Western Lake Trout Woes Study (Please Read)
After much more research than I have put into this, including the Western Lake Trout Woes study, (attached here) Tony Valdez's statement to me was "They have to go!". Knowing that his family, especially his son TJ benefits from guiding services chasing the big Macs.
The Western Lake Trout Woes study suggests lots of different methods that have been used at many famous Kokanee/Lake Trout fisheries. They include commercial removal, removal of slot limits, introducing sterile Macs, poising or sterilizing of spawning beds, bounties instead of tagged fish prizes and more. This study describes all the major Western fisheries and what each of them did to try to recover not just Kokanee but other trout species. I think they need to include them all!!
Once again please at least read the Western Lake Trout Woes study. The USU study is like reading a Nostradamus prediction for Flaming Gorge, backed by biomass data. The three agencies, Utah, Wyoming and the Feds, determined that they could not plant enough rainbows to keep up with Mac predation to sustain a quality rainbow fishery. They plant rainbows to feed the macs too.
Western Lake Trout Woes Study
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CQ2...ew?usp=sharing
So what are the secrets for catching pups?
I spend a fair amount of time on the Gorge. I do pretty good finding kokes, but try as I may, I rarely pull in a pup. What's the secret?