# Why stock wipers in East Canyon?



## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

It appears that East canyon reservoir will soon be a wiper fishery.

http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots/reports_nr.php

Why is East canyon being stocked with these fish? Is there a population of rough fish that needs to be controlled? Is it simply another sport fishing opportunity? I'd really like to know if there is a biological reasoning behind this, and if this will help or hurt the trout fishery.

As a side note, it looks like they've experimented with splake in East canyon as well. Anybody catching splake in decent numbers?


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I think they will eat the planter rainbows and get enormous. Bring em on!

A four inch wiper fights harder than a twelve inch rainbow.


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## Greenhead_Slayer (Oct 16, 2007)

Clarq said:


> It appears that East canyon reservoir will soon be a wiper fishery.
> 
> http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots/reports_nr.php
> 
> ...


Good question. This is according to their Facebook post:

"Right now, the smallmouth bass in East Canyon aren't growing as quickly as the bass in nearby reservoirs (like Pineview). That's because there are too many little smallmouth bass that are competing for the same food sources. As the wipers grow, they will feed on the reservoir's abundant crayfish population and some of the smaller bass.

Because there will be fewer bass competing with each other, their growth rates should increase. We're looking forward to seeing people catch both wipers and larger smallmouth bass at East Canyon in the years to come."

They claim to have planted 7,000 fingerlings, not sure what the survival rate is, but that doesn't seem like too huge of a number. I wonder why they wouldn't just encourage anglers to harvest more SMB prior to introducing the wiper. We've had some stellar trips there this year and caught better sized smallies than in years past. I really hope this doesn't screw things up.


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

Hers some food for thought. Wipers in Forsythe Res. 10 years ago .Was A Complete FLOP.. back to Trout now is the best thing the DWR has done on that pond for some time..


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

the wipers they stocked are also sterile


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

I predict a couple of years from now people will enjoy catching nice size wipers from there….. and smallies…..and trout.


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

if there is such a huge forage base of crayfish than how are smallies out competing eachother for food?


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Greenhead_Slayer said:


> Good question. This is according to their Facebook post:
> 
> "Right now, the smallmouth bass in East Canyon aren't growing as quickly as the bass in nearby reservoirs (like Pineview). That's because there are too many little smallmouth bass that are competing for the same food sources. As the wipers grow, they will feed on the reservoir's abundant crayfish population and some of the smaller bass.
> 
> ...


Thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for. I've got to say, I expected to see more than 7000 fingerlings. That's nothing at all compared to the 150,000 they put in Newcastle or the 234,453 they put in Willard Bay last year. It looks like the DWR is approaching this one cautiously.

I guess I shouldn't be too concerned, since if the wipers negatively affect the fishery, the DWR will simply stop stocking them.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a new state record wiper come out of East canyon in several years. This will be interesting.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

*You asked 'Why?'*

I did the research and came up with this information and posted it on the 'other' website.

As you may already know, I tend to side with the DWR with most issues and this is one of those. This is not an issue that just popped into the head of one of the DWR employees last night. They have been studying it for more than just a couple of years. Let's start with the REAL situation concerning the SMB in East Canyon. 

Some anglers have already mentioned that East Canyon DOES produce some high quality SMB fishing. That being said, let's look at some empirical data gathered by the DWR through electro fishing surveys and age and growth studies. These are NOT opinions, but hard scientific evidence. What the data shows is that the SMB fishery is far from reaching its full potential. Large populations of the SMB sampled are below 10 inches in length. Yes, there ARE a few larger individuals here and there, but not nearly as many as there would be in a healthy SMB population. Age and growth studies show conclusively that SMB in East Canyon below 12 inches in length grow extremely slow. Compiling and comparing growth rates of fish from nearby states shows that East Canyon SMB are below the 5% percentile for growth; which is near dead last. Comparing on a nationwide scale, they fair a little bit better and are in the 25% percentile for growth. 

Now, let's compare that to a nearby reservoir like Pineview and the DWR studies show that Pineview SMB usually land around the 50-75% percentile for growth rates, which is excellent. It should also be noted that Pineview SMB perform very well in a fishery they share with a lot of other voracious eaters like tiger muskie, crappie, and yellow perch. So concerns of the decimation of SMB populations are probably unjustified. As another example of slow growth, a Pineview SMB is about 4 inches long when it turns 1 year old, while a 2-year-old SMB at East Canyon is just an inch longer at 5 inches! 

