03-12-2016, 12:38 AM
Utah DWR personnel assisted by some volunteers undertook one of the first projects to establish Red Fleet Reservoir as a must fish destination in the next few years. Over 1050 yellow perch were caught by hook and line at Fish Lake on Thursday morning and early afternoon and the perch were swimming at Red Fleet Thursday night. Only 16 perch were lost during the transport which took over 5 hours using two DWR hatchery trucks.
The weather was fantastic on Thursday with daytime temperatures nearing 50 degrees and there was little or no WIND! Ice conditions at Fish Lake are still very good for ice fishing but there are a few weak ice spots near the boat ramp at the south end of the lake. I was driving a side by side UTV that was loaded with portable fish holding tanks on the rear deck. As we came back onto the ice while hauling some additional equipment, we nearly broke through the soft ice about 20 feet offshore. A couple of guys and I were able to support the rear end of the machine and we were able to drive it onto safe ice.
The perch fishing was very good on Thursday morning and everyone in the project crew was successful in adding perch to the tanks. I lost count after putting over 85 perch into the holding tanks. During a one hour test period on Wednesday I caught 43 perch. It was decided the fishing was good enough that we didn't need to hold any perch overnight and the project leader told us we would take the perch on Thursday only. The two hatchery trucks were on the road by 1:30 p.m. with the first truck leaving at about noon with over 870 perch.
It is hoped the perch will provide a sport fishery and they will also add to the forage base for larger predatory fish to be added to the reservoir. The DWR Aquatics biologists will be collecting crappie and will be spawning walleye to add to the Red Fleet mix. Much of the planning for Red Fleet's future took public survey information into consideration when the mix of fish species was selected.
This expensive and labor intensive project is a very good example of your license dollars and Federal excise tax monies collected to support sport fishing enhancements. I expect to see a very promising fishery at Red Fleet in the not too distant future.
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The weather was fantastic on Thursday with daytime temperatures nearing 50 degrees and there was little or no WIND! Ice conditions at Fish Lake are still very good for ice fishing but there are a few weak ice spots near the boat ramp at the south end of the lake. I was driving a side by side UTV that was loaded with portable fish holding tanks on the rear deck. As we came back onto the ice while hauling some additional equipment, we nearly broke through the soft ice about 20 feet offshore. A couple of guys and I were able to support the rear end of the machine and we were able to drive it onto safe ice.
The perch fishing was very good on Thursday morning and everyone in the project crew was successful in adding perch to the tanks. I lost count after putting over 85 perch into the holding tanks. During a one hour test period on Wednesday I caught 43 perch. It was decided the fishing was good enough that we didn't need to hold any perch overnight and the project leader told us we would take the perch on Thursday only. The two hatchery trucks were on the road by 1:30 p.m. with the first truck leaving at about noon with over 870 perch.
It is hoped the perch will provide a sport fishery and they will also add to the forage base for larger predatory fish to be added to the reservoir. The DWR Aquatics biologists will be collecting crappie and will be spawning walleye to add to the Red Fleet mix. Much of the planning for Red Fleet's future took public survey information into consideration when the mix of fish species was selected.
This expensive and labor intensive project is a very good example of your license dollars and Federal excise tax monies collected to support sport fishing enhancements. I expect to see a very promising fishery at Red Fleet in the not too distant future.
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