New rules for Utah anglers in '09
Starting Jan. 1, anglers can use up to six poles when fishing through the ice at Flaming Gorge Reservoir. A new trout limit will be in place at Scofield Reservoir, and a change in the slot limit at Panguitch Lake will allow anglers to keep more rainbow trout. Anglers must also keep and kill all of the walleye they catch at Red Fleet Reservoir.
Board members approved the changes at their Oct. 2 meeting in Salt Lake City.
Scofield Reservoir
Division of Wildlife Resources biologists say the Utah chub population in Scofield Reservoir has increased dramatically over the past two years. To try and keep the population in check, biologists will stock Bear Lake cutthroat trout into the reservoir starting in spring 2009.
Putting Bear Lake cutthroats in the reservoir will give it two "chub eaters" — the Bear Lake cutthroat trout and tiger trout that are in the reservoir now.
To keep plenty of large predatory Bear Lake cutthroats and tiger trout in the reservoir, the trout limit at the reservoir will be lowered to four trout. Starting Jan. 1, the four-trout limit can include two cutthroat or tiger trout under 15 inches in length and one cutthroat or tiger trout more than 22 inches long. All cutthroat and tiger trout between 15 and 22 inches long must be released immediately.
"We put Bear Lake cutthroats in Strawberry Reservoir after we treated the reservoir in 1990," says Roger Wilson, cold-water sport fisheries coordinator for the DWR. "The cutthroats in Strawberry have been protected by a limit that's the same as the one the board passed for Scofield. The cutthroats have kept the chub populations in Strawberry in check. We hope they'll do the same thing in Scofield."
Biologists are anxious to see which of the two trout is the most effective predator — Bear Lake cutthroat trout or tiger trout. "The information we gain will help us control chub populations better in other areas of the state," Wilson says.
Panguitch Lake
Starting Jan. 1, a rule that's similar to the one at Scofield and Strawberry will also be in place at Panguitch Lake.
The limit of four trout that's been in place at Panguitch Lake for several years won't change. But starting Jan. 1, that four-trout limit can include rainbow trout of any size.
"In the past, anglers had to release all trout that were between 15 and 22 inches long," Wilson says. "This change will allow anglers to keep more rainbows."
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