I’ll take the easy way out. I think you are both right. In all the places I have fished, it seems like Pelican Lake has a real fast cycle of boom or bust. State records have come from there. Other years, there are no fish to be found. Like most people who fish, I hate carp, I kill all that I can. If the larger fish in Pelican can eat them, they get bigger. If they reduce the quality of the spawning beds, maybe the Blue Gill and Bass won’t get stunted. Mother Nature will have a say in that. I don’t think that is possible to keep the carp out. They can just walk across the road from the Green River and set up shop. My humple opinion. Jon
I didn’t see any muddy water when I was there last summer nor did I see many carp but we stayed on the side just opposite the boat ramp for the full day and a half I was there. All that aside, I have commited fishicide on all carp caught in my life and this will continue unless they start hittin’ my topwater stick baits which would make me consider them worth slightly more.
Evidently they treated Pelican during my “Arizona years”. I hadn’t heard about that.
No doubt about it, there is plenty to make carp happy in Pelican…and plenty to make anglers unhappy about carp in Pelican.
I dislike what carp can do to a fishery, but I do not dislike carp just because they are carp. They DO pull hard, when hooked. But, like you say, until they start hitting topwater presentations and taking some serious air they are not likely to ever make it onto the prime list for any anglers I know.
Fill in the blank: THE ONLY GOOD CARP IS A ____ CARP.
Stunted??? When has bass or blue gill ever stunted in any lakes in Utah…
The Utah stunt only happens when the fish hogs take all the bigger fish and leave the little one and call it stunting…
And if some think what I just said is blunt and to the point, yes its ment to…
Stunting only happens in small ponds not lakes the size of Pelican…
I have fished for carp in the Gorge and had fun with them but in lakes like Utah lake and Pelican and others like them there are bad for the lake…
So…can we say that Bassrods likes three kinds of bass?
1. Largemouth
2. Smallmouth
3. Buglemouth
Utah Lake was RUINED by carp shortly after they were first introduced, in the 1800’s. And, it is not likely that they will ever be removed from that lake…or even controlled.
It would be a crying shame to see Pelican suffer the same fate, but at least it is smaller and can be treated.
I would sooner hook in to a 20 lb carp then a 16" trout…[sly][sly]
But the bass are still KING…
Pelican IS stunted. I’ve fished it enough. No other lake are there THAT many small bass and so few large ones. Not all fish get big, and not all bass are harvested. Big bass, well, they’re pretty intelligent. And only anglers who are really dedicated to bass fishing know how to catch them. Unlike other lakes, you don’t have the “accidental” catch factor. Bass anglers generally release all the big fish. And small fish. All fish.
The size and quantity of fish varies. But over all on the bass end, it’s small. Why? Too many fish. Do yourself a favor everyone! When your out that way, keep a limit of the 8-10" bass. The worms DO go away when they’re cooked, and largemouth bass are excellent eating.
I’ve never heard of a Pelican poisoning, either. Winter kills, sure. I’ve heard of it getting totally wiped out. Carp have been there as long as I’ve been alive, and that’s really getting up there in years. And honestly, a little more foridge for the stunted bass won’t hurt. The monster black bullheads and channel cats have been in there an aweful long time, too. Most of their fry get eaten along with the carp, though. Facts-o-life.
Thanks for your input…
Many others that fish for bass and tournament fish all know that the bigger bass are hauled out in numbers each year by many others that fish it off and on through the years, if you want to keep the bass its up to you…
But keeping the bass over 12" is why there is so many small ones they are the young a 10" bass in Pelican is only 2 to 3 years old it takes time to grow and taking the bigger bass is only hurting it…
And NO they are not stunted, they are only the young that still has to grow…
**“Fill in the blank: THE ONLY GOOD CARP IS A ____ CARP.”
**THE ONLY GOOD CARP IS A million dollar CARP.
Even though I lived outside Utah for several years, I tried to keep current on the fisheries. I could not remember hearing of a treatment on Pelican, and I have not been able to find any other “seasoned” Pelican anglers who know about it either.
I have sent emails to some folks in DWR asking for a clarification. Will report back when I get a response.
I wouldn’t agree more with ya bassrods. And I don’t mean to seem arguementitive or anything of the such.
Most anglers I know of, though, don’t keep fish out of there. They fillet up one blue gill and the parasites are enough to convince them it’s a c&r fishery only. Very few like me can look past them.
