Fishing solution — Panguitch Lake treatment rids waters of 'just chubs'

PANGUITCH LAKE, Garfield County — The first on the water were the pelicans, grebes and loons, followed a short time later by the boats and a couple of hours later by fish — dead fish.

The birds came to dine, the boats showed up to spread rotenone in the water, and the fish, in most cases, were simply victims of their own success. There were just too many nuisance fish in Panguitch Lake and not enough of the fish people want — trout.

Most of the fish that surfaced last week after treatment were Utah chubs, more commonly referred to in unfriendly tones as "just chubs."

Chubs are the mosquitoes of game fishing. They're an annoying fish fishermen would sooner not see at all, certainly not on the tip of their hooks.

The problem is chubs are a survivor. They can easily outdo rainbow trout, the most common game fish in Utah, which is why, explained Roger Wilson, game-fish coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, "The biomass in (Panguitch Lake) is 95 percent chub and only 5 percent trout."

And, added Douglas Messerly, Southern Region director for the DWR, "The prospects of any improvement were dim."

In the spring of 2005, a town meeting was held in Panguitch to try to arrive at a cure for the problem.

"This has been a very highly controversial subject," continued Messerly. "This fishery is very important to the economy of this area. Businesses have a very short season, usually from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and we wanted to be very sensitive to that issue."

As it stands now, the lake will likely not be fishable on Memorial Day.

Roughly 78 percent of those who fish the shores of Panguitch Lake are non-residents, which is why this lake is so important to local businesses. The highest number of non-residents come into Utah from Nevada.

The meeting was well-attended. And, at the meeting, Messerly said, he asked for suggestions, "no matter how wacky, and we got some pretty far-out recommendations. We looked at everything, including going to commercial fishermen to harvest the chubs, and even looked at birds and tried to figure out just how many fish a pelican would or could eat."

A committee was formed, consisting of biologists, business owners and public officials. After narrowing options down, the decision was made to go with a spring fish kill and a very aggressive program to restart fishing.

"Our plan is to have people fishing within 30 to 45 days," said Wilson.