Newcastle wipers

[hedgesd]

Just curious if anybody has caught any of the wipers the DWR planted last year. I'm going to wait til things warm up a bit before venturing out to that shiner infested water.
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[UTBASS]

I heard they were in there before it was drained ... When did they plant them?
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[Ryno]

They put wipers in last spring, and as far as I know, thats the first stocking. I heard through the grapevine that anglers were catching some last fall, running about 6-7 inches. Good luck!
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[PBH]

Derrick, they should be catchable size by now (8"). They will grow quickly this summer.

This should be interesting to watch. Newcastle is deeper, and has cooler water than Willard. This should provide better habitat for the Wipers. Combine that with the ample food in Newcastle, and you can expect Newcastle to grow larger Wipers than Willard ever has.




OK everyone, let the "Where is Newcastle?" questions begin.
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[Old_Coot]

Where is NewCastle?
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[bassrods]

Wipers grow to be 10 to 20 lb if you take them now you can ruin what they are trying to do, let them grow.......

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[wiperhunter2]

Newcastle is 30 to 40 miles West of Cedar city. I read something about it being on a long drive down a dirt road. [unsure]
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[jackfisher]

I have been out to Newcastle a few times varmit hunting. The drive is not bad, little bit of a dirt road but it is very well maintained.

Now that there are wipers, I will have to wait for them to grow up a little and go down and bust some varmits and catch some whipers
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[wiperhunter2]

I remember reading that the lake is deeper than Willard around 30 ft depending on how full the lake is, does that sound about right to you? WH2
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[bassrods]

It is over 60 feet deep but small about 3/4 miles long and 1/3 mile wide.....
The trout are just planter size and the smalles are 14 to 16" long....

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[Extex]

Last time I fished it I think I was in about 35-40 ft at the damn and it had a long way to go to be full - it may be 55-60 ft when its full.
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[jackfisher]

How is the SMB fishing there? In your opinion will it be a large enough reservoir to allow the Wipers to get larger than they are at Willard? I understand that depth and temperature are factors at Willard, it seems that possibly a deeper lake would alleivate those limiting factors

Thanks
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[wiperhunter2]

[size 1]If the lake can stay 30 deep in the heat of summer we just might be seeing a new state record coming from Newcastle. Sounds like you have fished the lake before Cliff, is there a boat launch?[/size] [blue][, launch, lance, lynch, lunch, lanes, lanka] [/blue]
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[PBH]

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The trout are just planter size and the smalles are 14 to 16" long....

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Trout are no longer stocked in New Castle. The small mouth are also very nice.

The small mouth that have been stocked in Minersville, Piute, and Otter Creek all came from New Castle. When the DWR did the transplant, they removed about 300 smallies for each lake. Each of those lakes had a few hogs (20"+) that came from New Castle.

Here's the thing with New Castle:

1. Deep (40+ ft.) cold water (compared to Willard).
2. Forage -- Golden Shiners are running rampant in New Castle
3. Habitat.

The SMB in New Castle have done very well for many years. There are some very big SMB's. They are extremely difficult to catch. There's too damn much food in that lake (Golden Shiners, crayfish, etc.) for fishermen to be effective in targeting the SMB.

Wipers do a couple things:

1. They will prey on Goldne Shiners better than SMB. Why? Because SMB and Golden Shiners occupy different areas of the lake. Golden Shiners are more of an open water schooling fish, unlike SMB which stick to the rocky shorelines. Wipers are also an open water schooling fish. They should be very effective at controlling the shiner population.

2. Wipers are controllable in their numbers (sterile, must be stocked to maintain numbers).

3. Improved SMB fishing. With shiners numbers going down, SMB fishing should improve.


Some trout may still remain in the lake, but stocking of trout will no longer happen.



Yes -- there is a small boat ramp. No docks.
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the info PBH, have you heard if they will stock any more wipers this year in Newcastle? WH2
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[jackfisher]

Are willard and Newcastle the only two waters with Wiper in the state?
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[PBH]

WH2 -- I am sure that they plan to stock more this year, and the next, and next.....

....all depending on availability.



jackfisher -- Yes.
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[hedgesd]

No more trout in Newcastle!!! Wow, the DWR finally realized planting trout in this pond is a waste of money. Before the shiner problem this lake produced some big trout and below average bass. Now days the shiners make catching anything difficult but the smallies are big enough to spend a couple days worth trying.

How about the tiger trout that was planted two years ago. Did any of those survive because I haven't heard of anybody catching some.

And what about the dam problems. They have been planing to fix the spill way for years but they'll wait til the fishing gets good, like Minersville, to fix it.
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[wormandbobber]

Hedges, I bet you didn't know it, but every year the DWR does gillnetting samples of Newcastle...and every year the DWR finds large trout in Newcastle. Newcastle is capable of growing large trout...the problem is that trout have a hard time competing with shiners for food until they are large enough to use the shiners as forage and fishermen take the trout out before they get that large. Trout could still work at Newcastle...different regulations might have made that possible. But, the DWR decided wipers would provide a different option for fishermen and do the same thing large trout would--control shiners.

Personally, I liked the smallmouth fishing much better before the shiners ever were found in the reservoir.
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[Theekillerbee]

Good info to know...I just wish I lived a little closer to the lake!
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