10-27-2010, 05:37 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Hey, I love the loopies. No matter what size they are they seem to have a whoop-a$$ gene that makes them fight noticeably harder than other strains of rainbows...and especially harder than almost any cutt ever thought of fighting.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'm guessing they would do very well in Strawberry. They can adapt to whatever food sources are there. But they would just be competing with the regular rainbows and would be almost impossible to tell them apart just by looking at them. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is another lake in Idaho that has Kamloops. Lake Pend O'Reille up in the pan handle. The fishery has changed over the years but it used to produce loops over 30 pounds fairly often. The bigguns fed on small kokanee and were very aggressive. I am sure that if some were planted in Strawberry that they would become a factor in the koke fishery of that lake...and would get some real shoulders once they got large enough to munch the salmonettes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I don't think the lack of kamloops in Utah is an ecological thing at all. I suspect it is more a matter of DWR mindset and status quo. Putting more of them in Flaming Gorge is a start. But don't look for them in many other waters that are already on the hatchery pet stocking list.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I never did hear from a reliable source what the reasoning was for discontinuing the stocking of kamloops in the Gorge in the past. But I doubt the lakers had that much impact on them. I think they just lived out their 5 -7 year lifespan and died out without much natural reproduction...or hybridized with other rainbows when they were no longer planted. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The single biggest impact on all the species was the decimation of the chubs. I recall coming into the marinas over there in the late 70s and almost being able to walk across the water on the backs of the huge masses of chubs. That is definitely what the big trout were getting big on. But when the smallmouths also started eating the chubs, along with all of the big trout they reached a "tipping point" and the predation exceeded annual production of chubs through spawning. It went quickly downhill from there and the big fish had to adapt.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now, if we could prove that kamloops would eat the heck out of burbot....[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'm guessing they would do very well in Strawberry. They can adapt to whatever food sources are there. But they would just be competing with the regular rainbows and would be almost impossible to tell them apart just by looking at them. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is another lake in Idaho that has Kamloops. Lake Pend O'Reille up in the pan handle. The fishery has changed over the years but it used to produce loops over 30 pounds fairly often. The bigguns fed on small kokanee and were very aggressive. I am sure that if some were planted in Strawberry that they would become a factor in the koke fishery of that lake...and would get some real shoulders once they got large enough to munch the salmonettes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I don't think the lack of kamloops in Utah is an ecological thing at all. I suspect it is more a matter of DWR mindset and status quo. Putting more of them in Flaming Gorge is a start. But don't look for them in many other waters that are already on the hatchery pet stocking list.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I never did hear from a reliable source what the reasoning was for discontinuing the stocking of kamloops in the Gorge in the past. But I doubt the lakers had that much impact on them. I think they just lived out their 5 -7 year lifespan and died out without much natural reproduction...or hybridized with other rainbows when they were no longer planted. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The single biggest impact on all the species was the decimation of the chubs. I recall coming into the marinas over there in the late 70s and almost being able to walk across the water on the backs of the huge masses of chubs. That is definitely what the big trout were getting big on. But when the smallmouths also started eating the chubs, along with all of the big trout they reached a "tipping point" and the predation exceeded annual production of chubs through spawning. It went quickly downhill from there and the big fish had to adapt.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now, if we could prove that kamloops would eat the heck out of burbot....[/#0000ff]
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