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Show PANGUITCH LAKE By D. H. MADSEN Stale Fish and Game Commissioner Panguitch lake, at one time famous fam-ous for ks excellent trout fishing, is rapidly coming in;o. its own again. Twenty-five years ago tons of trout ! were taken from this Deautiful mountain moun-tain lake and sold in all towns In southern Utah. Panguitch means fish and Panguitch lake in the days of the early settler was a most wonderful wonder-ful fish lake. When the demands for irrigation became urgent in the vicinity vi-cinity of Panguitch the lake was impounded im-pounded for reservoir purposes, thus increasing its area, but for a number of years destroying the fine quality of the water, due to the fact that con siderable meadow land1 was inundated inundat-ed and. the water became somewhat stagnant. About that time, by some means, chubs, an inferior variety of fish, found their way into the lake and increased in-creased so rapidly as to completely destroy all forms of insect life upon which trout thrive. And thus began the destruction of game fish in these waters. This occurred during the early ear-ly days of the fish and game department depart-ment when little was known about the artificial propagation and distribution distri-bution of trout. To this day many res idents in the vicinity of Panguitch believe that the chubs were introduced intro-duced by mistake under the direction direc-tion of the fish and game department and the fish are locally dubbed "Sharp-Walkers" in honor of the then slate fish and game commissioner commission-er and hatchery superintendent. Many attempts were made to introduce in-troduce trout fry into the lake, but the chubs were everywhere present and the small fry were eaten up almost al-most as soon as planted. A few. however, how-ever, seem to have survived and with later years the introduction of fin-gerling fin-gerling trout has proved helpful. The chubs have on two or three occasions occas-ions died off in great numbers, due to a disease common among the lower low-er type of animal life when they become be-come too numerous, and the balance seems to be rapidly changing in favor fa-vor of the game fish. Last week the writer visited Panguitch Pan-guitch lake with the view of determining deter-mining on the possibility of establishing estab-lishing a. temporary egg taking station sta-tion andi hatchery at this point, and never in my experience have I seen such wonderful trout as are now showing in the streams flowing into Panguitch lake. At this time it is impossible im-possible to, determine how large the run will bej but there are a considerable consider-able number of fish weighing from eight to twelve pounds each now in the small streams. They are the fattest fat-test and finest Rainbow to be found anywhere in the state. The department this year will begin be-gin operations at Panguitch, where it is hoped two million eggs will be developed and a systematic campaign cam-paign for restocking all the waters in that section of the state will be carried out. This work will receive support from the hatcheries at Glen-wood Glen-wood and Beaver. Under the present plans of tfie state a scenic highway will ultimately be developed, connecting con-necting the scenic attractions of that vicinity. This highway will pass through the territory in which are located lo-cated Puffer's lake, Navajo lake, Pan guitch lake, the sources of the Sevier Se-vier and Beaver rivers, and many other beautiful mountain streams, which, to date, because of the lack of sufficient resources, have not been properly stocked. It will be our purpose pur-pose to make of the territory a fisherman's fish-erman's paradise" in order that tourists tour-ists who visit the scenic attractions of this section will be attracted to the lakes and streams and spend additional ad-ditional time in our state fishing and camping. The lakes and streams mmi in addition to Fish lake, .' ciently large to care for at be-i million trout annually, and it '. aim of the department to plant nearly near-ly that number during the present year. Already there have been made available in the Glenwood and Beaver Bea-ver hatcheries upwards of three million mil-lion eastern brook and rainbow. Two hundred and fifty thousand Mackinaw, Macki-naw, twenty thousand Eastern Landlocked Land-locked salmon have been received from the federal government and the greater part of these shipments will be planted In the waters namei". Wiihin a comparatively short time the chubs of Panguitch lake will be serving a useful purpose, in supplying supply-ing a:i abundance of fe ed lor rainbow rain-bow trout, instead of proving the menace which they have been in the past, in the destruction of natural conditions under which game ti-h ; thrive. Tribune. |