Strawberry sampling: Gillnet survey yields good news for Utah fishermen

The nets tell the story … there are a few more rainbow, not as many cutthroats, but some very large ones, and fewer chubs.

With the exception of cutthroat numbers, the news is good for fishermen.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recently completed a gillnet survey on the water, which means for four days special gillnets were placed in specific locations in the evening, then pulled and checked for fish in the morning.

Numbers, size and species of fish caught in the nets give biologists a pretty clear view of the ecology of the reservoir.

Which is:

 "We're seeing more rainbow. It's been eight years since we've seen this many rainbow in our nets," said Alan Ward, chief biologist at the reservoir for the DWR.

Rainbow are a popular game fish with anglers and come with fewer restrictions.

 There were fewer cutthroat netted, but among those brought aboard were several fish that could be considered trophies.

"It concerns me that we're seeing fewer cutts than I would like. We had a couple of year classes that didn't do well. I believe it was because when we stocked them they were undersized and were probably eaten," said Ward.

"We're going to have a reduced cutthroat population for the next couple of years. It will be interesting to watch what response this will have on the chub population."

A few of the larger chubs showed up in the nets, but very few of the smaller, younger chubs.

Nets start out with a larger mesh to catch larger fish and gradually funnel down to a smaller mesh for smaller fish. The results were that a few larger chubs were netted, but almost no smaller ones.

"This is a good indication that our management program is working," said Ward. "We used to catch hundreds of shiners and small chubs in the year-old class. Now we're just not seeing the smaller chubs."

 There were a few kokanee salmon in the six-inch range in the nets, which shows there is some survival of fish stocked last year.