OCR Text |
Show Cisco are native Bear Lake species It is too soon to tell how the cisco harvest at Bear Lake was this year. The lake never froze over, and fishing conditions con-ditions were hard; but those who waited until the Cisco's peak spawning period were rewarded with limits of these natives. The peak began a-bout a-bout the 16th of January and had quit by the 26th according to Dexter Pitman, Division fishery biologist. . This ten-day period is not the most important factor in the Cisco's life. These small fish probably evolved in the lake as prey fish and are now the most important large forage for-age species in the entire lake. In keeping with a prey species, spe-cies, such as mice and rabbits on land, the Bonneville cisco provide an abundant food supply for the cutthroat and lake trout populations in Bear Lake. And although most people only see these fish in the winter, near the shore when they spawn, they are found throughout the lake year-round. Cisco eat plankton. plank-ton. Because of the extensive distribution of their food source, cisco can be found at various depths in the lake, with the bulk of them staying in 50 to 70 feet' of water. Many fear that the winter harvest may harm the populations pop-ulations of cisco, but these fish maintain themselves more than adequately. Last year, the numbers seemed low and harvest was poor. The cisco bounced back. This year, numbers num-bers were large and harvest per angler is expected to be very high. Water conditions, food supply and even its own biology affect this fish; but as expected from a forage species, spe-cies, it recovers from adversities. advers-ities. Even though many only concern themselves with the cisco for about ten days each year, it is worthy to note that without this little fish, many other fish and animal species would be unable to eke out a living in the cold waters of Bear Lake. |