I guess I believe that “some of them” are, in fact harvested as we see a handful taken home every year that people keep, and then quickly get bashed and belittled on social media lol. I can’t say I LIKE to see those big fish kept, but it’s well within a person’s right and I’m happy for them. Nobody is keeping a trophy lake trout with a frown on their face! They’ve got big plans for that fish and I’m glad. My own opinion obviously and it seems to not be the norm judging by the crazy stuff I’ve seen online spoken to these people.
Some are also lost to mortality like mentioned above. These trophy fish are in fact being killed, no doubt about that. At what rate, I’m sure Ryan has a far better grasp.
My opinion on the subject is this, once a fish reaches that trophy class, I feel they are more of a benefit to the fishery (or maybe to the fisherman), than they are “needing to be taken out to grow more of them.” They’ve already made it, let them live. That’s where my head is at. If yours is not then the regulation lets you keep it. No problem with me.
As for the small ones, yes absolutely. Keep them all. I think I have kept over 95% of the lake trout under about 24” that I’ve caught since the limit on them was increased, and since I learned more about the importance of keeping them. I know the regulation is “less than 28” but those 24-28” fish taste quite “strong” and sometimes can be upwards of 13 lbs. even on the small end they’re over 5 lbs and white big for table fare.
We must be bored…talking lake trout on a lake Powell forum
. However, while we’re here I’d be interested in hearing
@Ryno ‘s thoughts on if it’s beneficial to the fishery to keep a few of those big fish. Also has a regulation ever been brought up about treating these smaller lake trout like the Powell striper and basically eliminating the wonton waste law on them like we’ve done with burbot? I know they taste great but after catching 12 of them a few weekends in a row, a person’s motivation to keep them starts to dwindle. It’s just human nature. I believe the “keep rates” would go way up if this was implemented.
For good measure, here’s a pic of some of those eaters from a couple springs ago. I trolled over a deep hole on the side of a break and these fish were just sitting in there. I parked over them and quickly boated 15 or so. I kept what I thought was 12, but was lucky to have miscounted on the “good end” of things and left (notice I have 11). I have no doubt I could’ve boated 15 more. One of the “good days”. They looked like crappie on my graph…