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Hey Group..
With the popularity of the Wipers at Willard Bay, and with them being a "sterile" fish, does anyone know if the DWR plans on restocking for next year? Do the SHAD need time to recoup? Who would we contact about next year? I figured if anyone would know, it would be someone on this board. Thought I'd throw this one out....
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The wiper stocking can be found on the dwr web page, when they stock them. I believe they raise them at the powell hatchery, and this year the dilema was to either continue to raise them in the hatchery which was expensive, or sell them off, or put them in willard. They were supposed to put a ton of the fry in there, but I dont know if they actually did. The survivors will take a few years to grow anyways. The small ones shouldnt have too much effect on the shad because they arent big enough to eat them yet. But if we have another bad shad year, like I think we will, we could be in trouble. Tom pettingil would be the one to talk to, hes a wiper lover and the state fisheries guy. I am thinking the ice is going to be on willard too long this year, the shad wont do well, and with the raised limit and pressure on the lake the fish will get fewer and skinnier. The shad are too sensitive to the cold for anyone to accuratley know if they will rebound or crash. But with the wipers and walleye counting on the shad for survival its got to be a tough fishery to manage. I wish the shad would explode and they would drop the limit back down to two fish so we could start to regrow the big ones of the past.
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I started keeping archives on "The Best of the Best", for UtahFishFinder. Around the middle of May, this year, Kent Jasperson posted a response from Tom Pettingill on this very issue. Here 'tis:
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I received the following from Tom Pettingill in response to questions that I emailed to him. Thought you might enjoy reading his response. [/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]"The wipers were stocked in two size groups last year. We stocked 500,000 fry and approximately 300,000 2" fingerlings. In last fall's gill netting the fingerlings out numbered fry by 10:1. Not surprising that the larger fish survived better than smaller ones. Growth was also less on fry plant than on fingerlings. Fry stocked fish were about 2" smaller in nets last fall than fingerlings. We are doing the same thing this year. Just as cheap to purchase a million fry as 500,000. [/size][/font]
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