01-06-2015, 09:44 PM
[#FF0000]I don't think it has to do with people keeping them, I think it has more to do with the dynamics of the berry right now.
[#0000FF]You are on target. At the beginning of the current slot regulation program there were swarms of redside shiners and chubs of all sizes...all around the lake. Those of us who throw cast nets or minnow baskets had no problem catching plenty on any given trip.
Within about two years the average size fish caught by anglers rose from low teen inchers to over 18 inches...with more and more exceeding 20 inches. The cutts feed more heavily on the chubs and shiners once they get past the teen incher stage.
The next development was that the predator trout pretty much slurped up all the redside shiners. They also made some serious inroads on the chubs. DWR nettings were showing fewer chubs under six inches and those remaining were growing larger...and spawning each year...but fewer of their young were surviving the control of the larger trout.
At that point it took longer for the cutts to grow in excess of the slot limit. But the ones that made it grew even faster by dining on bigger chubs. It is not unusual for those who keep the bigger cutts to find chubs (and trout) up to 12 inches long inside them.
More rainbows have been planted by DWR to improve the odds of anglers having something to take home. Some guys just aren't happy with C&R all day...even for 50 or 60 cutts all in the upper slot range. Since rainbows are being planted in larger sizes (to escape the big cutts) more of them are surviving to respectable sizes. And there does not seem to be a lot of competition between cutts and bows for available food. Bows eat more invertebrates but cutts eat that stuff too when the minnows are not readily available. They have also been found to be eating more rodents.
Strawberry is a healthy fishery...far better than most other lakes in the west. The management plan is working. Not what everybody wants but there is no way to keep everybody happy.
And...Strawberry is becoming a bit like Scofield in one respect. There IS a population of BIG fish in there. Most anglers do not have the knowledge, experience or skill...or tackle...to specifically target the bigger fish. They are lucky to hook one and luckier still to land it.
The big cutts are becoming something like the big browns of the Flaming Gorge of old. They eat big when they eat and then eat nothing while digesting. Their feeding period might occur during a five minute window sometime after midnight...and might only happen once or twice a week. It is vain and foolish to expect to hit the lake during non feeding time for those big fish and to expect them to floss their teeth with the bitty bite jigs used by the majority of anglers.
Still, there are a few lucky anglers who get one of those big boys to yawn in front of whatever they are soaking and the fight is on. Someone lucky enough to beat those odds and bring a slot buster up through the ice without mishap is perfectly entitled to crow about it and invite his new fishy friend home to dinner.
There are plenty of bigguns that get a smooch and a quick release. Far more, I expect, than ones that get harvested. As with most healthy fisheries, Strawberry...under current management practices...is really not much affected by angler harvest. If anything it is probably a bit like Henrys Lake in Idaho and might benefit by more harvest. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the slot length were relaxed by a couple of inches for a while. If there is a bottleneck in the food chain and you reduce the number of competitors for the available food the survivors should have a better chance of leaping past the barrier. Hmmmm?
[/#0000FF][/#FF0000]
[signature]
[#0000FF]You are on target. At the beginning of the current slot regulation program there were swarms of redside shiners and chubs of all sizes...all around the lake. Those of us who throw cast nets or minnow baskets had no problem catching plenty on any given trip.
Within about two years the average size fish caught by anglers rose from low teen inchers to over 18 inches...with more and more exceeding 20 inches. The cutts feed more heavily on the chubs and shiners once they get past the teen incher stage.
The next development was that the predator trout pretty much slurped up all the redside shiners. They also made some serious inroads on the chubs. DWR nettings were showing fewer chubs under six inches and those remaining were growing larger...and spawning each year...but fewer of their young were surviving the control of the larger trout.
At that point it took longer for the cutts to grow in excess of the slot limit. But the ones that made it grew even faster by dining on bigger chubs. It is not unusual for those who keep the bigger cutts to find chubs (and trout) up to 12 inches long inside them.
More rainbows have been planted by DWR to improve the odds of anglers having something to take home. Some guys just aren't happy with C&R all day...even for 50 or 60 cutts all in the upper slot range. Since rainbows are being planted in larger sizes (to escape the big cutts) more of them are surviving to respectable sizes. And there does not seem to be a lot of competition between cutts and bows for available food. Bows eat more invertebrates but cutts eat that stuff too when the minnows are not readily available. They have also been found to be eating more rodents.
Strawberry is a healthy fishery...far better than most other lakes in the west. The management plan is working. Not what everybody wants but there is no way to keep everybody happy.
And...Strawberry is becoming a bit like Scofield in one respect. There IS a population of BIG fish in there. Most anglers do not have the knowledge, experience or skill...or tackle...to specifically target the bigger fish. They are lucky to hook one and luckier still to land it.
The big cutts are becoming something like the big browns of the Flaming Gorge of old. They eat big when they eat and then eat nothing while digesting. Their feeding period might occur during a five minute window sometime after midnight...and might only happen once or twice a week. It is vain and foolish to expect to hit the lake during non feeding time for those big fish and to expect them to floss their teeth with the bitty bite jigs used by the majority of anglers.
Still, there are a few lucky anglers who get one of those big boys to yawn in front of whatever they are soaking and the fight is on. Someone lucky enough to beat those odds and bring a slot buster up through the ice without mishap is perfectly entitled to crow about it and invite his new fishy friend home to dinner.
There are plenty of bigguns that get a smooch and a quick release. Far more, I expect, than ones that get harvested. As with most healthy fisheries, Strawberry...under current management practices...is really not much affected by angler harvest. If anything it is probably a bit like Henrys Lake in Idaho and might benefit by more harvest. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the slot length were relaxed by a couple of inches for a while. If there is a bottleneck in the food chain and you reduce the number of competitors for the available food the survivors should have a better chance of leaping past the barrier. Hmmmm?
[/#0000FF][/#FF0000]
[signature]