Bye Bye Albinos (Article)

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Brett Prettyman's Tight Lines column in the Outdoors section of the Tribune this morning talks about DWR phasing out the albino trout planting program in Utah.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_3834716"]LINK TO ARTICLE[/url][/#0000ff]
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[Fishdog78]

[] Is that something to be concerned about? I have never caught an albino trout, and cant they be born on there own anyway? Cant the DWR plant whatever they want in the lakes and streams. How do they go about choosing what goes in and what doesnt???? Myself and others are curios to know who makes the call?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Most of that is explained in the article. The fish are novelties that are easy to see, even if they are difficult to catch at times. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]DWR can plant whatever they want. They just don't get the angler return on the dollar that they do with regular rainbows (hatchery pets).[/#0000ff]
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[cat_man]

I'm sure they don't survive nearly as well as regular rainbows, considering they are sitting ducks for eagles, hawks, osprey, etc., and the sun can really damage them since they have no pigment to protect them.

I'm not sorry to see them go.
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[Fishdog78]

So does the DWR profit off of stocking the lakes and what not? I wonder what kind of fish existed in Utah before they stocked anything?
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[TubeDude]

[#0000ff]DWR has a budget for stocking fish. They try to get the most fish to the most anglers with the amount of money they get from license fees, the general fund, etc. It is not about making money. It is about making the available money go as far as possible.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The only gamefish (trout) native to Utah are the Bonneville Cutthroat and Bear Lake cutt. Unless you want to count a couple of species of whitefish. After that there were suckers and chubs. That's about it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Every other species listed in the Utah proclamation is an import.[/#0000ff]
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[trollboy8]

Tubedude:
Apparently you are forgetting about the largest of all native Utah gamefish--the Utah Lake Monster talked about in this article [url "http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/178623/"]http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/178623/[/url]. I'm no biologist, but I do have to wonder, after reading the article if maybe, just maybe the reported "monster" is none other than our very own BFT Utah Fishing Moderator (who goes by the initials TD). You'd better be careful, I've got my eye one you![]
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[Fishdog78]

Interesting, so the Bonneville cuthroat is different than the other cuthroats you catch huh? That is not a big variety of fish, I hope they existed in high numbers so at least the Indians got to fish em. I read about whitefish being up here but I have never caught one. Those are good eating especially smoked!! Where could you get a white fish close to the SLC TubeDude?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Now waitaminnit. I may be large in size but I resent the heck out of being tabbed as a monster. I think the early stories are ample proof that the newly arrived brethren sampled some fermented chokecherries or somethin'. Pretty creative.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I only wear a size 13 shoe, but have been affectionately called "Bigfoot". Guess I need to shave more often. Then again, maybe that was Big Toot, after taking on too many burritos.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After thinking about it a bit, I'm wondering if that big nasty critter might have been a man eating June sucker, tainted by BBB (Brother Brigham's Brew).[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]We have had several species of cutts planted in Utah at one place or another. These include the (native) Bonneville, the Snake River, the Yellowstone and the Bear Lake. I do not have accurate info on these plantings but they do occasionally turn up in some waters and if they are mixed they hybridize, as they also do with rainbows. It is hard to find pure strain cutts in most waters any more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Bonneville cutts WERE abundant, until the settlers showed up. They were an important part of the food supply for the native peoples. They were thick in the unpolluted Utah Lake of early times, and choked the Provo River during the spring spawning run. Settlers pitchforked them out by the wagon load to smoke for winter food supplies. Didn't take long to clean them out of the lake. No DWR officers when you need them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are still quite a few whitefish in the Provo river and lots of them in the Weber, up north. Those are the native mountain whitefish. In Bear Lake there are both the small Bear Lake whitefish and the larger and fiestier Bonneville Whitefish. They are great to catch in the fall during their spawn around the edges of the lake.[/#0000ff]
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[road]

How close is close? The rivers/streams around echo are chuck full of white fish. fairly easy catching, I use a split shot and a nightcrawler.
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[cat_man]

Don't forget the Colorado River Cutthroat subspecies. It is native to the streams of the Uinta Mountains which drain into the Colorado River drainage. There is no fish more beautiful than a Colorado River Cutt in laser fire yellow and orange spawning colors!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]They are all gems, and there are even more sub-sub-species. Down in Arizona we had the Gila trout too.[/#0000ff]
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[Theekillerbee]

It's nice to catch one now and again, but I won't really miss them.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]How about albino carp? Maybe some PCB bleach jobs?[/#0000ff]
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[trollboy8]

You can catch whitefish in the Provo--although I have never caught one.
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[Ghoti_Hook]

Try the Weber River...certain sections have a ton of whitefish.
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[Fishdog78]

Nice history lesson TubeDude. How cool would it be to live in the old west settling the area and sticking a pictchfork in the river and pulling up fish...... That's like paradise.....
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[Fishdog78]

I would consider Echo close to SLC. Anything within an hours drive is close enough for me, a half hours drive is a bonus. Do you also fish Echo, is that good fishing, ive never tried to fish it from the shore?
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[Fishdog78]

Sounds like the whitefish like the rivers. What part of the Weber would you recommend?
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