07-27-2012, 12:08 AM
The F&G know that they get cats from Leo Ray and that is all they know about them. They get the same ones he raises to butcher. The ones he gets are from back east, he doesn't spawn them. So he gets in fry and sells them to F&G, and raises some for him self. I have asked to find out the hatchery that he gets them from but I have been shot down on that.
In Dog creek they don't get big enough to spawn because there is an unlimited harvest, and a tiny lake. When cats are caught they are the size of the most recent years planting.
The largest cat I have caught there was 20". Since that time they are now transplanting cats from the snake river over below swan falls some where into Dog Creek.
That is the thing about triploids. There is no males. Over in Milner I have never caught anything but planters. I know there must be larger one's some where but I have never got into them. For me it is between 50 and 80 miles one way to fish there. The success is so low that it is not worth my time to go fish it. I am better off going below swan falls somewhere. Lake Lowell is also planted with Leo Ray Cats. Lake Lowell is only a few miles from the river but there is no recruitment there either.
So I go back to Idaho Power and F&G population surveys. The F&G did a survey last year on Dog Creek. I helped with that. We tagged 88 fish. Most were in the 10" to 12" range. Up to that time the most catfish sampled on any gives year was less than 5 to 8 fish. Some years they didn't catch any. My input in that study was the difference in the sample size.
In Milner, Idaho Power is the one that is doing the sample counts. I have asked to be there for the sample counts as a F&G representative. Three years ago they said sure. When the time came around they said they had the wrong year and were not going to do it. Two years ago I got the same run around. Last year they said since I was not a employee of IP I could not be on the boat due to liability reasons.
They have not been willing to release any info on sample counts in milner in the past. Last year they Sampled the river in Glenns Ferry. They found young of the year cats there. Idaho Power is now claiming that those young of the year cats were from Milner. That is right. Milner!
They are saying that those small fish in their ball survived 7 power plants and stayed together as a family ball going over Shoshone falls, and all the other rapids and falls in the river. Idaho Power is trying to exit their mandatory fish plants in milner by saying that the young cats they found at Glenns Ferry were natural recruitment from Milner. All this is, is a tactic to save money and get out of their agreement.
So going back to you comment "go out and catch a few". That is the problem no one in this area can catch many. If they do they are 10 to 12 inch planters. I know how to catch cats and I am at a loss why I can't catch them in Milner. I have caught a lot of little ones but never a cat that was a spawner size cat.
You could always come over and catch some for us and then we will be able to tell[
].
Our catfishing is so poor here you can't even begin to know what it is like. Body's of water that are supposed to have fish just don't. People that want to catch catfish seriously don't fish here. I never keep any fish that I catch here due to the fact that they are so small and I don't feel good about keeping them when the population is so small. Ron
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In Dog creek they don't get big enough to spawn because there is an unlimited harvest, and a tiny lake. When cats are caught they are the size of the most recent years planting.
The largest cat I have caught there was 20". Since that time they are now transplanting cats from the snake river over below swan falls some where into Dog Creek.
That is the thing about triploids. There is no males. Over in Milner I have never caught anything but planters. I know there must be larger one's some where but I have never got into them. For me it is between 50 and 80 miles one way to fish there. The success is so low that it is not worth my time to go fish it. I am better off going below swan falls somewhere. Lake Lowell is also planted with Leo Ray Cats. Lake Lowell is only a few miles from the river but there is no recruitment there either.
So I go back to Idaho Power and F&G population surveys. The F&G did a survey last year on Dog Creek. I helped with that. We tagged 88 fish. Most were in the 10" to 12" range. Up to that time the most catfish sampled on any gives year was less than 5 to 8 fish. Some years they didn't catch any. My input in that study was the difference in the sample size.
In Milner, Idaho Power is the one that is doing the sample counts. I have asked to be there for the sample counts as a F&G representative. Three years ago they said sure. When the time came around they said they had the wrong year and were not going to do it. Two years ago I got the same run around. Last year they said since I was not a employee of IP I could not be on the boat due to liability reasons.
They have not been willing to release any info on sample counts in milner in the past. Last year they Sampled the river in Glenns Ferry. They found young of the year cats there. Idaho Power is now claiming that those young of the year cats were from Milner. That is right. Milner!
They are saying that those small fish in their ball survived 7 power plants and stayed together as a family ball going over Shoshone falls, and all the other rapids and falls in the river. Idaho Power is trying to exit their mandatory fish plants in milner by saying that the young cats they found at Glenns Ferry were natural recruitment from Milner. All this is, is a tactic to save money and get out of their agreement.
So going back to you comment "go out and catch a few". That is the problem no one in this area can catch many. If they do they are 10 to 12 inch planters. I know how to catch cats and I am at a loss why I can't catch them in Milner. I have caught a lot of little ones but never a cat that was a spawner size cat.
You could always come over and catch some for us and then we will be able to tell[
]. Our catfishing is so poor here you can't even begin to know what it is like. Body's of water that are supposed to have fish just don't. People that want to catch catfish seriously don't fish here. I never keep any fish that I catch here due to the fact that they are so small and I don't feel good about keeping them when the population is so small. Ron
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