04-10-2016, 01:21 PM
[#0000FF]About 5 years ago on the limit change.
There are a lot of things that influence wiper populations...besides harvest. The number of sac fry vs fingerling wipers planted each year, the survival rates, weather patterns, shad population, etc.
There has been a big increase in the number of boating anglers who target wipers...and there has been a lot of new knowledge gained on how to catch them consistently. So there is definitely an increase in catch rate. However, with the decrease in limits and the fact that many wiper chasers do not keep limits every time out, the actual harvest by boaters has likely not increased too greatly.
It would be interesting to be able to get an actual count of the numbers of wipers now being removed from the lake by shore-bound bait fishermen. Prior to the last two or three years there were relatively few wipers caught by non-boaters. Now there are hundreds per day caught at several spots around the lake. And the practice is not only a spring thing. It goes on all year.
I'm sure that DWR is monitoring the situation. They can tell a lot from their annual fall netting surveys. They set the same number of nets in the same places each year so they have standards of comparison. And they also do periodic "creel checks"...and they monitor fishing reports from fishing forums and tackle purveyors. All of that lets them know what "real world" issues might be. And the good news is that they can easily increase or decrease planting numbers each year to maintain a satisfactory predator prey relationship...and angler success rates.
I am sure that most law-abiding Utah anglers are not repelled so much by other anglers harvesting fish legally...as by their open disregard for daily limits. As has been mentioned, some of these folks return to take multiple limits the same day...and/or keep taking limits every day as long as the fishing holds up.
One of the questions often asked is "How can they eat so many fish?" The answer is that for many of them they do not eat all the fish they catch. They either share with family or friends...usually without benefit of the required paperwork...or blatantly sell them to either private individuals or even to markets or restaurants. That is a common practice among a couple of groups of happy harvesters in Utah. Illegal, immoral, unethical and actually stealing from the law-abiding sportsmen.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
There are a lot of things that influence wiper populations...besides harvest. The number of sac fry vs fingerling wipers planted each year, the survival rates, weather patterns, shad population, etc.
There has been a big increase in the number of boating anglers who target wipers...and there has been a lot of new knowledge gained on how to catch them consistently. So there is definitely an increase in catch rate. However, with the decrease in limits and the fact that many wiper chasers do not keep limits every time out, the actual harvest by boaters has likely not increased too greatly.
It would be interesting to be able to get an actual count of the numbers of wipers now being removed from the lake by shore-bound bait fishermen. Prior to the last two or three years there were relatively few wipers caught by non-boaters. Now there are hundreds per day caught at several spots around the lake. And the practice is not only a spring thing. It goes on all year.
I'm sure that DWR is monitoring the situation. They can tell a lot from their annual fall netting surveys. They set the same number of nets in the same places each year so they have standards of comparison. And they also do periodic "creel checks"...and they monitor fishing reports from fishing forums and tackle purveyors. All of that lets them know what "real world" issues might be. And the good news is that they can easily increase or decrease planting numbers each year to maintain a satisfactory predator prey relationship...and angler success rates.
I am sure that most law-abiding Utah anglers are not repelled so much by other anglers harvesting fish legally...as by their open disregard for daily limits. As has been mentioned, some of these folks return to take multiple limits the same day...and/or keep taking limits every day as long as the fishing holds up.
One of the questions often asked is "How can they eat so many fish?" The answer is that for many of them they do not eat all the fish they catch. They either share with family or friends...usually without benefit of the required paperwork...or blatantly sell them to either private individuals or even to markets or restaurants. That is a common practice among a couple of groups of happy harvesters in Utah. Illegal, immoral, unethical and actually stealing from the law-abiding sportsmen.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]