01-07-2008, 08:20 PM
I for one wish the Utah DWR was still studying whether to even plant Stripers into Lake Powell. Yeah Stripers are big, easy to catch, (OK but not not superior table fare however), but just look what they have done to all the waters they have been planted in. Wayne Kirch of the Nevada Wildlife Commission was one who was responsible in getting them to plant Stripers in Lake Mead in the late 60's or early 70's. He said they would be perfect since they could not reproduce like they have in California waters and not significantly impact other species. As we have found out they reproduce like rabbits. Well, they stripped the lake of trout making the brand new multi-million dollar federal fish hatchery on the lake just a Striper food factory. The same thing can be said of the blue ribbon trout fishery and Willow Beach fish hatchery below Lake Mead. Now, just about everything in Lake Powell downstream to the Colorado River below Lake Havasu in California is Striper heaven.
All these waters have seen monumental decreases in the other species due to the introduction of Stripers. They wreck carnage on the food base and other fish. Either by getting eaten by them or by not being able to compete with what is a salt water fish. Gosh, who whould have thought that a large ocean fish could not peacefully co-exist with much smaller freshwater fish. Duhhhh! I wish for the days when I could go to Lake Powell and not know what I would catch next. We would go down and harvest 6-8 species in a trip. Now we catch Stripers and tiny smallmouth with the occasional largemouth or walleye. Striper lovers, enjoy the lake that for the rest of us is now a shadow of it's former self. Sorry if I offended anyone, but If I wanted to catch an ocean fish I would go to the ocean. Mr. J.
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All these waters have seen monumental decreases in the other species due to the introduction of Stripers. They wreck carnage on the food base and other fish. Either by getting eaten by them or by not being able to compete with what is a salt water fish. Gosh, who whould have thought that a large ocean fish could not peacefully co-exist with much smaller freshwater fish. Duhhhh! I wish for the days when I could go to Lake Powell and not know what I would catch next. We would go down and harvest 6-8 species in a trip. Now we catch Stripers and tiny smallmouth with the occasional largemouth or walleye. Striper lovers, enjoy the lake that for the rest of us is now a shadow of it's former self. Sorry if I offended anyone, but If I wanted to catch an ocean fish I would go to the ocean. Mr. J.
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