Urban waters: DWR-stocked ponds lure fishermen closer to home

Currently, a youth program will run for eight weeks and is put on by volunteers. Instruction covers methods, ethics, water quality, fish identification and fishing regulations.

"This year, along the Wasatch Front, we've had 3,000 kids go through the program. It's very rewarding. When we first started we had a very high turnover rate for our volunteers. The program now involves 250 volunteers, and I'd say we have at least 90 percent retention rate."

All of the fish stocked in these ponds come through the DWR. In the spring and fall, when the waters are cooler, rainbow trout are planted. Some waters are also getting a few bass and bluegill. The main catch in the summer is the catfish, which is able to survive in warmer water.

Utah fishermen, however, had to be "educated," he noted. The fish of choice here in Utah is the trout.

"When we first planted catfish, we had to do some real salesmanship. People didn't know how to process or what to do if they caught one. Catfish were a mystery. We went out and when people caught a catfish we'd show them how to fillet and then cook the fish. Now I get calls in the spring from people who want to know when we're going to start planting catfish," he said.

To try to find out how many fish were being caught, Cushing did a one-day removal study. Catfish were planted in Willow Pond in Murray late one evening. The next day he monitored and weighed catches. By 3 p.m., he said, "the total catch of the day was within 20 pounds of what we planted the night before. We figure that within two to three days all of the fish we planted were caught."

The first catfish brought in by Cushing were large, some weighing up to five or six pounds. Now, most of the catfish planted are between one-quarter and one-and-a-half pounds. This has made it possible to stock more fish.

Along with the Washington pond, named Razor Ridge, two more ponds have recently opened — one in Syracuse and one in the Day Breaker community in Rose Canyon in the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley. There are also ponds under construction in Ferron and Price.

The Rose Canyon pond will be the largest — 88 surface acres — when completed in two years. One-third of the pond in fishable. What is unique about this pond is it is being supplied by water from the Jordan River that is being run through a sand filtration system. Cushing said the water is crystal clear and cool, "and we're still catching trout, so that tells you something about the quality of the water."

The smallest pond is less than a quarter of an acre. Cushing would like to see all future ponds run from 5 to 10 surface acres.

One thing Cushing said he found last year was that people were not traveling as much.

"It could be a result of higher gas prices, but in an abbreviated creel study we found 30 percent of the people fished that one pond and only that pond. It was their only fishing outing. They weren't traveling outside the city to fish. And, it looks like things will be the same this year," he added.

What surveys have been done on the urban waters show fishing pressure on a per-acre basis is higher than on any of the more distant waters.

Which, of course, supports what Cushing believed right from the start, which was that people were waiting and watching for fishing spots closer to home.

A list of Utah's urban fishing ponds can be found on the DWR's Web site at www.wildlife.utah.gov/fishing, or booklets are available at fishing shops and DWR offices.

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