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Trophy Taker
01-27-2009, 01:54 PM
I have been communicating with the DWR biologist at Flaming Gorge to find out what we can do to help sustain/maintain the Kokanee population. This was the e-mail response:

Thomas,

It's always good to hear about folks trying to take a proactive
approach to fisheries management. The big browns in the Gorge collapsed
when the lake trout consumed the majority of the Utah chubs in the
reservoir. Since then, only a few smaller browns remain in the WY end
of the reservoir where a remnant Utah chub population exists. Only a
few fish make it over 5 lbs anymore. We're hoping tiger trout take the
same approach with burbot that browns did with chubs.

We are going through a time where the kokanee fishery is in serious danger
and any help we can get from anglers to remove burbot and small lake trout
and help with kokanee spawning operations will only help the fishery.

You may not have heard but our reservoir management plan calls for
stocking up to 2 million kokanee each year if we can find the eggs,
hatchery space or develop large enough runs in sheep creek that we can
harvest the eggs ourselves. This involves both early and late run fish.
It is a big goal to attain and it will take help from anglers to
practice "catch your kok limit and go fish for small lake trout"
techniques to get it done. Anything you can do to help promote the idea
of removing small lake trout and burbot is only going to help the future
of the entire fishery not just kokanee.

Thanks again for your interest and ideas and feel free to contact me if
you need info for developing the kokanee power chapter. I'll put your
contact info in my file and let you know if we need assistance in the
future.

Lowell Marthe
UDWR Flaming Gorge/Green River Project Leader

As most of you picked up Tiger Trout have been stocked in FGR:

“Last year we stocked tiger trout (brown t. x brook t.)in FGR. We hope that this species of fish will target YOY burbot which spend part of their first summer in shoreline areas that tiger trout typically forage. Tigers do not typically forage in deep open water areas that kokanee utilize so they should not have an impact on kokanee. Tiger trout are also sterile and short lived. If tiger trout survived, we hope to sample them this spring and determine if they are consuming burbot.

Additionally, both lake trout and smallmouth bass have been observed with burbot in their stomachs and the hope is they will continue to key in on them. With the great response we've gotten from burbot anglers, they are harvesting large amounts of fish during their most vulnerable time of the year. We and the WY G&F Dept still have hopes that angling pressure may have an impact on the population as it appears to have done in its native waters east of the continental divide.

With these multiple burbut consumers, we hope to make a big dent in the population.”

Lowell Marthe
UDWR Flaming Gorge/Green River Project Leader

SuperD
01-27-2009, 03:27 PM
That's an interesting read TT. I'll be interested to see a Tiger trout on our visit this June.

AFDan52
01-27-2009, 03:59 PM
This makes me wonder if the Tiger trout would attain any good size? Could be fun to catch a Huge Tiger trout.

Propnut69
01-27-2009, 05:08 PM
I remember when this first came out last fall,that the Utah DWR had stocked tiger trout in the gorge. If I remember right ,there was some controversy as to why the DWR would do this.
I called the local Game and fish office here in Wyo ,and asked what they knew about it. They were very excited about the stocking of tiger trout in the gorge. As it was explained to me,tiger trout are shore line cruisers. The Utah DWR felt that this species of fish would be very helpful in thinning out the population of the burbot. I think about 50,ooo fish 3-5 inches long were stocked in the Utah side of the gorge.

With Utah doing this,the Wyo G&F were going to increase there stocking of brown trout fry in the wyoming side of the gorge. Both agencies felt this would be a good two prong approach to dealing with the burbot.

While I don't think we will ever see big browns return to the size,that they were during their hayday.It's good to think that maybe we might see a few bigger brown trout being caught some time in the future. Will the tiger trout make any difference? I sure hope so. Let all of us who fish the gorge ,hope that the tiger trout will flourish in size and get to be some real pigs. As fast as the burbot have spread through out the gorge,our fishery could be in some real trouble ,if the burbot are not held in check.

TT thanks for posting this.thumbsup

Mickey Thomas
01-27-2009, 05:23 PM
This year will be my 6th annual trip to FG, never caught a Burbot yet or a Tiger Trout, looking forward to targeting them though. We usually fish the sunrise bite for Kok's then in the evenings we try Mack's and Rainbows, now we can target something new, looking forward to June already.

SuperD
01-27-2009, 06:56 PM
This makes me wonder if the Tiger trout would attain any good size? Could be fun to catch a Huge Tiger trout.

The key was in the description, "sterile." They will be fast growers as growing energy won't be spent towards maturing naturally. I guess the question would be, how short is "short lived?'