06-05-2013, 07:35 PM
[#0000FF]Crayfish in Jordanelle was a topic I brought up to the DWR folks at the recent open house meeting in Riverton. They pretty much confirmed what I had come to believe...only a very few crayfish in the lake and not likely to ever be much more. Never has been a large population of them.
I personally witnessed a rainbow estimated at somewhere between 8 and 10 pounds caught through the ice about 5 or 6 years ago. But that was at a time when there were still quite a few small chubs and before the perch crash that winter. And I have heard of others well over 5 pounds being taken there. More than a few [/#0000FF][#0000FF][#0000FF][b]cutts over 5 pounds and some[/#0000FF] big browns over 10 pounds...with some being twice that.
I don't think any of the big trout are feeding on crayfish to attain their larger sizes. And feeding on zooplankton alone usually won't make it either. The biggest trout are almost certainly piscivorous (fish eaters). With the perch population building back up we could see more large trout. Rainbows and browns taken through the ice each winter often have a belly full of 2" perch from the previous spring spawn. But the biggest browns feed heavily on newly planted rainbows too.
I asked the question about the crayfish because Jordanelle is virtually the only smallmouth lake I have ever seen...all around the country...that does not have a healthy population of crayfish. Their answer...as I expected...was that the early years of Jordanelle produced some world class smallie fishing because of all the chubs. Once they were mostly gone...and the perch crashed...the smallies stunted and diminished.
Blame it on angler overharvest, spear fishermen or whatever you want. The biology of the situation is that new lakes go through a period of changes. That usually means a decline in underwater habitat (flooded brush) as it rots away...as well as changes in the populations of predator and prey species. At some point there is a balance established at which the lake can more or less support itself. But in Utah we have to throw in the zing factor of being a desert state with variations in water levels. It does no good to plant the heck out of a lake and build up good fish populations and then have the lake go dry.
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I personally witnessed a rainbow estimated at somewhere between 8 and 10 pounds caught through the ice about 5 or 6 years ago. But that was at a time when there were still quite a few small chubs and before the perch crash that winter. And I have heard of others well over 5 pounds being taken there. More than a few [/#0000FF][#0000FF][#0000FF][b]cutts over 5 pounds and some[/#0000FF] big browns over 10 pounds...with some being twice that.
I don't think any of the big trout are feeding on crayfish to attain their larger sizes. And feeding on zooplankton alone usually won't make it either. The biggest trout are almost certainly piscivorous (fish eaters). With the perch population building back up we could see more large trout. Rainbows and browns taken through the ice each winter often have a belly full of 2" perch from the previous spring spawn. But the biggest browns feed heavily on newly planted rainbows too.
I asked the question about the crayfish because Jordanelle is virtually the only smallmouth lake I have ever seen...all around the country...that does not have a healthy population of crayfish. Their answer...as I expected...was that the early years of Jordanelle produced some world class smallie fishing because of all the chubs. Once they were mostly gone...and the perch crashed...the smallies stunted and diminished.
Blame it on angler overharvest, spear fishermen or whatever you want. The biology of the situation is that new lakes go through a period of changes. That usually means a decline in underwater habitat (flooded brush) as it rots away...as well as changes in the populations of predator and prey species. At some point there is a balance established at which the lake can more or less support itself. But in Utah we have to throw in the zing factor of being a desert state with variations in water levels. It does no good to plant the heck out of a lake and build up good fish populations and then have the lake go dry.
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