Piute Reservoir Status

[utahfishman]

Hey does anyone have info on Piute? Water level? Chemical treatment? Closure?
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

From the UDWR website:

DAILY BAG LIMIT INCREASE FOR TROUT: Piute Reservoir (Piute County) (PDF format)
The daily bag and possession limit for trout has been raised to 8 trout. Piute Reservoir will be drained this fall for irrigation needs. Additionally, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will treat the remaining water to remove unwanted fish in preparation for restocking. Low water levels and treatment at the lake will result in the loss of trout. These changes are effective immediately and will remain in effect until January 1, 2014. All other rules established in the 2013 Utah Fishing Guidebook remain in effect.

[signature]

[LOAH]

Wow! That's too bad.
[signature]

[FattyGreens]

Too bad there were "unwanted" species in there...
[signature]

[utahfishman]

Thanks, Fishrmn.Well guess I won't be going to Piute.
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

[quote LOAH]Wow! That's too bad.[/quote]

It happens about every 4-6 years. There is no conservation pool there. And there's no opportunity to buy one.

[quote FattyGreens]Too bad there were "unwanted" species in there...[/quote]

Chubs. They're in the drainage. Once some bozo put them in there they will always be there. The Smallmouth Bass, and the Wipers will be replanted along with the trout.
[signature]

[ifishutah]

Geeze! That could be a phenomenal bass fishery if they'd just leave it be.

No water = death for all species... Really too bad
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

Leaving it be's got nothing to do with it being a phenomenal bass fishery. It's water, and water users. They've got the water rights to use their water. When we don't get enough snowpack, they drain it.

When there's water in Piute enjoy what it has to offer. When there's not, go somewhere else.
[signature]

[GEEZER]

I lived in Richfield from 1973 -1984 and watched several draindowns of Piute. Used to take the neighborhood kids down to catch the big carp & suckers outta the pool there just below the dam. Man, the kids would have a blast.

As for the treatment, no doubt it's necessary but I also used to fish the river down through the canyon just below the dam and it always broke my heart to see ALL those big beautiful trout rotting along the banks. Too bad there's not some way to neutralize the rotenone once it hits the river.
[signature]

[PBH]

[quote GEEZER]

As for the treatment, no doubt it's necessary but I also used to fish the river down through the canyon just below the dam and it always broke my heart to see ALL those big beautiful trout rotting along the banks. Too bad there's not some way to neutralize the rotenone once it hits the river.[/quote]

There is a way to neutralize it, and the DWR DOES neutralize it. Potasium permangenate is used to neutralize rotenone. They use drip stations to prevent fish kills outside of the target area.

Two other issues with your comment:

1. big beautiful trout. There aren't any in Piute to kill. It's all suckers, carp, and chubs.

2. Repairs to the gate on the dam were made numerous years ago. This meant that the water users could actually close the gate tight -- no more leaky gate to keep some water in the stream for the first 1/4 mile below the dam. They dry that stream up all the time now. It's not the rotenone killing fish below the dam...
[signature]

[Jazzperch1]

[quote PBH]




1. big beautiful trout. There aren't any in Piute to kill. It's all suckers, carp, and chubs.
quote]

there are lots of big bows in there, I catch them every year I go to marysvale.[crazy]
[signature]

[ifishutah]

I meant leave the water in there.

There's been some good fish in there in the past, but it takes time to grow the big ones.
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

Good luck on that!
[signature]

[Lonnie]

Here is a question. Why stock 15000 fingerling brown trout in april of this year, only to poison it and lose them now? Seams like a stupid waste of resources to me. Why not stock those fish where they have a chance? They put browns in otter creek res at the same time, why not just put them all in there instead. The biologist in charge of that idea should lose their job. That money for those fish came out of our pockets.
[signature]

[PBH]

Lonnie -- how do you predict a water year??

should the biologist have had the ability to predict that the water users would end up draining the reseroivor later in the summer? They don't have crystal balls. They have to stock fish under the assumption that water will be there, otherwise they wouldn't stock fish anywhere!


Jazzperch -- those fish you are catching are in the river. Not the reservoir.

IfishUtah -- leave the water? Well, that would be nice. And, if the water was kept in teh reservoir then we might be able to do something with the fishery. But we don't have that luxury.
[signature]

[GEEZER]

You didn't read my post very well. I said nothing about big beautiful trout in Piute. I said in the river below the dam. In years past, when Piute was poisoned, the river banks for miles downstream would be littered with dead fish. Near the dam, most were carp, chubs and suckers but a mile or so downstream you'd be sickened by the number and size of the trout corpses you'd see.

I'd really like to see them apply potassium permanganate to the river at the end of the road that you can drive down below the dam. I haven't been there in years so don't know how much , if any, water gets through the head gate when it's closed but from what I remember, there wasn't more than 1/2 cfs.

Regarding the DWR having a crystal ball - come on man. The snowpack is monitored and runoff predicted for nearly every stream in Utah. I know many farmers who depend on the Sevier River totally for irrigation water. They all know how much water they can expect early in the spring and plant accordingly. If the spring turns out wetter than usual, it's a bonus. If the DWR dumps fingerlings in Piute any later than May 1, somebody needs their butt kicked. No, I didn't look to see when the fingerlings were stocked so I suppose I'm opening myself to another snide reply. Enjoy
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

I guess they need to know what the runoff in May is going to be when they take eggs in October. They don't have the luxury of deciding how many fish to rear with only a month or two to plan for water conditions. And if they had put all of the Brown Trout in Otter Creek, they would have caused problems there.

Too many armchair quarterbacks and biologists.
[signature]

[PBH]

[quote GEEZER]Y
I'd really like to see them apply potassium permanganate to the river at the end of the road that you can drive down below the dam. [/quote]

They use KMnO4 on every treatment to control the rotenone. In fact, they are able to treat sections of rivers and streams, with detox stations where the rotenone is neutralized for specific portions of streams. This isn't something new. Heck, they even have a Standard Operating Procedures Manual on using it. They are very good at killing fish within their target scope. On occasion, they do turn streams purple, but that doesn't hurt anything...
http://www.fisheriessociety.org/rotenone/rot.pdf
[signature]

[Lonnie]

I understand the issues with low water years , however I am assuming they establish a yearly budget for things like a res. treatment plan at the beginning of the year. That being said, if the treatment was a last minute adjustment based on low water , then that would be understandable. And I stand corrected. However , my argument would be that if the poisoning was planned and budgeted for as fiscal year budgets were made , then they stocked the fish, in my book that is a bonehead move. It would be interesting to find out which was the case.
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

I forgot to add this to my original post. It doesn't look like this was already planned for, or in the budget.

From the UDWR website:

[red]Emergency changes to the guidebook[/red]

DAILY BAG LIMIT INCREASE FOR TROUT: Piute Reservoir (Piute County) (PDF format)
The daily bag and possession limit for trout has been raised to 8 trout. Piute Reservoir will be drained this fall for irrigation needs. Additionally, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will treat the remaining water to remove unwanted fish in preparation for restocking. Low water levels and treatment at the lake will result in the loss of trout. These changes are effective immediately and will remain in effect until January 1, 2014. All other rules established in the 2013 Utah Fishing Guidebook remain in effect.

Five other waters are listed. One mentions plans to use rotenone, but doesn't mention low water issues.
[signature]