Officials not shocked at fish study results

HEBER — It may have been a shock to the fish, but nothing found Tuesday along a controversial stretch of the Provo River flowing into Deer Creek Reservoir surprised biologists.

A lot of fish surfaced during an electroshock study. Many were skinny and many more were small. There were some trophies and a few unexpected catches. But by day's end, the consensus was that this section of river is just as it was expected to be. That is, there are too many fish and some some need to go.

Last month, the Utah Wildlife Board voted to open a two-mile section of the blue-ribbon Provo — heretofore available only to fishermen who throw flies and lures — to those fishermen who choose to fish with worms, cheese and salmon eggs. The hope is that bait fishermen will keep the fish they catch, because fly fishermen tend to practice catch and release.

The decision, said Don Wiley, regional fisheries manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, is being accepted with mixed feelings.

"Some are excited to have the opportunity and some are upset and very vocal," he said as he waited along the banks of the river for the boat that would carry the power equipment.

"Opening this small section will give some fishermen an opportunity to fish in a place they haven't been able to fish for a long time."

The electroshock study, the first in three years, is an attempt to determine the actual number of fish in the river and their relative health.

The procedure is simple but effective. A small boat carrying a generator is pulled upstream, while groups of men and women in waders and wearing rubber gloves walk off to the side with nets — some wired to the generator.

"Basically, it involves the use of electricity and water. The electrical current sent through the water stuns the fish long enough for them to surface and then caught in nets," explained Wiley.

"A generator with a variable voltage pulsator allows us to control the type of electricity. We use enough so that it stuns the fish but does not harm them."

Early Tuesday, teams tested a 650-foot section of river downstream from the Legacy Bridge, west of Heber. Workers picked up everything from fish barely big enough to be seen to a couple of brown trout that weighed close to four pounds.

Of the hundreds of trout netted, all were brown but one — a rainbow. Also netted were river sculpin, white fish and Utah suckers.