# Central region Open House 6-14



## Catherder

I was a bit late due to work, but was able to attend Central Region open house last night. Thank you, DWR for holding this. The public attendance was mediocre but it was informative. Here were a few highlights of what was discussed. Some of these items were new to me and may be informative to list here.

1. The walk in access program was discussed and it was announced that the WIA program has an agreement with Victory ranch holdings for *limited* access to a small portion of the Provo river held by VR. (I believe it was .6 mile but I didn't write it down.) The DWR is actively pursuing additional upper Provo WIA sites.

2. Additional funding and staffing issues are a concern about the warmwater hatchery at Lee Kay. It was requested that more funding will be needed to keep it operating well and to get the wipers and TM that many people want. It was disquieting to find that it seemed that the Lee Kay hatchery was on more tenuous footing that is widely assumed. Next legislative session, there will be a chance for matching funds from the Feds, but the State has to put up some money first. The action will need to be taken by the *legislature*. It sounded like the warmwater anglers will have to get off their duffs and actively petition their representatives to get it done. I wonder you guys will do that?

3. Strawberry was discussed a lot. Some guys were complaining about the slot and that the fishing wasn't "what it used to be". Data was presented that the cutt population was doing OK and that the planting of 8 inch bows has yielded good results. It was acknowledged that prior to the adjustment of planting sizes, the bow population was struggling and there was a dip in a couple of year classes of cutts too. Overall, the outlook is good up there for bow fishing and the chubs are being controlled.

4. It was suggested to have a mailing list/email list to better get out information from the DWR.

5. The spearfishermen asked for more uniform seasons to pursue their sport.

6. Creel surveys will be done at Jordanelle to see what effect the new regs have on bass harvest. They did say that they did want to preserve the large bass there. both for the fishing, but also to control chubs.

7. One more white bass has shown up in the nets at Deer Creek, but they haven't exploded there yet.

8. Mercury testing was discussed regarding Jordanelle. It was noted that the Health dept. wanted to test the largest possible fish to get the "highest" or worst case numbers. It was suggested that large and small bass be tested and compared so consumers can have an idea if smaller fish can be more safely consumed.

9. Rules simplification was discussed. The DWR asked which regs may have been excessively simplified. It was suggested that the bass regs may have indeed been overly simplified in certain waters.

I may have missed a few points. anyway, thanks DWR for putting this on.


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