# Brook Trout Overpopulation



## pheasantphool (Nov 30, 2007)

Anybody know why Brook Trout tend to overpopulate small lakes like those found in the Uintahs while other types of trout don't seem to?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Because they don't have the natural checks and balances to keep them from doing so. They don't belong here and when they're placed in waters that allow them to reproduce, they do it with vigor.

This isn't limited to brookies, or just fish, even. Other animals encounter the same problems, as well as plants.

All that being said, I love brookies and am glad we can catch them here.


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

When Brook "trout" were introduced into the high lakes and streams the biologists thought that they would be well suited and do well. Well they were too right. They do TOO well and as LOAH pointed out they don't have the natural checks like the cutthroat spawning during the spring runoff giving them a disadvantage and keeping numbers in check. (just and example) I like brook as well. They are perhaps my favorite fish to catch but they do overpopulate some waters and then they stunt making they less attractive. And just for the record I support the attempts by State wildlife agencies in their cutthroat recovery efforts.


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## rdoggsilva (Apr 6, 2011)

Just like the beaver pounds on the Haydon Fork of the Bear, the brookies are all stunted. Really enjoy catching them on flies and they do taste good.


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

Where brook trout naturaly exist, they are a prey fish. They are designed to reproduce rapidly to create food for pike. In eastern Canada where they are a native fish, they do well with checks and balances, i.e., pike. Under normal wild circumstances and conditions, pike eat lots of the plentiful young but there are so many that a few make it to spawn and create more prey. Then a few make it to larger sizes where the pike leave them alone. Those are the behemoth 7-8 even 10+lb. monsters that dreams are made of.
Here in Utah, with no checks and balances, they can proliferate and overpopulate quickly. A brook trout can reach sexual maturity at 8 months. In other words, a fish born in March can reproduce that Fall. In the Uintas especially, the lakes that don't winterkill and the fish can reproduce, they become prolific.
However, in the Uintas, Boulder, and other alpine lakes sometimes things work out and some or all of the conditions come together to create very healty and large brook trout.
1. Inability to reproduce. If they can reproduce, they will. If there is natural recruitment, it needs to be limited.
2. Enough water and limited winterkill. 
3. Low stocking numbers. Less fish = more feed per fish.
4. Plenty of feed. Scuds seam to create the biggest brookies.
If these things all come into play large brook trout are usually the result. The problem is that the number of lakes and ponds that have these conditions are few and changing all the time. I guess it's that challenge and the rareness of large brook trout that keeps some of us forever hunting them.
I understand the need to reintroduce native cutthroat poplations and applaud the work, but brook trout are a part of the heritage and nastalgia of the Utah high country. May there always be healthy populations of salvelinus fontinalis.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

brookieguy1 said:


> However, in the Uintas, Boulder, and other alpine lakes sometimes things work out and some or all of the conditions come together to create very healty and large brook trout.


I spent a week down on the Boulder recently and after getting into a very remote lake, we caught some MONSTER brookies. I couldnt see any signs of stunted brookies in the lakes we fished, they were all fat-bellied slugs.. I cant wait to get back down there. I hate cutts... give me brookies or rainbows any day... heck I'll take browns over cutts. Its sad they plan to poison out the brookies so throughly in places.

-DallanC


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

DallanC said:


> Its sad they plan to poison out the brookies so throughly in places.
> 
> -DallanC


No it isn't.

(where are they planning this, anway?)

They ONLY remove brook trout in places that they do not do well. Who wants to catch 10" brook trout?? What is amazing is the increase in fishing pressure in lakes that were part of the sport-fish improvement project on Boulder. Lakes like Round Willow Bottom and Solitaire NEVER got fished when they were brook trout lakes. Fast-forward to today, and these lakes are VERY popular. Why is that? Because the fish in those lakes today are double the size that the brook trout ever reached!

the lakes (like the one you hiked to and caught large brook trout) will most likely be left as brook trout lakes. i don't know which lake you went to, so I can't tell you anything about it, but there is a reason the brook trout are big in it.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

PBH said:


> Who wants to catch 10" brook trout??


