Jordanelle (Report)

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My big argument for chubs over perch. Perch are predators despite there small size they eat any small fish they can get there mouth on. They also seem to overpopulate what ever water they go into in Utah. Chubs on the other hand are not agressive and have all but been eliminated in Starvation and the Gorge naturally! Predators can capitilize on a slow moving target that swims in the open very easily. That makes them easy to control. I do agree that they can compete with the small trout for food but at least they don't eat them like a perch would and Trout are quite the predators despite what people beleive. You just need to let them get to the 5+ pound size before they eat alot of other fish. The largest problem isn't that Utah doesn't have prime trout waters. In fact we have two of the greatest in all the world. Strawberry and the Gorge. The problem is we don't let enough fish grow out to there potential. Infact we hardly even give them a chance to naturally reproduce in most waters. Not because the environment is bad but simply because we pull them out at the same pace they plant them. I can assure you I didn't catch one skinny trout large or small right before they poisoned Strawberry so the chubs weren't stealing all the food. Chubs do not do well where there is not alot of nutrients and plankton in the water so they will never take over the food supply. I do agree it was out of balance but that was simply because we were not allowing anything to get big enough to do something about the Chubs. I am glad to see the DWR has a little forsight this go around. I wish it could have started two years ago before the Cutts #'s had declined so far. I beleive the poisoning was driven more by peoples complaints of only catching chubs and less of it being something we couldn't take care of by regulations and selective harvest over time. The average fisherman in Utah is not a catch and release guy and they are impatient if they can't fill a stringer full of trout. I wish they were more selective harvest and more open minded about other species. That is what I enjoy about the guys on BFT, many of us here fish for more than just trout and we are all here to better the fishery not just fill the freezer. I wish it wasn't the case but the majority rules in politics which in this case rules the DWR. I would love to here Tom's opinion on the matter of Chubs and Perch.

OK. I vented for the week.

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