Ward also said there were plans to take eggs and sperm of the large spawning cutthroat earlier than in the past, which will also give the fish a longer growing period before being released.

Strawberry was treated back in 1990 to remove an overpopulation of the nuisance fish. It was eventually restocked with Bear Lake cutthroat, known as an aggressive predator, and sterile rainbow. The reasoning was that the cutts would feed on the chubs, and their aggressive behavior would not be diluted were rainbow and cutthroat to cross.

Prior to 2003, chub numbers increased while the number of large cutthroat stayed lower than biologists had hoped.

Since the introduction of new regulations — all cutthroat caught between 15 and 22 inches must immediately be released — the number of large fish has increased.

New predictions are that there are more than 200,000 cutthroat over 20 inches in Strawberry. There were years in the mid-1990s where modeling projected there were fewer than 500 of the larger fish in the lake.

Ward said there were several large cutts over the 22-inch barrier pulled from the nets.

Also, he said he's seen a number of fish over 22 inches in the fish traps near the visitors center.

"I would say we're seeing more of the bigger fish than we've seen in the past. We were getting, daily, fish over 22 inches in the traps. Some went up to 25 and 26 inches and weighed up to seven pounds. There was one 29-inch cutthroat that weighed 11 pounds," he explained.

"The potential is there to catch fish over 22 inches this summer. There's more of an opportunity to catch a trophy fish now than in the past."

There were few kokanee salmon caught in the gillnets, but Ward didn't expect to catch many. The kokanee are just starting to move into waters where nets were placed.

In an effort to improve the kokanee fishing, the DWR stocked 600,000 fish two years ago. Normally, around 400,000 kokanee go into Strawberry each year. Those fish will be in the 2-plus-year-old category, which means they should be showing up in summer catches.

Ward said he would have a better ideal on catch rates and fish after the ongoing creel studies have been completed this year.

In the meantime, Ward said he expects fishing at Strawberry will be good this summer.

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E-mail: grass@desnews.com