Scofield closed due to bloom

[MasterDaad]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86566...bloom.html

I hope you all have your fall supply of chubs.
[signature]

[Kent]

What an ideal time to finish the job up at Scofield and poison the entire reservoir.
[signature]

[doggonefishin]

[quote kentofnsl]What an ideal time to finish the job up at Scofield and poison the entire reservoir.[/quote]

+1.

From the article.

"The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reported a significant fish kill associated with the blue-green algae Aug. 27 and impacted water fowl. The agency estimates the fish kill to be in the thousands and a trio of bats were also found dead near the shoreline."



Maybe the cyanobacteria will do what the DWR won't/can't. In this case, a huge fish kill might be considered a good thing.
[signature]

[Kent]

Yep, I read that in the report. Sure would be nice if it killed all of the chubs (yeah, right) and they can start all over with a fresh reservoir. What a shame that Scofield has gone down hill as far as it has done in the last several years.
[signature]

[Northman]

I think anyone would be hard pressed to find a good reason not to start that lake over. It is long over due....Hope the DWR steps up to the plate and just gets it over with. The water is low, the algae is thick, the chubs are thicker, and the stars have alined, time to finish the job.
[signature]

[doggonefishin]

[quote kentofnsl]Yep, I read that in the report. Sure would be nice if it killed all of the chubs (yeah, right) and they can start all over with a fresh reservoir. What a shame that Scofield has gone down hill as far as it has done in the last several years.[/quote]


Maybe the DWR could now surreptitiously rotenone the lake and blame it on the algae. []
[signature]

[MisterCompletely]

Yes, Scofield was once one of the real favorite destinations for taking the wife, kids, grandkids etc for some fun trout fishing. It's a real shame that it's been allowed to deteriorate to what it is now. It's just not all that large or deep, so I think it wouldn't take that much to kill it off and restore it. I wonder if the DWR has even considered it. Mr. Pettengill?
[signature]

[Kent]

I believe Pettengill retired several years ago.
[signature]

[Fowl-Hook]

Scofield: classic example of Utah fisheries management.
They managed it to Death.

2006 Best Trout Fishing is the state Tigers planted. Chubs were present.
2007 Trout Limit was 8
2009 Cutthroat planted along with the Tigers, New 4 trout limit with slot on Tiger and Cutthroat size.
Continued Tiger and Cutthroat stocking for the next 7 years.
2016 worst fishing in the state for quite some time.
[signature]

[MasterDaad]

For me, this is the second year Scofield has been bad. Prior to 2015, Scofield was producing record Tigers about every six months... as the Chubs took over.

The pic in my Avatar is a 27" Cutt from November 2014. Throughout 2011-2014 I caught 24"+ fish every time I went up in the fall. Scofield was, very recently, the BEST trophy fishery in the state.

I think the issue was consecutive very low water years leading to decimation of the large fish winter.

Not sure the DWR can manage the water level.
[signature]

[Northman]

Scofield turned off the path in 2007 when the DWR decided to go to a 8 fish limit. They claimed that the lake could handle 3 times the fishing pressure it was getting. Those of us that were regulars noticed it was a bad thing by early summer 2007. Prior to that the chubs were there but the trout were dominating them. The Rainbows were large enough to eat the chubs and I would regularly find them in their stomachs. Now we realize that the chubs fed the tiger trout and they grew to record size. Here is the thing though... Before the DWR decided to clear out all the larger fish causing the chub explotion, 2-4lbs fish could fill your daily 4 fish limit without hurting the large fish population. So it went from being a family fishery were you could take young kids to catch large Bows to a fishery that a few knowledgable fishermen could take a few trophys. Here are some pictures of fish that were caught by myself and my 4 year old daughter. And my brother and his 4 year old daughter. The pictures were taken in the winter of 2006. And that is full size cookie sheets. This was a typical catch for Scofield that year.
[signature]

[wagdog]

Dang those are some good lookin' fish! By the time I started ice fishing Scofield, the sizes had reduced quite a bit. Most of the cutts and bows looked like snakes. Thanks for sharing the pics.
[signature]