June sucker/Utah lake/Hobble creek updates

[doggonefishin]

I came home from work yesterday to find in my mailbox a newsletter from the June sucker recovery program. Some of the articles in the newsletter were written before the PCB carp advisory and thus were woefully outdated, but there was still some interesting information provided. A few new points of interest;

1. The Program is working to establish a spawning run of June suckers in Hobble creek. This in and of itself may not be interesting to many of you, but what they are doing to make this happen is of note. They will divert some water originally from Strawberry (prob via the Diamond fork project) and pipe it into the Springville area to increase flows. Hobble creek is already a fun and underrated trout stream, but increased flow could improve the trout possibilities quite a bit. Additionally, the program purchased 21 acres of private land west of I-15 which will be restored to a riparian habitat needed to accomodate the suckers. This land will be available for public fishing and hunting once the renovation is complete. Additional land purchases and easements along Hobble creek East of I-15 will need to be arranged as well. This will provide improved fishery habitat and public fishing access.

2. The Program has been purchasing water control to maintain stable river flows. This should help reduce the wild fluctuations of the Utah lake level that we even recently experienced and improve fishing for all species. They will also be doing "pulsed" increases of water flow during the spawning season.

3. There are plan in the works to construct an impoundment to house the young June suckers, in a protected refuge "proximally connected" to Utah lake.

4. Finally, the results of the Utah lake creel survey were released.
3048 anglers were interviewed, and these anglers caught 2734 fish. 63% were harvested. The survey showed that one fish was caught for every 5 hours of fishing.

Those interested can obtain more information at [url "http://www.junesuckerrecovery.org/"]www.junesuckerrecovery.org[/url]
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[Stevenator]

Was there any info about getting rid of the carp?
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[Flycasting]

3048 anglers were interviewed, and these anglers caught 2734 fish. 63% were harvested. The survey showed that one fish was caught for every 5 hours of fishing.

[url "http://www.junesuckerrecovery.org/"][/url][/reply]

They must not have gotten around to interviewing TD... Had they it woulda been 5 fish per hour instead.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Strangely enough, I was interviewed...twice...by the same young lady biologist. Yes, I did skew the numbers a bit in their survey. But, she may have tossed the results of my interview when I said some unkind things about their darling June suckers. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, I told them that I thought it was a tremendous waste of time and money, but that I was sure the walleyes appreciated their annual feeding program (when they dump the baby suckers into the lower Provo River). I'm sure that only my size saved me from getting punched out by that zealous young lady. As I recall, she was somewhat "hefty", but I had her on reach. Discretion is always the better part of cowardice.[/#0000ff]
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[Parasite]

I remember this survey, and it was probably 8-10 months ago when I took part.

I was fishing from the shore that day, in Provo Beach Harbor. I chated with her and it seemed most of the people she interviewed were shorebound anglers, this probably had a lot to do with the skewed results.

It seems easier to talk to someone on the shoreline then stopping an angler while they are loading up their boat and getting ready to head home.

I could be wrong but I might be onto something....
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[doggonefishin]

"Was there any info about getting rid of the carp?"

Yes there was, but it mainly discussed the previously announced plans for netting the carp and selling the meat and by-products to make human and pet food and supplements. These options are no longer possible due to the PCB test results and advisory. It did have a paragraph about making the carp oil into biodiesel fuel, which was kind of interesting.

Parasite, I know one of the biologists that worked on this and you are right about the survey to a large extent. However, they did hang around the boat harbors and wait for the boaters to come in as well, and interviewed many, so they tried to make it as scientific as possible. I must admit it bolstered my battered ego a bit to read that the "average" UL angler took 5 hours to catch a fish.

TD, do you think you caught 2734 fish out of UL by yourself last season? []
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[Kraizee_Skot]

[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]HAHAHAHA she wasn't "somewhat 'hefty'" She WAS "hefty!"[laugh][/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]2734? Now that WOULD have been a good day. If I added up cats, bullheads, walleyes, white bass and carp (by fair means or foul), I probably caught somewhere between 200 and 300 from Utah Lake during the entire year. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Surveys are always a "timing" thing, tempered with luck. As luck would have it, both times I was surveyed I had managed to score some fish from my float tube. But, both times were during the "transitional" period of early spring, when there was not much going on for most anglers. There were no walleye being caught by ANYONE and it was too early for any real action on cats or white bass. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On the first survey, I had just got out of the water at Saratoga Springs marina. She had waited for about two hours for me to come in, and there were no other anglers anywhere around me. She had about a half page of surveys from the previous two days and there was only one other fish listed among all the other anglers. It was a slow time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]She had seen me catch a couple of white bass inside the harbor (and release them) so she knew I had something to report. After I left there, I went down to the Knolls and caught several more, along with an early kitty, which were not recorded on the survey.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The next time was a couple of months later, but still early in the fishing year. It was at Lindon Harbor. I had not found any white bass but I did score a couple of channel cats. Again, I was one of the only anglers she had surveyed in the last two days that had any fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I never saw her after about the first of May, when the fishing started to really turn on. Once the white bass and cats woke up and got cranking she would have found a lot more fish in the survey. She would have found a lot more anglers too...fishing from shore, boats or tubes. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Not good timing on the part of the survey takers. Maybe they only had a limited time to conduct the survey but they would have had a lot more participation and the catch numbers would have been greatly different if they had waited until there was some decent fishing going on.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Right now almost anyone can count on catching at least 50 white bass on a decent outing...and limits of catfish are fairly common. I have heard reports of 200 fish days on white bass (mostly released) and group trips that included at least 10 cats per angler.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just another case of great planning by our tax and license paid officials.[/#0000ff]
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[Coldfooter]

[black][size 4]"I'm sure that only my size saved me from getting punched out by that zealous young lady. As I recall, she was somewhat "hefty", but I had her on reach."[/size][/black]
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[black][size 6]LMAO!!! [/size][/black]
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[PrinceFisher]

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[#0000ff]Right now almost anyone can count on catching at least 50 white bass on a decent outing...[/#0000ff] [/reply]

And I thought catching about two dozen white bass my first time out this year and about 35 between me and my sons the following day was doing well. Dang it!

I guess I've gotta keep practicin' to make it to The Dude's standards...[unsure] Maybe someday...[angelic]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]You are doing well, Grasshopper (Kung Fu title). But, you forget to add "long line releases" to your totals. All seasoned anglers count "almost hads" in the fish count. Surely your count would exceed 100 if you were not so righteous.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Seriously, the dedicated white bass fans, who know where to find them and how to fish them, don't mess around. None of this rerigging and casual casting stuff. When the fish are in you ATTACK. Make short accurate casts into the fish, stay poised and set the hook at every tap. Reel the fish in, release and cast all in one well orchestrated movement. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It really is possible to hang more than 200 whities in a few short hours of dedicated effort. But, you pay a price. At the end of the fun your fingers are trashed. We call that fish rash. They have spines and sharp gill covers that really tear up fishermen's flesh.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Whitie newbies and casual tanglers can often have "banner days" and catch quite a few fish. But, the whitie-whackers know that when they are IN, there is no reason why you can't score at least one a minute. In days of old they stacked up around the first spring, and other areas, and would slam an unbaited hook lowered directly into the water from your rod tip. No finesse required. Things are different now, but the whities are still feisty and cooperative.[/#0000ff]
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