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Show Late Season Keeps Fish In Utah Hatcheries "Hatcheries have been bursting at the seams," says Division of Wildlife Resource fisheries biologist Glenn Davis, Da-vis, who reports that finger-lings finger-lings and some catchables are finally being stocked in lower and intermediate elevation waters. Fisheries stocking and egg taking operations are still at least a month behind, due to the stormy spring. "We just haven't had any place to put the fish this year," said Davis. , Rivers are still running high, and higher mountain lakes are still inaccessible. For example, the Manti Mountains are still snowed in on top and inaccessible from the Sanpete side. Usually, the area can be reached by the fishing opener or shortly thereafter. Division personnel began taking cutthroat eggs at Strawberry Reservoir June 11. That project is usually completed com-pleted by June 15. "We've taken about 5,000 fish in the trap so far, and the run appears to have peaked out. Normally, we have 10,000," said Charlie Thompson, Central Cen-tral regional fisheries manager. mana-ger. Top priority for planting the cutthroats is in the high Uinta Lakes. Generally, about one million are put back in Strawberry Reservoir after the Uintas are stocked. Biologists also took some cutthroat at Sheep Creek Lake this year to meet the quota. Last year was to be the last time for spawn taking at that site; but when problems developed at Strawberry, the Sheep Creek trap was put back into operation. Davis expressed concern that the cutthroat's survival rate could go down this year as they will be stocked at a smaller than normal size. "We stock them as fingerlings by September 1, so they can become acclimated before the water starts cooling," he said. "This year, they'll be a month behind in growth because of the late take." Meanwhile, fishermen are still having the best luck on larger bodies of water. Stream fishermen can get in some action on waters below dams; but for the most part, stream fishing has not yet come into its own. |