09-23-2013, 05:26 PM
Clif...
At the RAC Meeting last week you asked me why you haven't been invited to take part in meetings in the past and how you could participate in the future. I said that you have been biased and closed minded and, I would be happy to have you participate if you could be more open minded in the future. This is not it! I indicated that we have some preliminary age/growth from Pelican Lake and that it looks like Pelican is suffering from an extreme lack of harvest. The bass and bluegill are out of balance.....1:1 instead of 1:8 and we are finding 9 year old largemouth to be 9.5 inches long. They look healthy in all other regards except they are only about 1/2 as long as they should be. ALL of the year classes that we have looked at so far from Pelican are looking the same, 1/2 the length they should be. I asked you a hypothetical question.....We have taken scales from smallmouth bass from Jordanelle Reservoir that we will age this winter. Right now we have now idea what age the various smallmouth bass are but we soon will have that information. My question to you was hypothetically.....If the data came back and it indicated that lack of harvest was the issue at Jordanelle Reservoir would you support a different regulation than is currently on Jordanelle. I believe you said NO! I also tried to discuss the information from a 12 month creel that was specific to bass harvest and you let me know that your personal experience is more accurate than a scientifically designed 12 month creel survey. You indicated that you didn't believe the creel survey either.
This winter we will be working with various bass folks and our regional biologists to discuss bass management. This last year we initiated a major effort to collect additional age/growth information from our major bass waters in Utah. We have the capability to "model" the results and explore the effects of different limits, including slot limits.
As I told you last week.. Slot limits are only effective IF you have extremely high mortality (either fishing or natural or a combination of the two). If you have a slot limit on a water with low mortality (fishing/natural) you will only further damage the fishery.
From the last creel on Jordanelle (2012). Angler harvest is very minimal. I haven't seen the final report yet but I believe that I remember only roughly 50 bass were harvested over 12 inches in 2012. I believe there were roughly 250 bass harvested overall in 2012.
Likewise in Pelican Lake in 2010's 12 month creel there was a release rate of 87% and only 828 largemouth were harvested total (S.E=272).
Drew Cushing
[signature]
At the RAC Meeting last week you asked me why you haven't been invited to take part in meetings in the past and how you could participate in the future. I said that you have been biased and closed minded and, I would be happy to have you participate if you could be more open minded in the future. This is not it! I indicated that we have some preliminary age/growth from Pelican Lake and that it looks like Pelican is suffering from an extreme lack of harvest. The bass and bluegill are out of balance.....1:1 instead of 1:8 and we are finding 9 year old largemouth to be 9.5 inches long. They look healthy in all other regards except they are only about 1/2 as long as they should be. ALL of the year classes that we have looked at so far from Pelican are looking the same, 1/2 the length they should be. I asked you a hypothetical question.....We have taken scales from smallmouth bass from Jordanelle Reservoir that we will age this winter. Right now we have now idea what age the various smallmouth bass are but we soon will have that information. My question to you was hypothetically.....If the data came back and it indicated that lack of harvest was the issue at Jordanelle Reservoir would you support a different regulation than is currently on Jordanelle. I believe you said NO! I also tried to discuss the information from a 12 month creel that was specific to bass harvest and you let me know that your personal experience is more accurate than a scientifically designed 12 month creel survey. You indicated that you didn't believe the creel survey either.
This winter we will be working with various bass folks and our regional biologists to discuss bass management. This last year we initiated a major effort to collect additional age/growth information from our major bass waters in Utah. We have the capability to "model" the results and explore the effects of different limits, including slot limits.
As I told you last week.. Slot limits are only effective IF you have extremely high mortality (either fishing or natural or a combination of the two). If you have a slot limit on a water with low mortality (fishing/natural) you will only further damage the fishery.
From the last creel on Jordanelle (2012). Angler harvest is very minimal. I haven't seen the final report yet but I believe that I remember only roughly 50 bass were harvested over 12 inches in 2012. I believe there were roughly 250 bass harvested overall in 2012.
Likewise in Pelican Lake in 2010's 12 month creel there was a release rate of 87% and only 828 largemouth were harvested total (S.E=272).
Drew Cushing
[signature]