Hey, come on. There are some places where a 10 inch long brookie is a monster. In those places you'd be thrilled to catch one that size. Don't get me wrong. Brookies are beautiful, but they are a nuisance in most situations.

Fishrmn


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Fishrmn said:


> Hey, come on. There are some places where a 10 inch long brookie is a monster.
> 
> Fishrmn


yes, in the apalachians!


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## HighmtnFish (Jun 3, 2010)

PBH said:


> Lakes like Round Willow Bottom and Solitaire NEVER got fished when they were brook trout lakes. Fast-forward to today, and these lakes are VERY popular. Why is that? Because the fish in those lakes today are double the size that the brook trout ever reached!


Most of what you say is true, but you are lying when you say that those lakes NEVER got fished. I learned how to fish fishing Round Willow Bottoms and yes the brookies were stunted but for a 7 year old boy every one of those fish I caught was a trophy. And there was a few times I caught over 100 fish out of Willow Bottoms. Other people came and fished it back then too. The locals knew they could take their kids in there and have success. So there needs to be a few places like that where a guy can take take his family and catch a load of fish. 
I don't necessarily want Round Willow Bottoms or changed back into what it was before. But having a few lakes with a bunch of stunted brookies is not always a bad thing.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

HighmtnFish said:


> But having a few lakes with a bunch of stunted brookies is not always a bad thing.


you mean upper and lower Barker didn't satisfy that? Or Blue?

I guess what I don't understand is why you would prefer to catch 100 stunted brook trout over 100 nice tigers and cutts?

Every lake that has been included in the improvement program has seen improvement in the fish. There isn't a single lake that has "declined" since the removal of the brook trout. There are also still a plethora of good brook trout lakes still available. I don't understand the "fear" some people seem to harbor.


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## HighmtnFish (Jun 3, 2010)

PBH said:


> I guess what I don't understand is why you would prefer to catch 100 stunted brook trout over 100 nice tigers and cutts?


When was the last time you caught 100 nice tigers and cutts out of one of those lakes in a day? Not even the guides down there can claim that kind of success (maybe Stoner can). Let me know the next time you go fishing, maybe I could tag along and learn a few things from you?


PBH said:


> Every lake that has been included in the improvement program has seen improvement in the fish. There isn't a single lake that has "declined" since the removal of the brook trout. There are also still a plethora of good brook trout lakes still available.


I will have to agree with that statement. I believe there are several lakes on the uintas that would really improve if they removed the stunted brookies and planted cutts and tigers. I would like to see a few more tigers planted in some of these lakes though.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

HighmtnFish said:


> When was the last time you caught 100 nice tigers and cutts out of one of those lakes in a day?


Never. But, I don't believe I've ever claimed I caught 100 brook trout either.

Just for arguments sake, let's go 1/4 on that: how 'bout 25 cutts and tigers that are double the size of the 100 brook trout? Hell, 25 tigers and cutts beats the pants off stunted brook trout any day!


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

I don't see much of a reason to keep stunted brookies around. One big example I can think of is Mirror Lake in the Uintas. The brookies in Mirror Lake are all tiny, yet the DWR stocks over 7,000 of them every year. I'm sure some get eaten, but there are still way too many of them in that lake.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

We are doing our part to keep the brookies thinned in the Uintas.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> We are doing our part to keep the brookies thinned in the Uintas.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Good job Goob! We need more folks like you around. Around mirror lake, anyway. 

How many different people caught all those fish?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Clarq said:


> Good job Goob! We need more folks like you around. Around mirror lake, anyway.
> 
> How many different people caught all those fish?


4 people, 8 fish each, a long way from any road.


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## trout bum (Oct 5, 2010)

Tiger trout suck. Just my opinion.


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