Most Pelican bass are young. Sure. But, those hords of young bass need to be thinned out to allow them to grow. A lot of the waters I fish have either a lot of small bass or few larger ones. Pelican lake has a huge carrying capacity as far as fish numbers go. There just isn’t enough foridge for all the petite bass in there now. 2-3 year old fish should be well above that 12" mark, at least as far as all the research I’ve done shows. Even if you leave all the small bass, they’ll stay smaller than they should. Pelican would have a 14" average.
I just personally think, especially on those young fish, take them home. Great eating, the worms aren’t too bad, and you’re really helping out the fishery.
I didn’t say to not take any young fish. I said if you release the fish over the 12 inch size, that you will have more and bigger fish in the lake. The bigger fish feed on the smaller fish, whether bass or bluegill.
Next time anyone happens to be there check out the dumpster and you’ll find the filletted carcasses and sometimes the whole fish (because they’ve cut into them and seen the worms, they throw the whole thing away) and a lot of them are over 12 inches long. Here in Utah the average growth of a LMB is 4 to 6 inches per year.
The average growth rate in Pelican is only 4 inches per year. So it takes longer for the fish to reach any size. The standard speech is take the small ones 10 to 11 3/4 inches…and leave the bigger ones to reach maturity and spawn…but unless we also leave some small ones to grow up, there won’t be any big ones to spawn.
I get so tired of hearing stunted growth, stunted growth, stunted growth…when people keep taking the big fish, big fish, big fish…and then there’s only the small fish left and they start howling stunted growth, stunted growth, stunted growth. It takes time for fish to grow and mature, so if people would leave the bigger mature fish, it would make for better fishing for all…and the big fish do eat the little fish.
I’m kinda glad Pelican has worms and swimmers itch, otherwise it would only be a barren wasteland with waterskiers and mosquitos.
Isn’t there a 15" 1 fish minimum catch and keep regulation on Pelican right now?
Perhaps the glory days are behind us, but think about it, how many times have you fished Pelican and targeted bigger fish? Most guys go out and throw a 4" worm, senko, grub, or tiny topwater because they want to catch a lot of fish.
The locals catch a fair amount a decent fish, but they throw big top water, frogs, and target offshore structure that doesn’t get fished often. You can’t fish for numbers and quality at the same time.
Didn’t one of the kids from the bass federation whack a big sack of fish last year or the year before throwing a frog, something like 12lbs in one day?
The problem isn’t meat hunters, carp, catfish, moon phase, or weather. It is the mentality of the angler…
I haven’t noticed the bigger fish getting taken out personally. There’s no special regs there, though. If people happen to take a few over 12", so be it. All I’m saying is take a few more of the under 12’s.
That lake has mostly reached it’s carrying capacity. I can shove 50 aquarium fish in a 50 gallon tank. Feed them X amount. At the same time, with fish from the same batch, keep only 25 in a 50. Feed them the same X amount. The fish in the sparsely populated tank can and will double the growth rate of the other fish. Largemouth bass are no exception.
When you have so many small fish that very few reach maturity, that’s what I call stunting. More small fish than large. I haven’t seen the creel surveys yet, and I’ll be calling about them, too, but I can’t honestly see the majority of bass over 12" being kept. There just aren’t that many of them to begin with, and most anglers are conservation minded. If a whole lot more small bass were removed, a whole lot more big bass would pop up.
You could be right about the weight, but the one over 15" only works if people obey the law…
And with the number of people who fish Pelican if only half keep one over 15" the lake is fished down to the size of fish it has now… There is a few over 15" left but very few…
I have heard all about that buck of water only holding so much, what a bunch of bull…If the meat HOGS was not keeping most if not all the bigger bass you would be catching more of them then what we do…
And yes I have seen the left overs in the trash of the big bass that have been cleaned and some that was wasted…
EDITED FOR CONTENT
Cliff, are you trying to match wits with “Utahs largemouth bass expert”? LMAO[crazy]
I’m not arguing with ya Cliff. You’ve seen what you’ve seen, and I’ve seen what I’ve seen. I know what I know, and you know different. No reason to get all hot and bothered.
And dumb justifications? By proving that higher densities of fish yeild slower fish growth? By all means, justify that one by yourself. It’s been proven time and time again through gill net studies and laboratory research. My aquariums have nothing to do with it. JUST AN EXAMPLE.
I would consider myself to be an expert on LMB in Utah, because, A - I have the schooling(Ichthyology
and Fisheries Management Degrees) and B - I’ve caught the fish. More than enough for me.
I’m out. Believe what ya want. I know who’s side the DNR is on.