The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) recently reported stocking 8,241,139 fish in Utah waters last year. That equates to a whopping 1,170,330 pounds of future fish catching opportunities.
There is no doubt in my mind that stocking programs quite literally provide the vast majority of fishing success in the Utah and in other states across the country.
Let’s take a glimpse backwards in time to see how important providing fishing opportunities were to our pioneer forefathers (and mothers).
Historical reports tell of fish from Utah Lake being taken to California to stock in many reservoirs there. Largemouth bass were among those early stocking efforts.
According to a recent news release from the UDWR, “the practice of stocking fish in the Beehive State goes back more than a century, as fish were first formally stocked in Utah in 1871. At that time, fish were transported from other states by train and were stocked into lakes along the train route.”
Before that time (from my own research), “Utah” fish were transported in barrels on wagons and even on pack animals to Idaho, Nevada and California.
The first Utah fish “hatcheries” were built in or around 1897. Craig Schaugaard, UDWR aquatic section assistant chief over hatcheries explained that “these original hatcheries were really impounded streams where we put fry that we got from the federal government. We opened our first traditional fish hatchery — where we produced our own eggs and used raceways like we have today — in Murray in 1899.”
The UDWR news release continued: “Over time, the DWR expanded its fish hatchery operations. There are now 13 facilities across Utah. The bulk of the fish stocked in 2020 (7,043,305 of the total) came from these DWR hatcheries. The remaining 1,197,834 fish were transported from various hatcheries across the U.S., including hatcheries in Arkansas and Nebraska. Two ‘federal’ fish hatcheries in Utah also provided some of the total.”
Hatcheries were and are very important pieces to the fishery puzzle in Utah.
“Stocking is a crucial management tool that we use to provide Utahns with the numbers and species of fish they desire,” Schaugaard said. “Stocking fish helps ensure that the public has a great fishing experience.”
According to the news release, the UDWR raised and stocked 21 species of fish last year, which include “nine different cutthroat tout groups and five separate strains of rainbow trout. It also includes channel catfish, largemouth bass, black crappie, grass carp, wipers and bluegill from Arkansas and Utah as well as Arctic grayling raised from eggs received from Wyoming, and tiger muskie from Nebraska.”
I appreciate the information provided about various stocking programs around the state. In the past several years, I have been able to watch kokanee salmon and rainbow trout (both sterile and fertile) stocked into several reservoirs and streams. And I have participated in moving smallmouth bass from the Utah side of Flaming Gorge to the Wyoming side of the reservoir.
As I have pointed out many times before, knowing where and when the UDWR stocks fish can really enhance your fishing opportunities around the state. I studiously look at stocking reports for Strawberry, Flaming Gorge, Jordanelle, and Deer Creek, among other high mountain lakes and even community fishing ponds.
If you want to keep up with the UDWR’s stocking efforts, go to http://wildlifeutah.gov and click on the “Fishing” icon at the top of the page. That will provide a dropdown menu with the first item being “Main fishing page.” Click on it.
Once there, click on the “Fishing in Utah” heading and you will see another dropdown menu. Scroll down and click on “Stocking Reports.”
The stocking reports show the current year stocking activity and holds archives for past years. Just click on the year to show past years’ efforts. I actually plan fishing trips based on these reports.
I believe maintaining hatcheries and stocking fish throughout Utah are worthy pursuits, and I applaud the UDWR’s ongoing efforts.
January 19, 2021 at 08:30PM
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On fishing: UDWR stocked 8 million fish In 2020 - Daily Herald
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