http://www.katu.com/outdoors/fishhunt/36761849.html
Doug
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I say if it works leave it alone, leave the Jello out, let the new trout thrive, there doing well, leave it be and enjoy catching them... just my 02...
SO if they find out that cutthroat eliminated some other fish are they gonna do away with them also?
Sometimes these folks have waaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands.
With that said, please use Strawberry and hand out straws.
If they use jello (how much would it take to smother an entire lake's worth of fish eggs?)...why NOT use flavored?
There's still adult fish in the lake. May as well make them "extra tasty". I'm thinking maybe "wild raspberry" flavored... :p
I think they should do everything possible to get rid of the Lakers.
They've found that Lakers are killing cutts (Native)... the cutts aren't running up the creeks as much, and it has affected bear and other piscivoris predation in the park that relied on large numbers of cutts.
Plus... the Lakers are wiping out the cutthroat trout that made Yellowstone fishing what it is! NOT ACCEPTABLE
Anybody who illegally introduces something should be brought up on the strictest charges possible.
The cutthroat spawn in the tributary streams and migrate to the Lake. This "Adfluvial" lifecycle allows them to grow bigger then if they were just residents of the streams.
Lake trout eat the cutthroats (all sizes), and also eat food that would feed the cuts.
In other lakes there are always compromises made, but generally there is often a large enough prey base to feed Lakers and other fish, or at least where Lakers have been introduced, nobody noticed a difference (few users, not enough info, met the objectives to start a fishery, etc). Lakers weren't introduced to Yellowstone till the mid 80's, and people already have fishery expectations... cutthroats.
I'm not sure what the natural prey base was like in the Lake, but I'm sure the balance has been destroyed and Lakers are preying more on their own young than anything else (my speculation only).
In 2010 there will be the next big trout conference in West Yellowstone, if anybody is interested, it will be a great conference (science).
http://www.wildtroutsymposium.com/
I'm sure the Cutthroat/Lake trout interactions will be one of the topics.
Here is a link that explains why Lake Trout are a threat to Yellowstone Lake Cutthroat : http://www.yellowstonepark.com/MoreT...spx?newsid=153
Doug
This past summer a group of us got into the most unreal lake trout fishing imagineable. At what passes for night on the solstice in central Alaska, the red salmon smolts leave the big lakes they have been living in for a year or so and head downstream. That forces them to a river and schools of lake trout hang there waiting for them.
Schools of smolts would suddenly boil to the surface all around us and literally at our feet as the lakers tore into them. Big areas of river surface would erupt and the terns and gulls would start diving.
Big white flies stripped through the schools were hit every cast. It was unreal!
As it got "darker" the birds stopped flying but the smolt activity increased.
I can see where the lakers could have a profound impact on any other species around. But I cannot see where they stand a chance of getting rid of them with the jello... It may be a part of the picture and a method to control, but never eradicate them.
art
Thanks Doug,
Excellent link!!
Yellowstone Lake info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Lake
(20 miles long/ 15 miles wide.)
Relief Map of Yellowstone Lake: (Note, the Yellowstone River entering at extreme north of Map and Bridge Bay (Marina), in northwest corner.)
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/public...emap_large.jpg
Doug
Images of Yellowstone Cutthroat: http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6606424-md.jpg (Photo was taken by a person from Pennsylvania)
http://www.jonlong.com/blog/uploaded...t_2-756529.jpg
Doug
Another puzzling thing is that "must kill" rules are NOT consistent throughout the two national parks, Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Lakers are NOT native to ANY waters there so why is not the "must kill" requirement applied throughout both park waters? The inconsistent policy creates confusion and helps to prolong the problem.
Mark
Being from a Great Lakes sate I can certainly appreciate why the "Lakers" are so devastating in a fishery where they have no natural predator. They can get rather large although this one may be exceptionally so:
http://www.reelfishingreports.com/ph...lake-trout.jpg
If the intent is to eliminate the species that was illegally inroduced then why not encourage the public to harvest them? I am not familiar with the troubled waters so I ask if there is anything about the waters or regulations that prevent this? Do the regulations need to be modified in a manner allows for culling/illimimnation of this species not harmful to the waters?
In my opinion, there are not enough people/visitors, that fish in Yellowstone Lake. Lake Trout are also more difficult to locate, because they inhabit deep water for most of the year. Yellowstone Cutts are easier to catch, so that is what visitors target.
I don't think it is realistic that Lake Trout could be eliminated from Yellowstone Lake. The Government Grant is only to study what the best course of action would be. Here is a Quote from Phil Cooper, Idaho Fish & Game, Topic: Lake Pend Oreille: "It's not realistic, nor is it our goal to eliminate lake trout completely from Lake Pend Oreille but what we want to do is manage lake trout at a level where they don't risk collapsing native cutthroat and bull trout populations; or important sport fisheries, like kokanee and rainbow."
End Quote.
Doug
uh-Ooh, sounds like the lake has additional serious threats to the Cut throats in addition to the lakers:
http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/fi...egulations.php
The most effective fishing that I know of for lakers in the Great Lakes is through the use of motor boats, down riggers and trolling with spoons/lures. I don't think I would want to see that done on Yellowstone Lake. Ironic that out there we are talking getting rid of the lakers while the Great Lakes are struggling to increase their populations. The Sea Lamprey, another nonative invasive species, devastated the Lake Trout in our area.
Wonder what they do with the catch. If they are as good eating as any lakers we consumed, it seems there would be a market for canned lakers. They outta be at least as good as farmed salmon....and not nearly so controversial. ;)
Ain't it just like humans, spend tons to try to eradicate or control something which has proven to have been detrimentally introduced into an environ which suits it (lakers in Yellowstone L and pike in Davis L) and we also spend tons to unsuccessfully try to retain fisheries in environs we have destroyed (salmonids on much of the west coast....Russian River).:roll:
....lee s.
This is the Yellowstone Cutthroat: http://mrffs.com/yellowstonecuthroat.jpg
If it was any other species of Cutthroat, it probably wouldn't matter, that Lake Trout, were mixed among them.
Doug
Yep, lee s has it right. We just can't leave well enough alone. Recent history certainly bears that out doesn't it. On a piscatorial note, another CA lake that was rotenoned is near the town of Mt. Shasta. The fin and fur authority decided the introduced lake trout had become trash fish, so of course they had to kill the lake.
They were very proud of themselves once the lake had been re-established as a decent rainbow and brook trout impoundment. I'm sure they know that not all of the lakers were killed with the rotenone and I certainly do.
One I got a look at was prolly a 48 incher and for some reason was cruising along at the same speed of my drifting jon-boat, in the shadow created by same. Anyway, good point lee s...and no, we humans sure can't leave anything just 'be'.
MontanaMoose