Just Me on a Rant

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

Well they have done it again . Another lake has been ruined by the bucket brigade . The Bucket brigade are the folks who believe they are smarter than the Fisheries biologists . They get a bucket full of stocker fish , it could be bass , minnows , perch , dace , carp etc . In this case it was Yellow perch . They dumped perch into a trout only lake Ironically called Yellow lake . Sure for the first 5 years or so the perch gorge on the available food supply thriving to be very good sized perch fun to catch . The trout also benefit at first from eating the smaller perch and the size range rises for both species . Seems a win win . But it is NOT .. soon the bigger perch and bigger trout begin competing with each other .The initial "success story " turns sour with smaller trout and smaller perch competing for too little food to support both species adequately . The effect is irreversible . It is now 5 years or so down the road and the bucketeeer has moved on to a new lake because in His or her mind the fisheries people somehow have ruined both the trout and perch in that lake . The big fish are all gone . The lake where he started with his little bucket is in ruins but he doesn?t know it was His bucketful of fish so long ago was what caused it all .In some cases he knows but doesn?t care because he still has his bucket and there are more lakes to stock .
A prime example of this was Jewel lake near here . It was famous for its unbelievably large trout and is the home of the Gerard strain of Rainbow trout . Jewel is reputed to have yielded up a 56 pounder ! Then someone with a bucket introduced minnows into the lake and now a 6 pounder is the biggest you will find in Jewel .
The fisheries people are not entirely blameless either . In 1966 with good intentions , they introduced Mysis relicta
shrimp into Okanagan lake to feed the trout and Kokanee . After blaming overfishing for the decline in trout and Kokanee (landlocked sockeye ) . They finally realized that the problem was really due to their introduction of the Mysis shrimp . The mysis were out-competing the Kokanee and trout fry for available food . It was not the greedy fishermen to blame afterall .
Our resource doesn?t need idiots with a bucket helping out the biologists . Let them screw it up on their own .
I personally don?t think an FAOLer would be a likely candidate for the bucket brigade , because IMHO as a rule , fly fishers are more knowledgeable of their sport to do something like that .
However , just in case folks , leave your buckets with the live fish in them at home .


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I could be wrong , It seems unlikely , but I suppose it could happen.

[Micropteris]

I am convinced that people ruin everything that they touch in nature. There are examples in everything from fisheries to ecosystems to engineering. People have to manage things or they think that it won't suvive on its own like it has for billions of years. Once someone mentions the word management about something you can sure as hell kiss it goodby.
If left alone nature can heal itself no matter what the damage done has been, things may change a bit but they can maintain themselves.

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Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick

[lee s]

We have a couple "introduced" species in our area that have developed into grand sport fisheries indeed. The striper and the shad. They seemed to co-exist with the native troutoids quite well. However man did find the need to "manage" the water part of this envirioment and quite drastically, I might add. VERY detrimental to all in the system. NOW, of course, the introduced species are getting the blame for the demise of the native species.....NOT the intrusion of our "management" practices! I degress. This MIGHT be one example of "well done" bucket
brigade-ing.
However we also have in our area a pond that has had northern pike introduced (by bucket?). They (the pike) are seeming to find the resident troutoids to be quite a tasty dinner morsel. Most seem to think of this in negative terms.
I DO support them in their quest to eradicate the northerns from this pond.....but, bieng a "grab junkie", our heart truely wishes this was not necessary.
For us there is no comparison between the dainty chardone sipping surface take of a troutoid and the vicious explosion of top-water pike. And Canada is soooo far away.
.....lee s.

Crawfish are not native to Arizona. However, some years ago the Bucket Brigade brought in a pail full as bait and now there are many many streams in the mountains that are totally devoid of any sort of growth. Lakes that used to have lots and lots of bottom cover growth are now mud holes.

Maybe we can get a couple hundred familys from Cajun Country to move up there and start eating more Crawfish Etuefee (I just know I didn't spell that one right!).

Thanks Bucket Brigade, hopefully someone will carry a bucket of scorpions and dump them in your bed!

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There's snow on the roof but the fire still burns in the oven.

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

Micropteris has a very good point , the trout themselves were originally introduced to many of these lakes originally , so all bucket brigading is not bad. It is the ill informed , devil take the hindmost mentality behind bucketing that can be devestating to some of our waters.

Silvertop2 In Okanagan lake the misis shrimp all but eliminated the crawfish by consuming the microscopic food the young crayfish need to grow the same effect they had on the young trout and Kokanee . Do you See how this could snowball ? Eg. You come with your bucket and get some misis shrimp off us , introduce them into Arizona , it helps cure the crayfish problem , you rejoice till you begin to notice the trout populations dwindling down to almost none . There in lies the rub . If its not broke , don't fix it .

[teasels]

wasn't it the bucket brigade that introduced the stripper to lake mead and lake mohave ruining the fantastic HUGE trout fishery in the river there.

[Micropteris]

I didn't know that you could fit a stipper in a bucket. She must have been pretty flexible and took a lot of $20's to get in that bucket. I will have to let Micus know about that feat. He would be there in a heart beat.

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Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

tyeflier , You better have the bucket brigade stock your wallet , cause with the strippers in your back yard , your gonna need it .

[teasels]

Ok ok thats called a compppppputer stttttuttttter or just bad typing. Maybe wishful typing

[EdD]

Don't you mean a Freudian Strip er... Slip?