the kokanee affected the lake trout? Personally, I say "yes". The kokanee fill an underutilized niche at Fish Lake: open water schooling fish that prey strictly on zooplankton. This niche has been void since the illegal introduction of perch, which in turn decimated the Utah chub population, which the lake trout depended on as a forage base. Since that time lake trout have had to utilize rainbow trout as a prey base. This prey base has changed, and there is no question that lake trout will benefit from this change.
Anglers, in turn have a "new" sport fish option (kokanee) at Fish Lake, and the lake trout fishery will also improve.
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what you have to keep in mind is that the whole plan includes a way to reduce the amount of rainbows that the State stocks in Fish Lake -- essentially a feeding program. It is expensive to stock rainbows and expect a good return to creel, and kokanee may be cheaper with a more desirable return to creel.
[quote fuzzyfisher]
and don't get me wrong i think to Kokanee are a great addition to the lake and be more so if they can get some natural reoccurrence going to. from what i have heard tho thats not doing as good as hoped..[/quote]
Some natural reproduction would be nice. Keep in mind, the DWR started this program (kokanee at Fish Lake) fully expecting it to be reliant upon hatchery stocking. We already know that Twin Creeks is too cold for good reproduction (for any species). For this reason, the DWR wants to utilize more "lake spawning" strain kokanee in hopes that maybe some would naturally reproduce. But, again, the whole program is designed around hatchery stocking. Remember, this isn't the first time salmon have been stocked in Fish Lake.
The real question at this point is: have the kokanee affected the lake trout? Personally, I say "yes". The kokanee fill an underutilized niche at Fish Lake: open water schooling fish that prey strictly on zooplankton. This niche has been void since the illegal introduction of perch, which in turn decimated the Utah chub population, which the lake trout depended on as a forage base. Since that time lake trout have had to utilize rainbow trout as a prey base. This prey base has changed, and there is no question that lake trout will benefit from this change.
Anglers, in turn have a "new" sport fish option (kokanee) at Fish Lake, and the lake trout fishery will also improve.
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