It's not all doom and gloom for SMB in East Canyon. The larger fish that are about 14 inches and longer do great and are up there with their nationwide peers when it comes to growth. But - as it stands, there aren't nearly as many fish as there should be making it to these larger sizes and this is because there is such intense competition among smaller SMB for food. If there was MORE removal of smaller SMB from East Canyon, the other SMB left in there would grow at a healthy pace. But SMB have few predators in East Canyon, including anglers. Creel surveys show that anglers generally harvest only about 1% of the bass they catch. 

Now let's look at some facts concerning the crayfish in East Canyon. They are very abundant in East Canyon! The SMB that can make it to about 14 inches have as many of those as they want to eat. However, the DWR monitoring shows that there are currently more crayfish than the larger SMB can eat. It has been noted by the DWR during electro fishing surveys that there are areas where the bottom of the reservoir is teeming with crayfish to the point that it appears the substrate is "moving" on its own as hundreds of crayfish covering the floor of the reservoir flee. 

That brings us to the point of considering the stocking of wipers in East Canyon. But to understand this concept, you MUST start with a broader view. East Canyon, Echo, and Rockport reservoirs are all within about 30 miles of one another. There is nearly the same fish community in each reservoir and angler surveys done each year by the DWR show that there is a clear desire for more variety in the species available for which to fish. Given what we already know about the SMB in East Canyon, the DWR has been looking to add a different species that will benefit current fishery and add some additional excitement for anglers. Wiper's have many good qualities in this situation. They often grow fast and large, they are popular with anglers, and they've generally coexisted well with SMB in other state waters. 

Further, since they're sterile, DWR has complete control and can pull the plug on the program if they see unintended negative consequences. Besides being a popular sport fish, the potential additional benefits with wipers is they can be generalist feeders and should be able to take advantage of the surplus crayfish and even a few smaller SMB bass. If the wipers eat some smaller SMB bass, it will be viewed as a bonus and should relieve competition among the bass below 12 inches, speed up growth rates, and ultimately result in more large SMB bass for anglers. I think this would/should be considered a win-win situation. 

There are certainly a few unknowns; such as how will these wipers grow? In other fisheries where there are wiper programs, there is generally a very abundant forage fish like shiners or shad. We don't have that in East Canyon, which means the small wipers will either compete with small SMB for invertebrates or they will feed on zooplankton in open water when trout have gone deeper for the summer. We should see fast growth if the wiper begin to feed on zooplankton in open water. However, if they compete with SMB for invertebrates, the SMB will probably have the upper hand and then we would see slow growth of the wipers as well. 

The DWR plans to keep an eye on all of this, including crayfish numbers, SMB numbers and condition, as well as wiper numbers and growth. 

None of the above is just my opinion. It is based on data (facts) empirically collected and analyzed by the DWR. The DWR employees hunt and fish just like the rest of us do and they want to see their hard work pay off for all of us. We should give them every opportunity to be successful. If they are, it can only benefit us all. I'd like to thank Drew Cushing and Chris Penne from the DWR for supplying me with the facts of the matter. Most of what I've written above is paraphrasing their data. 

Carry on!

:O||:


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Dubob, when you talked to the DWR personnel about East canyon, did they say if the Jordanelle study was completed as well and if so, what were the results?


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Thanks dubob. To be clear, I don't doubt the DWR on decisions like this. I just like to know the reasons behind what they do. I was ignorant to the bass situation since I fish for trout and have only caught two incidental bass while doing so (and they were actually quite large).


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Catherder said:


> Dubob, when you talked to the DWR personnel about East canyon, did they say if the Jordanelle study was completed as well and if so, what were the results?


Do you happen to know where to find info on the Jordanelle study? I hadn't heard about that.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

*Jordanelle study*

That topic did not come up; sorry. But based on my experiences with DWR, I'm sure they would be happy to furnish that information to you should you decide to ask for it.


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## ColdWaterCoord (Jun 19, 2012)

Hi,

Just a quick reply to your question about the Jordanlle study. The data have been collected and initial analyses done. However, the person working (actually the second one since the start of the study) left for another job. We hope to have the final reports done later this summer and start to put together the team to develop the management plan this fall.

Thanks for your patience. It has been difficult to carry this project to completion because of personnel turnover. The biologists in the Central Region have done great work even being short handed.

Paul Birdsey
Coldwater Sportfish Coordinator
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

ColdWaterCoord said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just a quick reply to your question about the Jordanlle study. The data have been collected and initial analyses done. However, the person working (actually the second one since the start of the study) left for another job. We hope to have the final reports done later this summer and start to put together the team to develop the management plan this fall.
> 
> ...


Thanks! Look forward to the final results. Keep up the good work.


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