02-09-2006, 03:50 AM
IceRod,
I fish mostly the middle Weber and so my perspective may be a little skewed because of the close proximity to Park City which I am sure has a higher percentage of catch and release minded flyfishermen than I suspect the lower river has. But I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone harvest anything from the middle Weber. But I suspect that because of the population ratio there are more whitefish harvested than browns numberwise simply because there are far more whitefish caught than browns. The Regs at least where I fish the most are similar to the Provo, the fishing pressure is not nearly so great as the Provo yet the Provo has an over population problem while the Weber does not. Like I said I rarely fish the lower river but my best information is that the population ratio is similar to the middle section. I agree that there is probably more harvest on the Weber than the Provo percentage wize but the milder fishing pressure tends to soften the impact on the fishery in comparison. Because the fishing pressure is less on the Weber I still think that other factors have a greater influance on the population rdatio. I strongly suspect that the biggest reason that there are so few browns in the Weber is that there is anything but stable flows durring the brown spawn. The whitefish spawn later and in deeper water and I think are less impacted by changes in flow. But like I mentioned, better recruitment of browns might be a double endged sword. Better brown recruitment might result in the same problems the Provo now has. How many people you know have caught 20 inch + browns and whitefish from the Weber? How many 20 inch + browns are caught on the Provo lately?
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I fish mostly the middle Weber and so my perspective may be a little skewed because of the close proximity to Park City which I am sure has a higher percentage of catch and release minded flyfishermen than I suspect the lower river has. But I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone harvest anything from the middle Weber. But I suspect that because of the population ratio there are more whitefish harvested than browns numberwise simply because there are far more whitefish caught than browns. The Regs at least where I fish the most are similar to the Provo, the fishing pressure is not nearly so great as the Provo yet the Provo has an over population problem while the Weber does not. Like I said I rarely fish the lower river but my best information is that the population ratio is similar to the middle section. I agree that there is probably more harvest on the Weber than the Provo percentage wize but the milder fishing pressure tends to soften the impact on the fishery in comparison. Because the fishing pressure is less on the Weber I still think that other factors have a greater influance on the population rdatio. I strongly suspect that the biggest reason that there are so few browns in the Weber is that there is anything but stable flows durring the brown spawn. The whitefish spawn later and in deeper water and I think are less impacted by changes in flow. But like I mentioned, better recruitment of browns might be a double endged sword. Better brown recruitment might result in the same problems the Provo now has. How many people you know have caught 20 inch + browns and whitefish from the Weber? How many 20 inch + browns are caught on the Provo lately?
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