# Scofield progress



## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Saw this report from the DWR on Scofield for those interested

Edit - report paste didn't work. Stand by. Trying again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I love to when plans work! Hopefully this can continue in the right direction. 

And catching muskies on the fly is fun...


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

If the wipers get going in Schofield like they have in Minersville, they will eventually wipe the chub numbers down to nothing. I am betting the same thing will eventually happen at Otter Creek.


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## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

wyoming2utah said:


> If the wipers get going in Schofield like they have in Minersville, they will eventually wipe the chub numbers down to nothing. I am betting the same thing will eventually happen at Otter Creek.


Not to mention their success at Newcastle.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

wyoming2utah said:


> If the wipers get going in Schofield like they have in Minersville, they will eventually wipe the chub numbers down to nothing. I am betting the same thing will eventually happen at Otter Creek.


Still a big if at Skoalfield. They only caught one wiper in the survey. It looks like the "finless freddie" catchable rainbows they planted last fall made it through the winter in decent shape. That is a positive.


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

Catching one wiper is no big deal and doesn't really indicate their numbers. It took years of stocking to catch any kind of numbers in Minersville and Otter Creek....but, now, they catch a handful each year. The gillnets used are often not made to catch some fish and depending on the sizes, they may not catch wipers very well at all. It is like the smallmouth...when they are sampling for smallmouth bass, they generally use something other than gillnets--like an electrofisher--to do the sampling.

With the first wipers stocked in 2017 and into a fishery full of competition, I think getting one wiper in the nets is a plus. It took years at Otter Creek before they started showing up in nets...


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

wyoming2utah said:


> With the first wipers stocked in 2017 and into a fishery full of competition, I think getting one wiper in the nets is a plus. It took years at Otter Creek before they started showing up in nets...


Good to hear. As an aside, are folks catching decent wipers out of OC now?


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

​


Catherder said:


> Good to hear. As an aside, are folks catching decent wipers out of OC now?


Not really. I have only heard one report of wipers being caught out of Otter Creek (that came from last year at about this same exact time--Memorial Weekend), but they are there in pretty good numbers and big. The problem at Otter Creek right now is that the wipers have loads of food. After Koosharem was drained last summer, it seems, the chub numbers have jumped big time. This spring's gillnetting showed lots of rainbows, a handful of wipers in each net, and loads of chubs.

My dad used to say that 20+ rainbows per gillnet was a sign that things were pretty good for trout fishing. Otter Creek was over 20 rainbows per net and, like I said, had a number of wipers (up to 8 lbs) in each net. But, each net also had over 100 chubs (this number is way up from the previous years) Those wipers will be gorging themselves on chubs....

...I also don't think very many people are specifically targeting them there yet. I know that my bro is planning a trip there this May/early June because he was pretty stoked about what they found in the nets.


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## callofthewild (Sep 7, 2007)

i am hoping that the chub numbers are indeed going down. but this last weekend we caught a bunch of chubs probably over 30 in the two days we spent there. and by the piles of them along the shore we were not the only ones catching chubs.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Chubs are great eating!!!! When used as bait.8)


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## bossloader (Sep 11, 2007)

I was down there 3 weeks ago between my wife and me 71 fish (catch and release) most rainbow some cuts and NO chubs.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

A couple of things. 

1. Chubs move closer to shore this time of year and are more easily caught, especially if one tosses out a worm. It is therefore not surprising that more are showing up in the catch. That said, it is apparent that Scofield still has a long way to go in reducing the chubs to a level that the trout can really take off again. 

2. It seems that the favorability of reports coming coming in is based more on the preconceived support or disapproval of the management plan than anything else. If one favors the plan, then its doing well, if not, it isn't. I'm probably no different in that I ice fished it and thought the body condition of both the bows and cutts was substandard and I'm not a big fan of the plan. That said, the finless planters dumped in last fall survived the winter and seem to be hanging in there. That would seem to suggest a little progress. 

I suppose we all will just have to wait and see.


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## callofthewild (Sep 7, 2007)

that is so true about the body condition of the tigers and cuts. they were pretty thin at least the ones we were catching. it was a good time regardless.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Catherder said:


> ... I ice fished it and thought the body condition of both the bows and cutts was substandard...


I've been thinking about this. This is something that has not been mentioned in the DWR posts concerning Scofield. The comments from the DWR simply talk about the highest catch rates in so many years. Those catch rates can easily be attributed to high stocking rates last year -- heck, they could have stocked the lake then set nets and caught all those same fish and made the same claim. Whoopty doo.

What someone needs to ask the DWR is about condition factors (K factor). What was the K factor of the fish stocked last fall?
What was the K factor of the fish netted this spring?

If the K factor is the same, then the fish have not changed.

If the K factor of the fish netted this spring is higher than when they were stocked, then the fish are doing good.

If the K factor of the fish netted this spring is lower than the K factor of the fish stocked last fall, then those fish are struggling.

It would be really interesting to see what the condition of those fish was, and is now.



Catherder said:


> That said, the finless planters dumped in last fall survived the winter and seem to be hanging in there. That would seem to suggest a little progress.


This is very true. They made it this long, and that's a positive sign. It's also the time of year that the chubs become more visible.

There have also been mention of numerous dead chubs (ie: "piles") on the shoreline. This is concerning. The reason this is concerning is because this is a typical sign that chub populations are at capacity. If chub populations are at capacity, and thus chubs are dying, then the trout are going to struggle...

As the Catherder said: I suppose we all will just have to wait and see.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I can confirm through a good source that the muskies are growing.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I saw a 51" tiger musky on Friday. But it wasn't at Scofield....


Of course those musky are growing in Scofield. That's a given. They would have been with either management option (poison and restock vs. wait and see).

But for all the people, on both sides, looking at current fishing reports -- we'd have a better idea of the current management plan if we knew the condition (k) factor of those fish sampled in the nets this spring....


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

You have connections in that department. Make a call! Let us know what you find out.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

why spoil all the optimism??


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

PBH said:


> why spoil all the optimism??


Tired of being called a "negative Nellie" on BFT? -Ov-


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## CaneHunter (Oct 10, 2013)

PBH said:


> This is very true. They made it this long, and that's a positive sign. It's also the time of year that the chubs become more visible.
> 
> There have also been mention of numerous dead chubs (ie: "piles") on the shoreline. This is concerning. The reason this is concerning is because this is a typical sign that chub populations are at capacity. If chub populations are at capacity, and thus chubs are dying, then the trout are going to struggle...


I think the piles of dead chubs are more of a reference to the ones caught by anglers and then left on the banks...rather than the chub population dying of natural causes.

I fish Scofield quite a bit. I agree with the slenderness of the trout being caught. I also think there have been more chubs the last 2-3 weeks than in the two years previous.

I am pessimistic about the current state of the reservoir...


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