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Show by Dave Mueller High water could damage brown trout spawning With all the high water in Utah, the rivers and streams out of their banks, the reservoirs silty, and county and sta.te flood control agencies using 'emergency procedures proce-dures on channels everywhere, what could be the long and short-term effect on Utah trout fishing? .,;!,- I put this question to Roger Wilson, state fisheries biologist, this week. "Reproduction will be affected," said Wilson. He indicated that brown trout that .; had spawned in ltfl6sautymn last' year will jjjatteirryMl efcgevely damaged.by "There's a chancj; e cutthroat will delay spawning this year though perhaps out of a response to the cold runoff temperatures. That could help but. At first we didn't think we would get any eggs out at the Strawberry River trap, but it looks like we will now, with the delay." j; : v Wilson is concerned thaY native populations popula-tions of brown trout may need several years to recover the size-class loss of the 1982 spawn, "unless we augmeift the population." He did not know if the Department of Wildlife Resources had begun such a plan. One thing is for certain: it will be a statewide problem and, with financial burdens already boring in on the DWR, anglers can look for some affected fishing, especially two to three years down the road. There is no way to tell how the department will act at this point, but if monies are shifted into raising and distribution of fingerlings, fishing might actually be positively affected. Silting of the watersheds for sucii an extended period of time could lead to some mortality from abrasion 'and related gill disease, normal problems that have been accentuated by this year's record runoff volumes, Wilson said. Another difficulty for the fish is that they can be stranded by receding waters after leaving the main channel flows to seek shelter. "I can't give you any figures on that," said Wilson, "but it will happen." Wilson was very apprehensive about the habitat lost through emergency flood control measures. "The State Engineers generally operate with a free hand in a crisis like this one. We can only hope that we won't lose too much;?' Heavy equipment in stream channels'' chan-nels'' makes for poor trout fishing; 'he11 admitted. "Mother nature had the best system: winding rivers to slow things down. For instance, there isn't much left On the Weber, very little pristine water. The current moves faster and faster with the straightened channel and takes out everything. Sometimes Some-times we do things backwards." The fishing tip of the week comes from Wilson's final assessment of the flood on the fishing: "The cobble and rubble will move fish downstream and a lot of them will end up in the reservoirs. Some will migrate back up when the water drops, but some will stay put." So, if you're used to catching little but rainbows in your favorite reservoir, maybe give brown trout fishing a try this year. Pish the techniques used for browns at Deer Creek and other spots around the state: minnowlike minnow-like lures and flies, around the inlets at early morning and late evening. Nightcrawlers would be a good choice, too, as Sue Schultz found out at Rockport last week. Her catch: a two-and-a half pound brown. |