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Show Cisco Poised For Spawning January is the month that the Bear Lake Cisco begin their annual spawning run into the shores of the lake. For many years this small 5 to Ti inch fish has continued to draw large crowds of thousands of people who catch the fish by means of dip nets with long handles either from shore or through holes in the ice. RESIDENTS of Davis County Coun-ty always comprise a high percentage per-centage of fishermen on the lake. This year the Division of Wildlife Resources is conducting conduct-ing an experimental program to obtain cisco eggs from Bear Lake for introduction into Flaming Gorge Reservoir. There is a critical shortage of forage fish available for the large fish in Flaming Gorge and the Division hopes that cisco can be established to provide a food base thus improving the overall fishery. THE GOAL is to collect 6'i ing in the operation for fish as this would slow the operation down. No individual may possess pos-sess more than the 50 fish possession pos-session limit. The eggs are transferred daily dai-ly to Flaming Gorge Dam. Here they are put into incubation incuba-tion jars where water from the reservoir is used for hatching. Within three months the small cisco will hatch and immediately immedi-ately be stocked in the reservoir. reser-voir. RECENT observations indicate indi-cate the cisco use more spawning spawn-ing areas than Cisco Beach. The majority of eggs laid are in 10-30 feet of water out of the fishermen's reach, and when viewed by divers the bottom appears to be a carpet of cisco eggs. The Division of Wildlife Resources Re-sources is confident that egg taking operations will not affect the population of this extremely ex-tremely valuable Bear Lake fish. million eggs in a tive-day operation. oper-ation. Obtaining this many eggs in that short of a time period requires great planning and coordination with everyone every-one helping. Since schools of fish avoid fishermen in the water it is necessary to keep everyone but Division personnel out of the area to reduce confusion and maximize catch. This is the reason why some of cisco beach will be roped off this year for the egg taking. A GILL NET will be used to allow biologists to continue catching cisco throughout the day after the fish move back into deeper water. The cisco are moved into a tent where the eggs and milt are mixed resulting re-sulting in fertilized eggs. Few females survive the spawning process and some of the males are also sacrificed but the excess is returned to the lake. Dead cisco will be available to fishermen who do not have their limits and possess pos-sess a valid fishing license. These fish may be obtained when available from wildlife enforcement officers in the THE PUBLIC is asked not to ask any personnel participate RESIDENTS IN the Davis County area are recommended to purchase their fishing licenses before they get to Bear Lake as license agents may not be available. A 1981 license will be required. It would also be wise to purchase groceries before the long trip as Garden City will be the only town having cafes open. This is a good year to fish for large cutthroat trout which come into shore to feed on the cisco as they make their spawning runs. Many of the cutthroats in this year's age class are over 16 inches in size and it is expected that most trout caught this year during the cisco run will be over 16 inches. BEAR LAKE regulations state that only two fish over 16 inches may be kept by the fishermen and the daily bag limit for trout is six fish. Bear Lake is open to the dip netting of cisco from Jan. 1 through Feb. 15. Dip nets shall have a handle not exceeding 14 feet in length. 'andAnet opening not greater thai 43 inchein any diameter and shall be fished by hand without the aid of rope or other attached materials. |