05-25-2010, 05:11 AM
The funny thing is that most of the trout in the southwest are non-native / introduced species as well...which makes them just as invasive and destructive to the ecosystem as the Northern Pike.
Case in point, the State of California is currently reviewing the practice of "managing" lakes by adding non-native brook, rainbow, and brown trout because they are wiping out a couple species of native frogs.
So, the trout do not have any greater "right" to be in any of these lakes than the Northern Pike do. It is purely angler preference.
The only reason you need to stock lakes is because anglers take too many fish or the lakes are stocked with sterile hybrids. Where I am from, the NDOW equivalent determines the rarest fish in a lake, places a quota on that species, and once that number have been taken, the entire lake is closed to fishing until the next year. As a result, managing for the weakest link results in healthy ecosystems with naturally reproducing fish that reach large sizes. My favorite lake is managed this way for Lake Trout (I think you call them Mackinaw here)...so the Northern Pike, Smallmouth bass, etc get huge and are abundant...as are the Lake Trout. Of course, this is a real lake ecosystem...not the same as most of the man-made dammed springs, creeks, rivers, and "reservoirs" in Nevada. Such man-made bodies of water pale in comparison to natural ecosystems.
If a lake was 'managed' properly by NDOW, there would not be a need to add Rainbow Trout every year... Think about it, can you really call it "management" when a lake needs to be re-stocked (because it was fished out) one or more times per year?
Regardless, there was a health advisory saying one should not eat fish from Comins Lake because of some heavy metal accumulation in the flesh of the fish...likely a result of it being a man-made lake.
Case in point, the State of California is currently reviewing the practice of "managing" lakes by adding non-native brook, rainbow, and brown trout because they are wiping out a couple species of native frogs.
So, the trout do not have any greater "right" to be in any of these lakes than the Northern Pike do. It is purely angler preference.
The only reason you need to stock lakes is because anglers take too many fish or the lakes are stocked with sterile hybrids. Where I am from, the NDOW equivalent determines the rarest fish in a lake, places a quota on that species, and once that number have been taken, the entire lake is closed to fishing until the next year. As a result, managing for the weakest link results in healthy ecosystems with naturally reproducing fish that reach large sizes. My favorite lake is managed this way for Lake Trout (I think you call them Mackinaw here)...so the Northern Pike, Smallmouth bass, etc get huge and are abundant...as are the Lake Trout. Of course, this is a real lake ecosystem...not the same as most of the man-made dammed springs, creeks, rivers, and "reservoirs" in Nevada. Such man-made bodies of water pale in comparison to natural ecosystems.
If a lake was 'managed' properly by NDOW, there would not be a need to add Rainbow Trout every year... Think about it, can you really call it "management" when a lake needs to be re-stocked (because it was fished out) one or more times per year?
Regardless, there was a health advisory saying one should not eat fish from Comins Lake because of some heavy metal accumulation in the flesh of the fish...likely a result of it being a man-made lake.