Conservation

3/17/2016

The following change has been made effective immediately and will
remain in effect until July 1, 2016

Red Fleet Reservoir (Uintah County):

·         Closed to the possession of Yellow Perch and Black Crappie

All Yellow Perch and Black Crappie must be immediately released.  Red
Fleet Reservoir was treated with rotenone in October 2015 to remove
illegally stocked Walleye and Smallmouth Bass.  On March 10, 2016,
1,050 Yellow Perch were stocked into Red Fleet Reservoir.  A similar
number of Black Crappie will be stoked into the reservoir in early
April.  This emergency change in regulations is meant to protect these
stocked fish through one spawn.

All other rules established in the 2016 Utah Fishing Guidebook remain in effect.

Thank you

Emergency Change 2016 - Red Fleet Reservoir

 

2/17/2016

A research project at Utah Lake is entering its second year.  And help
from anglers is needed to make it a success.

Northern pike were placed in Utah Lake illegally.  Biologists are
concerned about the effect this predator might have on sport fish in
the lake and also on June sucker -- an endangered fish found nowhere else in the world.

Details are available in the DWR release that's pasted below.  Photos
to accompany the news release are available at
http://udwrnewsphotos.zenfolio.com/p39997293  .

If you'd like to interview Mike Slater, please call him at
801.367.5941.  Mike will be in meetings off and on over the next two
days, but he'll do all he can to break away and visit with you.
Thanks!

Anglers:  Fish in Utah Lake Still Need Your Help

Introduced illegally, northern pike could harm the lake’s fish populations

Provo -- When fish are taken from one body of water, and placed
illegally in another body of water, bad things can happen.

Utah Lake is a prime example.

Mike Slater, regional aquatic manager for the Division of Wildlife
Resources, says a population of northern pike, placed in Utah Lake
illegally, is growing in size. Biologists have launched a research
project to learn how the pike might affect sport fish and endangered
fish in the lake. And they need your help:

If you catch a northern pike at Utah Lake anytime in 2016,
keep the fish. Then, record the date and the location where you caught it. Coordinates from a Global Positioning System device (often
available on your smartphone) are especially helpful.

After you’ve recorded the date and the location, bring the
fish to the Utah Lake State Park office at 4400 W. Center Street in
Provo. The office has a freezer the fish can be placed in.

Also, on weekdays—from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.—you can drop northern pike off at the DWR’s Central Region office, 1115 N. Main St. in Springville.

If it isn’t convenient to travel to the park or the DWR office, you
can place the pike in your freezer at home. Then, call the DWR at
801-491-5678. A DWR biologist will make arrangements to get the fish from you.

If you bring a pike and information about where you caught it to
either location, or if you call the DWR and have a biologist pick the
fish up from you, you’ll receive a token of appreciation from the Salt
Lake County Fish & Game Association.

Catch them now

Slater says late winter and early spring—just as the ice on Utah Lake
starts to melt—is a great time to catch northern pike in the lake and
in the tributaries that flow into the lake, such as Hobble Creek and
the Provo River.

Slater reminds you that the lake’s tributaries will be closed to
fishing from March 1 – May 7. “If you want to target northern pike in
the tributaries,” he says, “right now—before the tributaries close—is
the perfect time to get out and catch some.”

Research at USU

Slater says recording the date and the location where you catch pike
will help biologists determine where the pike are spawning and which
areas in the lake they’re using. The fish you donate will be given to
a researcher at Utah State University. His research will help
biologists learn more about northern pike in the lake, including which
fish the pike are eating and how many they’re consuming.

The research project started last year. Several anglers helped by
providing northern pike to the DWR and the researchers. However,
researchers need about 300 to 400 additional pike. “Any northern pike
you catch and donate this year will help the study immensely,” Slater
says.

If you catch a northern pike, and you don’t want to donate it, please
remember that you must kill it. “By law,” Slater says, “northern pike
caught at Utah Lake may not be returned to the lake alive. Every
northern pike that’s caught must be killed.”

Why the concern?

Slater says northern pike sit at the very top of the food chain. “They
eat anything they want,” he says. “Adding a predator like this may
hurt the bass, walleye, catfish and panfish populations that already
live in the lake.”

In addition to the many sport fish in the lake, June suckers—a fish
listed as endangered on the federal Endangered Species list—also live
in the lake.

Slater says Utah Lake is the only water in the world where June
suckers live.  “The illegal introduction of northern pike could negate
much of the work that has been done to recover the June sucker,” he
says. “Work to help June suckers has also helped sport fish in the
lake. Whoever put northern pike in the lake did a selfish and
thoughtless thing.”

If you have questions or need information, call the DWR’s Central
Region office at 801-491-5678.

###

Contact:  Mark Hadley, DWR Relations with the Public Specialist, 801-538-4737