03-21-2011, 08:17 PM
Bassrods,
You make some good points but I think you missed the heart of my previous post. Utah is almost unigue in our mix of lakes and reservoirs. In order to have fingerling trout grow to a decent size, we need to eliminate as much competition for the available (plankton) food as we can for the young trout.
Most other states don't face Utah's situation. I agree it's not all the trout waters with the issue. Unfortunately there are those people out there that wouldn't adhere to the regs if we allowed minnows for bait in a reservoir such as Starvation, but prohibited them elsewhere. Unlawful introductions would be much harder to investigate, so Utah has decided on a total ban on the use of live fish.
I'm a very serious fisherman. I have fished many years in other states and I understand the results you can get with live minnows, especially on crappie and walleye. But for Utah to continue to offer such a wide variety of fishing opportunities, we need to provide the trout fisheries with the best conditions for the lowest cost. That means letting the lakes and reservoirs grow the trout from fingerling to catchable size with the least amount of competition from unwanted species.
I hope this helps you and others understand it's a complex problem and the professional fisheries managers feel our current regulations provide the best set of guidelines to help provide anglers with quality opportunites on the water.
Mike
[#0000ff]Again let me state for the record that I am a retired DWR law enforcement officer and my postings are only my opinion and not the official position of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.[/#0000ff]
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You make some good points but I think you missed the heart of my previous post. Utah is almost unigue in our mix of lakes and reservoirs. In order to have fingerling trout grow to a decent size, we need to eliminate as much competition for the available (plankton) food as we can for the young trout.
Most other states don't face Utah's situation. I agree it's not all the trout waters with the issue. Unfortunately there are those people out there that wouldn't adhere to the regs if we allowed minnows for bait in a reservoir such as Starvation, but prohibited them elsewhere. Unlawful introductions would be much harder to investigate, so Utah has decided on a total ban on the use of live fish.
I'm a very serious fisherman. I have fished many years in other states and I understand the results you can get with live minnows, especially on crappie and walleye. But for Utah to continue to offer such a wide variety of fishing opportunities, we need to provide the trout fisheries with the best conditions for the lowest cost. That means letting the lakes and reservoirs grow the trout from fingerling to catchable size with the least amount of competition from unwanted species.
I hope this helps you and others understand it's a complex problem and the professional fisheries managers feel our current regulations provide the best set of guidelines to help provide anglers with quality opportunites on the water.
Mike
[#0000ff]Again let me state for the record that I am a retired DWR law enforcement officer and my postings are only my opinion and not the official position of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.[/#0000ff]
[signature]