# Chub Gallore



## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

BDMiller, the wife and I fished Scofield this morning. Started around the island with only a few coming to hand in the boat using spinners. Tried another spot or two and started catching chubs on the same spinners (Joes flies). Seen most boats were trolling so we loaded the leaded lines and began to do the same with dodgers, pop gear and worm harnesses. Could not keep the stinking chubs off. Probably 3:1 ratio with chubs compared to trout. I don't recall seeing any rainbows but didn't pay too close of attention but pretty sure all were cutts. Really disappointed with size. Size was a joke and the average trout were probably 8" and usually water skiied behind the boat on the way in. Removed every gill or head of the chubs we caught. Wife said we were "gruesome." Largest Cutt was 15" if that. Seen one guy at the cleaning station with a cutt in the slot. He stated fishing was good from shore. Lots of fish cops and DWR people at the ramp and in the parking lot today. Had a good time. Oh did I mention it was 39 degrees when we got there this morning?


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

39 degrees? Sweet ice up here we come! Can't wait. 

Sorry for all the chubby's that you encountered. That still sounds a bit better than nothing at all.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's time to break out the rotenone.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Having fished the Scof a lot this year I already knew the lake before reading your post just from the title.


americanforkdude said:


> Seen one guy at the cleaning station with a cutt in the slot.


 End of story?


Fishrmn said:


> I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's time to break out the rotenone.


May be getting close, but hard to justify with the tigers doing so well. Aren't they making progress on them officially? My observation would be no, seems like worse than two years ago.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Fished Scofield last night for about two hours. All cutts, caught on Chartreuse powerbait. I didn't catch any... my date caught four and one that was a toad. Probably pushing 20 and fat... maybe couple lbs? I have a pic on my camera that I'll upload after we run up and fish it again this morning.


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## MuleyCrazy (Jun 6, 2010)

I've fished Scofield for what seems like awhile now and up until this year, I had never caught a chub. Honestly, I'd hold off the rotenone and give the tigers a little more time. Hopefully it never comes to eradication and starting over. Here's hoping the tigers and cutts can have a noticeable impact here soon!


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

Huge29 said:


> May be getting close, but hard to justify with the tigers doing so well. Aren't they making progress on them officially? My observation would be no, seems like worse than two years ago.


Regardless of how well the Tiger Trout are doing, they aren't making a dent, and they can't or won't make a dent in the numbers of Utah Chubs. It becomes a game of attrition. Just like trying to fight against the Chinese. The concept was that you could kill 4 Chinese soldiers every second for eternity, and there would never be an end to them. Chubs reproduce faster than humans, and there is no way that the Tigers will be able to eat enough of the Chubs to affect their numbers.

Whether you are catching Chubs or not, they are thick enough that they are beyond biological control by using Tiger Trout, Cutts, Browns, etc.


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## OPED (Jan 24, 2009)

This post summarizes how scofield has been to us this last year. One day it is nothing but cutts and tigers and the next day in the same spot nothing but chubs. I am still curious to see how the slot limit will play out over the course of time, I know the quality of fish we have seen this year is better than the last couple of years. We also have noticed red side shinners making an appearance in our minnow traps after being all but non-existant throughout most of last year. I dont know if that means anything or not.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

OPED said:


> We also have noticed red side shinners making an appearance in our minnow traps after being all but non-existant throughout most of last year. I dont know if that means anything or not.


It means that the chubs are reproducing fast enough that there are enough 2 to 3 inch chubs to feed EVERY predator in the reservoir. There is no predation on the Redside Shiners.

Just for something to do last winter, I deliberately fished for Utah Chubs at Scofield. I caught 138 in about an hour and a half. There are too many of them in there to be able to control them with predators.


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

It's hard to believe that 5-6 years ago that place in the fall would produce average bow from 17-18" and not only long but fat. Everyone I take to scofield that hasn't had much history on the reservoir things I'm blowing things out of proportion when you tell them the quality of fish that was in there not too long ago. 


Fishrmn said:


> There is no predation on the Redside Shiners.


The rainbows use to target the shiners, that was always the best bait up at Scofield before the chub problem. There was an abundance of shiners, now they're all gone d/t the overpopulation of chubs.

As bad as I hate to say it, the Tigers and Cutts will NEVER have a chance of fixing the chub population on Scofield for a number of reasons. If you wanted to argue that, your probably the same people that argue they will eventually eliminate the carp from Utah Lake.


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## HopperLover (Jul 7, 2008)

How disappointing. The river below the reservoir is getting loaded with chubs also. I went there a few weeks ago, and half the fish in the river were chubs, and the trout were smaller than I have ever seen them - having fished it for 8 or 9 years or so.


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## dank80 (Oct 31, 2007)

HopperLover said:


> I went there a few weeks ago, and half the fish in the river were chubs


Sadly, I wonder if this is even an underestimation. At the top of the river anyways. I was there this spring when the flows were around 10 cfs. It was so low it was a bit easier to see exactly what's swimming around a bit more clearly than you can see lately. In the top 2.5 mile stretch there were just hordes and hordes of chubs. I've never seen anything quite like it.

