Burbot Captured In Green River

Photo by Ryan Mosley, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Vernal -- On July 28, researchers with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources found something they didn’t want to find: a 21-inch burbot in the Green River below Flaming Gorge dam.

Burbot are a nonnative fish from east of the Rocky Mountains. The fish was captured during an electrofishing study to recover and study endangered fish in the Green and Colorado rivers.

“The burbot was captured from an electrofishing raft roughly 1.5 miles upstream of the Split Mountain boat ramp in Dinosaur National Monument,” says Paul Badame, UDWR native fish project leader. “This is the first capture of a burbot below Flaming Gorge dam that I’m aware of.”

The burbot likely came down the Green River after someone illegally introduced the species upstream in Big Sandy Reservoir in Wyoming. The burbot have worked their way downstream, bypassing dams at Big Sandy and Flaming Gorge.


Why the concern?
Burbot are a voracious predator, capable of breeding in both rivers and reservoirs. As a result, they can have a serious impact on both native and sport fish populations.

Biologists working on Flaming Gorge Reservoir have already noticed a rapid increase in the number of burbot in the reservoir and a corresponding decline in the number of kokanee salmon.

Burbot also pose a major risk to native fish in the Green River.

“We’re concerned that burbot will negatively impact endangered fish and other native fishes in the Green River,” says Krissy Wilson, native aquatic species coordinator for the UDWR. “We’ve seen this happen before with other nonnative fish, including northern pike, redshiner and smallmouth bass.”

Wilson says the UDWR and its partners in the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program are working together to determine the best way to deal with this latest threat.


Catch and kill regulation
The UDWR has placed a ‘no tolerance’ fishing regulation on burbot in Utah: (There’s no limit on the number of burbot an angler can catch. Anglers may not release any burbot they catch.

All burbot must be killed immediately. For more information, call the UDWR’s Northeastern Region office at (435) 781-9453.

Walleye threaten Red Fleet

VERNAL — If you want to catch big walleye at Red Fleet Reservoir, you'd better catch them soon — the walleye fishery isn't going to last all that long.

"Someone illegally introduced walleye into Red Fleet," says Ed Johnson, aquatics biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "Our surveys show we now have several strong age classes."


Biologists caught an equal number of walleye and rainbow trout in their nets during surveys this past spring. Several of the walleye weighed more than six pounds.

Johnson says walleye fishing should be good for the next few years. "Then the fishing for all species, including bass and rainbows, will crash," Johnson says. The reason? "Too many predators will [deplete] the prey base."


Only so much room
Located 13 miles north of Vernal, Red Fleet is not a large reservoir. Johnson says adding another top predator to the reservoir has overloaded its fishery with predators.

As the walleye population increases, these aggressive predators will consume greater numbers of rainbows and bluegill. The Division can't afford to raise rainbows just to feed the walleye. As the number of rainbow trout declines, the walleye will place even more pressure on the bluegill.

"As the bluegill decline, the walleye will switch to feeding on bass and on smaller versions of themselves," Johnson says. "In the end, all that will be left are a few small, skinny walleye swimming around."


Catch and kill regulation
Because the walleye were illegally introduced, the Division has placed a "no tolerance regulation" on walleye in Red Fleet:


There's no limit on walleye
Anglers must keep all of the walleye they catch. All walleye must be immediately killed.

Johnson says anglers will likely see a few years of good fishing before the fishery collapses. "We saw fewer bluegill in the nets and around the reservoir this spring," he says. "It's likely we're starting to see the effects of walleye predation [on other fish in the reservoir].

"Few anglers are targeting walleye in Red Fleet, and even fewer are catching them," Johnson says.

Division biologists are discussing ways to treat the reservoir to remove the walleye. Walleye are capable of breeding inside the reservoir, so there's no easy way to control their numbers.

For more information about fishing at Red Fleet Reservoir, call the Division at 435-781-9453.

White bass illegally planted in Deer Creek Reservoir

Photo courtesy by Don Wiley, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Heber City -- Biologists have found white bass in the Provo River above Deer Creek Reservoir.

The adult white bass—12 inches in length—moved from the reservoir and into the river to spawn. Biologists say there’s only one way the bass could have ended up in the reservoir—someone with a bucketful of bass put them there.

After they confirmed the find, biologists and conservation officers with the Division of Wildlife Resources were frustrated and angry. And the feelings they have are spreading among rainbow trout anglers in north-central Utah. Deer Creek Reservoir currently provides excellent rainbow trout fishing. But dumping bass into the reservoir could change that in years to come.

The DWR, the Stonefly Society of the Wasatch and Utah Trout Unlimited are offering a reward of up to $7,000 to the person who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who put the bass in the reservoir.

If you have information, please call Utah’s Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline at 1-800-662-DEER (3337).


Rainbow trout and white bass
“When we stock trout in Deer Creek, the fish are 10 inches long. By the following spring, many of them are 16 to 17 inches long,” says Roger Wilson, cold water sport fisheries coordinator for the DWR. “Deer Creek is a very productive trout water.”

But Wilson says a bucketful of white bass could change all that. “Rainbows and young white bass eat mostly zooplankton,” he says. “For the next year or two, there should be enough zooplankton for both of the fish. But white bass reproduce quickly, so it won’t take long for the white bass population to expand. Once that happens, there won’t be enough zooplankton to go around.”

And without enough zooplankton, the growth rate of the trout could slow to almost nothing.

Wilson says DWR biologists are conducting fish population surveys at Deer Creek this month. Once they’ve completed their surveys, they’ll have a better picture of just how large the white bass population has become. “Once we know that, we’ll look at options to try and control them,” he says.

Wilson says treating the reservoir with chemicals; fluctuating the water level during the white bass spawning season; blocking the tributary streams to prevent the white bass from moving into them to spawn; swamping the reservoir with sterile or hybrid white bass; and netting and removing as many white bass as possible are among the options biologists might use to deal with the bass.

“But all of these options are fraught with problems,” Wilson says. “And none of them may be totally effective at removing the bass.”

Located less than an hour’s drive from Provo and Salt Lake City, Deer Creek is one of Utah’s most popular trout fishing waters.


Everyone loses
“Our biologists are trying to provide anglers with a variety of fish to catch,” says Walt Donaldson, fisheries chief for the DWR. “They do that by determining which fish will do the best in specific waters and then placing fish in those waters that won’t compete directly for food, space and cover.

“It will be discouraging if a single act undoes all of the hard work that’s happened to create a fishery like the one at Deer Creek.”

If you’re an angler, Donaldson says you have plenty of reasons to be upset when someone moves fish illegally. “Not only can it ruin fishing at your favorite water, it also forces us to divert funds from projects we were going to do to improve fisheries in the state to dealing with the problem instead.”

Donaldson says local communities lose too. “Communities in some parts of the state receive a lot of revenue from anglers who fish waters in their area. If anglers stop fishing those waters, the people in those communities will lose too.”


Fines, jail time
Illegally moving fish from one body of water to another is a class A misdemeanor in Utah. You can receive a fine of up to $2,500 and spend up to one year in jail. You can also be held financially liable for any damage you do to the fishery.

For more information, call the DWR’s Central Region office at (801) 491-5678.