Stonefly business meeting tonight...

[Utah DaveII]

The Stonefly Business meeting is tonight at 7:00 PM at the Salt Lake Fish and Game meeting house. The address can be found on our website at: http://www.stoneflysociety.org/meetingmap.htm

Also on April 22, 2004, Richard Heppworth is going to present to the Stonefly the latest information on the Lower and Middle Provo Rivers. This should be an informative meeting and Richard is a good guy. So come out and join us.

Also in april or May the stoenfly Society will be doing stream restoration in Affleck PArk up little Dell Canyon. Come and get your hands dirty on this one

[PowerBaitHeppy]

For those that went to the meeting last night, what did you think? How did it go?

[Lonnie]

PBH,

I thought it went very, very well. Richard gave a top notch presentation and answered most of the questions that came up. I think the take home message of the night was the population of fish is still expanding, while total biomass is staying about the same. Think smaller fish. Part II of this I thought was what Richard said several times. Take home the fish that you want to eat, within the size limits. This goes for both the Middle and the Lower. If you don't want to take fish home and eat them, that's fine. If you do, that's great.

It also became apparent that the options that are at DWR's disposal for managing (decreasing) fish populations are actually pretty limited. Richard also commented that the rates of catch an release on all of our waters, including urban fisheries (typically a put and take system) are all way up. While several folks commented that they hoped there was a way of controlling mortality naturally, unfortunately, there isn't really a good way to do that in this system. In the eyes of the DWR harvest is the most controllable method at their disposal.

When questioned on target Condition factor and density numbers, Richard was a little more vague. He did state that they would like the condition factor somewhere above 1. The densities are site specific so it was also hard to put a number on these. I think that DWR would like a little "safety factor" (my term, not theirs) with the total bio-mass. This would be a population that is slightly below the carrying capacity this allows the population to expand a little bit without putting undo stress on the system. These questions were brought up by folks looking to disseminate this information to fellow anglers.

Things are starting to move in the right direction.

Lonnie

[Utah DaveII]

Most of them had very positive comments after the meeting last night and thought Richard did a good job. One of our members commented how this presentation made it a lot clearer on what the dwr was trying to accomplish on the Provo and was thankfull that this conversation took place when a lot of the emotion had settled down.

Overall, I still think it is a matter of us (fly and lure fisherman) to step up to the plate and start keeping a few fish. The basic deal is that in 2007 the dwr is going to do another creel survey on the middle and we are going to have 5 years of data on the fish and 2 sets of creel survey data. My hope is that as they do that survey in 2007 we have kept enough fish and had enough of the negative environmental factors change for the positive that the top sections of the mid will be doing well. We got 5 years let's meet the challenge.

I still hold out some hope that we can find ways to induce a small amount of mortality using natural factors. The nice thing is we will know have age class data, mortality data and population structure on the fishery to see when and why the bumps are occuring. That's a good thing, and I think that the dwr has set up a plan that will give them the data sets needed to see how the river should be functioning.

I know that I am already seeing fewer of the dinks in the river this year and I'm hoping that this will hold out through the summer. With few smaller fish showing up in my fishing, I've also seen a noticable increase in the shoulders on the other fish I caught this spring on the mid vs the middle last fall and all last summer. For the first time in a long time. I have some hope.

[Jason]

When we asked Richard and Don what we as fly fisherman need to do, they basically said that we need to keep some fish every once in awhile under the current regulations. He didn't say how many each person should keep, but he said to keep what fish you will eat. This doesn't mean that we should keep fish every single outing on the middle provo or lower provo. He said that it's hard to say how many fish need to be harvested to help balance the fish population. As long as we can put a dent in the population, we'll be ok and the fish size will dramatically increase.

[jdubya]

As long as we can put a dent in the population, we'll be ok and the fish size will dramatically increase.

dream on, sleigh boy!

[Jason]

No, it's SLAYAHHHH!!!!! Say it with me. SLAYAHHHHHH!!

[RAW]

And remember, you don't have to be the one eating the fish. I think there is a provision in the regs, that allow for you to donate or give your fish to someone as long as you give them a paper stating you are giving them away and write down your fishing license number on it. So if your fishing partner needs 4 fish to feed his family and you keep two and sign them over to him and he keeps two, then hey, it's a fish fry!

[cardiac]

For those that went to the meeting last night, what did you think? How did it go?

Well, your brother did mention not to take you two yahoos seriously.

[PowerBaitHeppy]

yahoo serious.

Wasn't he the star in "Young Einstein". Great actor! Love the guy!

[RAW]

I believe that's "Fronken Steen."

[cardiac]

Yahoo Serious.... as Einstein (Young Einstein) he's the one that put the bubbles in beer by splitting the atom, and he invented the electric guitar and Rock and Roll.
Praise the Lord.
RAW- You're thinking of 'Young Frankenstein.'
I know Frau Blucher is on your mind. Lovely woman, mole and all.

[Utah DaveII]

Wasn't he the star in "Young Einstein". Great actor! Love the guy!


"Great actor", I've always suspected that you were on crack, well, now I'm sure of it! Well maybe not crack, but you should lay off the mushrooms on your next trip.

[RAW]

Well, if I would watch more movies and TV, instead of hanging around trout waters, I would know what I'm talking about. You're right, I read that post wrong and responded wrong. Never even saw "Young Einstein."

[cardiac]

"Great actor", I've always suspected that you were on crack, well, now I'm sure of it! Well maybe not crack, but you should lay off the mushrooms on your next trip.
Dave let's not talk about crack for another month. Please?