The middle section wasn't quite as bad when I fished it this year, although there were still a ton of them.

Still plenty of trout getting fat off chubs though.


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## browntrout (Apr 27, 2008)

Unfortunately the dam will be shut off this year. The browns will compete with thousands of chubs this winter for oxygen in small pockets of water. They should just rename it lower CHUB creek. Very sad.


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## MJ73 (Aug 19, 2012)

Time to kill it and start over. You can not compare Utah Lake carp. If there is one june sucker in the lake nothing will ever change. I commercially fished it back in the day. We pulled tons and tons of carp from the same spot every day. I could not believe how many carp are really in the lake. Kill the chubs now.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

I must admit that I thought the chubs wouldn't do as well in the river as they have. I knew that they would survive in the first section below the dam. But I thought they would disappear in the swifter section. They must filter down from the slower stretch. 

It took the Walleyes nearly 30 years to affect the number of Utah Chubs in Starvation Reservoir. The Walleyes were able to spawn and weren't under as much harvest pressure as the Tiger Trout at Scofield. And yet there were enough adult chubs to feed the Walleyes all of the chubletts that they could eat. Even with Smallmouth Bass to reduce the crawdads and eat the occasional chub it took longer than just a few years.

Let's not sit on our hands for years while we study the situation. Let's get the plan ready, the funding in place, the paperwork filed, and the rotenone stockpiled.


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## quakeycrazy (Sep 18, 2007)

Scofield is a totally different lake now than four years ago IMHO. Yes, the tigers are growing fast and furious, yes there are still a lot of redside shiners, and yes there are still a lot of chubs in there. I feel like there are a lot more chubs than usual the last few years, when I ice fish I use my fishtv camera and at times the screen goes dark with them and stays that way for a while, those schools are not just a few wandering fish they are BIG schools. Also all the small cutts and bows in there are not that fun to catch. I remember catching big 18+inch bows throwing lures by the dam but I don't see that anymore..... Lake has changed, and I'm not sure if it's in a good or bad way


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## MJ73 (Aug 19, 2012)

I would like to see them add Walleye to the lake, at least until they poison it.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

They won't. That's the reason they poisoned it the last time.


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## MJ73 (Aug 19, 2012)

If I remember correctly the main reason they poisoned the lake was due to the carp. Walleye were part of the problem, but nothing like the carp. It really most likely does not matter what they do now. It is headed towards being wiped clean again, until some idiot knowingly or out of absolute stupidity starts the problem over again.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

They would have probably tried to live with a few million carp. They'd poison it twice if they had to, to get rid of Walleyes. It's not a place for Walleyes.

There's enough stupidity running around.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

quakeycrazy said:


> Scofield is a totally different lake now than four years ago IMHO.


that is the way I describe it every time I tell someone where our cabin is since they had heard it was a good fishing area.


MJ73 said:


> If I remember correctly the main reason they poisoned the lake was due to the carp. Walleye were part of the problem, but nothing like the carp. It really most likely does not matter what they do now. It is headed towards being wiped clean again, until some idiot knowingly or out of absolute stupidity starts the problem over again.


Welcome to teh forum MJ!


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## MJ73 (Aug 19, 2012)

Very true. I loved to fish there as a kid. 

Thanks


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Fishrmn said:


> OPED said:
> 
> 
> > We also have noticed red side shinners making an appearance in our minnow traps after being all but non-existant throughout most of last year. I dont know if that means anything or not.
> ...


Hmmm. If a fisherman can catch 138 in about an hour and a half I wonder how much of an impact we could make just trying to fish them out. Think if just 10 guys went out and fished for 8 hours one weekend. If you are cathing 138 fish in an hour and a half then that is a rate of 92 fish per hour (that's more than a fish per minute you must have really been unhooking and rebaiting that hook fast!). So we are looking at 92 fish x 8 hours=736 fish per guy. 10 guys x 736 fish per guy = 7,360 chubs taken from the reservoir! Anyway, just a thought...


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

Okay, it was more like 2 hours. If 1,000 people duplicated the results for 1,000 years, it wouldn't get rid of them. They reproduce faster than they are being taken out, either by fishermen or predators. And it was nearly as fast as you could reel up 12 feet of line, pull the hook out of their mouths, rebait if necessary, (which it often wasn't) drop back down, and set the hook.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

wow, I saw first hand today how terrible it is up there! The stream below the dam has THOUSANDS of 4" chubs, literally wall-to-wall in the stream.


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## MJ73 (Aug 19, 2012)

Yes it does. Sounds like nothing will change until 2015.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

FIshed for about 6 hours between last night and today, caught about a dozen cutts and not a single chub, but lost bait several times presumably from chubs.


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## Mallardhead12 (Oct 17, 2011)

I am a chub killer, every one I catch, goes into a bucket beheaded


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