Red Ear, aka Shellcrackers

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Maybe a message directly to Dan might get a response. He may be busy doing research on net surveys or something.

If I recall Wayne mentioned something about needing more research on the migration up river of the red ear and there possible impact on the upstream species.

I would love to catch 2lb+ red ears at Powell if the pros out wayed the cons.

I too have been hoping for some insight from Dan on the subject.
 
Havalina said:
Why don’t we ask Wayne just how the small mouth made it into Powell. I believe that he has a very intimate understanding on that. I think that the DWR folks have a better understanding than the bubba with a 5 gallon bucket. I would be all about the red ear in Powell.
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Many years ago, Wayne, told us the story of stocking Smallmouth , into Powell. If I remember right there was a stocking truck with several thousand fingerling smallmouth meant for some other lake? For some reason they couldn't be taken to the chosen lake and were going to die in the stocking truck. So, he (Wayne), made the decision to dump them into Powell rather than have them die in the truck! I guess the powers that be at the state and federal levels were very upset with him for dumping them into the lake ! Wayne, am I remembering. this correctly?
 
YES! The story is that I was given the responsibility to raise smallmouth bass at the Wahweap Hatchery to stock in 3 different lakes in Utah. The first two lakes were in central and northern Utah. The third lake was Lake Powell. If I raised enough fish at the hatchery then all 3 lakes could be stocked. Well, the first year of raising smallmouth was grim and I did not raise enough to stock two lakes, let alone all three lakes. So the airplane was sent down and we loaded all the smallmouth into the plane and sent the fish to northern Utah. It was tense to gather the fish from the hatchery pond and then put them in a hatchery truck and send them up the road a mile and load them on the plane. But, we had good help and the fish were put on the plane and it took off.

I went back down to the hatchery pond and started to clean it up and get it ready for the next group of fish. As the holding net was pulled in we noticed that there were a few fish still in the holding net. As we looked closer it became apparent that we still had over 1000 smallmouth that had escaped from the holding net. So, I tried to call the Salt Lake Office ... But, we had no cell phones, the nearest land line was 20 miles away and if did not do something quickly the thousand bass would pass away due to lack of oxygen in the dwindling pond.

I made my own decision! We had 1000 fish. That was not enough to get an expensive airplane to take them to the second lake, so we could easily put them in the third priority lake by driving the hatchery truck down the road and stock them in Lake Powell. So that is what I did. I did not find out until later that my boss had not made the proper arrangements to get fish stocked into lake Powell. So I take credit and responsibility for stocking these fish in the lake. It seemed like a good choice under the existing circumstances and it has been good for the Lake Powell fishery. The only negative is that some of these smallmouth bass escape down river where they prey on some of the native fish in the Colorado River. I am sorry for that.
 
wayne gustaveson said:
YES! The story is that I was given the responsibility to raise smallmouth bass at the Wahweap Hatchery to stock in 3 different lakes in Utah. The first two lakes were in central and northern Utah. The third lake was Lake Powell. If I raised enough fish at the hatchery then all 3 lakes could be stocked. Well, the first year of raising smallmouth was grim and I did not raise enough to stock two lakes, let alone all three lakes. So the airplane was sent down and we loaded all the smallmouth into the plane and sent the fish to northern Utah. It was tense to gather the fish from the hatchery pond and then put them in a hatchery truck and send them up the road a mile and load them on the plane. But, we had good help and the fish were put on the plane and it took off.

I went back down to the hatchery pond and started to clean it up and get it ready for the next group of fish. As the holding net was pulled in we noticed that there were a few fish still in the holding net. As we looked closer it became apparent that we still had over 1000 smallmouth that had escaped from the holding net. So, I tried to call the Salt Lake Office ... But, we had no cell phones, the nearest land line was 20 miles away and if did not do something quickly the thousand bass would pass away due to lack of oxygen in the dwindling pond.

I made my own decision! We had 1000 fish. That was not enough to get an expensive airplane to take them to the second lake, so we could easily put them in the third priority lake by driving the hatchery truck down the road and stock them in Lake Powell. So that is what I did. I did not find out until later that my boss had not made the proper arrangements to get fish stocked into lake Powell. So I take credit and responsibility for stocking these fish in the lake. It seemed like a good choice under the existing circumstances and it has been good for the Lake Powell fishery. The only negative is that some of these smallmouth bass escape down river where they prey on some of the native fish in the Colorado River. I am sorry for that.
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wayne,
i think this confessional story requires a ’suit’able ending to account
for your transgression.
i, too, believe the thousands strong “ww jury pool”
would agree on this verdict.
bailiff bart needs to outfit you in a form fitting santa suit, as he too confessed
of his inaction in this endeavor.
and because of the successful smb fishery in lake powell, the jury will take this into account and
spare you the normal highway cleanup activities normally assigned.
make it so men, & carry on!
 
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