I was looking through the DWR Stocking reports and saw that they have stocked Atwood lake, Mt Emmons lake and U-19. They are only about an inch so they won’t be catch able for a while, but it is awesome that after 30 years with no stocking we finally have them back here in Utah. Apparently they were given to us from Wyoming. I know they are small but they sure look cool.
I think thats awesome, Caught my first one this year, Hopefully they will survive! How fast do they grow by chance Im assuming it will be a couple of years?
the sad part is that they grow slow and they might just bee good feeding from the cutties and tigers up there and maybe the brookies as well for the winter ha ha ha.
Hopefully it works out. So i can try it this summer.
This seems strange. Years ago the poisoned out all the lakes in the Atwood Basin, to plant native Colorado Cutthroats. At great expense and effort, due to wilderness, access. So riddle me this, why now is ok to put Goldens back? They are easily out competed by all other fish, they cross breed with cutts?
I’m happy, that is where I caught my first Golden.
I was wondering if they were stocking them again. There was an article in the past week about how all the state hatcheries were going to be up and running for the first time since the Leavitt fiasco ( hard to believe the ex Gov’s family only got a $25,000 fine but that’s another story). The article or a link off it mentioned all the fish they were stocking and I was surprised to see Golden Trout listed. There are more lakes than you might think that still have golden’s from the 70’s. But always good to have some more options.
I can think of a number of more suitable lakes to put Goldens in. Not smart putting them in a drainage with other fish they can hybridize with. Hopefully all the Brookies and Cutties don’t eat them this winter but if they do at least there will be some healthy fish in those lakes for once…
Not too many suitable lakes without trout already. Atwood did produce the state record although that was in 1977. I know there are brookies in Atwood but are there cuts in there as well? Atwood is deep enough it will never winter kill. Problem with the Uintas is the dang brookies tend to stunt and ruin so many lakes and streams. They should put a mandatory catch and kill on those suckers in all but a few lakes in the Uintas if the want to improve the quality of fishing. Certainly should do that for the dozen or so lakes that now have goldens.
How about Utah give us Wyoming folk some Tiger Muskies now?[;)]
Or wipers!
To hook a golden or read about one being caught is a truly an extraordinary thing. By restocking is this going to diminish and make the experience feel cheap? Don’t get me wrong I’m all for it. Just a question for all the guys that enjoy the 15 mile hikes to get the chance at one of these rare and beautiful little fish.
Well right now you can drive up 90 minutes from SLC and catch Golden Trout without a hike. Still hard to do. Maybe because they don’t take over lakes and remain fairly hard to catch most of the year it’ll still be worth pursuing even if they’re in a few more lakes. I’ll probable make a point to fish Atwood about 3-4 yrs to see if I find anything of size.
I agree. This is a odd choice. The portion of this drainage mentioned did not get poisoned. These lakes support large concentrations of brook trout with natural reproduction occuring. These Goldens won’t have much of a chance to get to any size. I can think of several other lakes as well where they might have had a better chance of “growing up”. [:/]
I don’t see anywhere that says if the golden trout are sterile or not. The DWR does stock a lot of sterile fish. So that would keep them from mixing with the cutts.
They are holding more to stock in the spring in Murdoch Basin. If anyone has suggestions for better lakes to stock I think the RAC meeting is the place to give suggestions.
• We recently obtained golden trout eggs (currently recognized as a subspecies of rainbow trout) from Wyoming Game and Fish.
• This was not part of a formal trade, but it is part of an ongoing cooperative partnership with Wyoming.
• Enough eggs were obtained to stock approximately 13,000 fish.
— 10,000 fingerlings were stocked into the Atwood Basin (northeastern Utah) this fall.
— The remainder are being held until the spring, when they will be stocked into the Murdock Basin (northern Utah).
• The Forest Service was part of the decision-making process because some of the stocking areas are within the Wilderness Area. Approval was granted based on the fact that this was a supplemental stocking of an existing population of non-native salmonids.
• We anticipate being able to acquire eggs from Wyoming on a regular basis from now on.
Amy Canning
Communications Specialist
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Amy
Posts: 346
Joined: Jan 22, '09, 12:28
To address some of the questions posed so far:
Expect the golden trout to grow at about the same rate as rainbow trout would in the same environments. Golden trout are a subspecies of rainbow trout, and are not much different. They tend to be small/stunted only because many people catch them in small streams and alpine lakes, often overpopulated, which are not ideal as far as growing big fish.
Golden trout found in environments that provide less competition and lots of food can get big. Case in point - the Wind River Range in Wyoming. They caught an 11 pounder out of there once, and regularly catch them weighing several pounds. I would like to see them stocked at some larger, lower elevation lakes, and in the Boulder Mtn lakes.
Golden trout are not sterile. They are not hybrids. Unless they heat or pressure shocked the eggs to produce sterile triploid fish, which is unlikely.
"I would like to see them stocked at some larger, lower elevation lakes, and in the Boulder Mtn lakes. " I was thinking the same thing. It would be nice to catch some Golden Trout of size without having to go to Wyoming. I guess the issue would be finding suitable lakes without cutts or nonsterile rainbows to interbreed. Also not overrun with stunted brookies so they also ended up stunted. Are all the rainbows stocked in Utah these day sterile? If so Lower Bown’s Reservoir might be an idea location- mid-elevation on Boulder, tons of scuds, the bows grow fast and get thick and no winter-kill. Don’t think it has any other trout in there recently.