02-24-2013, 12:29 AM
[quote PBH]This whole discussion reminds me very much of the same discussion held a few years ago concerning the Provo River. It's the same arguments, same logic, and same flawed thinking.
With the Provo River guys, it was "river construction killed all the bugs" -- and that's why there were no big fish. What most of them found out was the it wasn't the "lack" of bugs (food), but rather the population dynamics. Too damn many trout (browns). This overpopulation caused a situation where the maximum growth rate was severely restricted, and few, if any, fish could get through that bottleneck. The solution was to remove fish -- but anglers didn't want to believe it. They wanted it all to be about food, or bugs.
today, the lack of bugs isn't an issue. Construction is complete and the insect life is back to normal. But the fish are still the same size. Most anglers know and understand now that it is a population issue.
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The Middle Provo reminds me a lot of The Blacksmith Fork up where I live. It used to produce a lot of nice fish, even some absolute monsters, but now it is overpopulated with small browns. Though the DWR encourages harvest of the browns, most are released and we're left with a lot of small browns.
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With the Provo River guys, it was "river construction killed all the bugs" -- and that's why there were no big fish. What most of them found out was the it wasn't the "lack" of bugs (food), but rather the population dynamics. Too damn many trout (browns). This overpopulation caused a situation where the maximum growth rate was severely restricted, and few, if any, fish could get through that bottleneck. The solution was to remove fish -- but anglers didn't want to believe it. They wanted it all to be about food, or bugs.
today, the lack of bugs isn't an issue. Construction is complete and the insect life is back to normal. But the fish are still the same size. Most anglers know and understand now that it is a population issue.
[/quote]
The Middle Provo reminds me a lot of The Blacksmith Fork up where I live. It used to produce a lot of nice fish, even some absolute monsters, but now it is overpopulated with small browns. Though the DWR encourages harvest of the browns, most are released and we're left with a lot of small browns.
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