# 2011 Burbot Bash



## fstop (Sep 25, 2007)

Hey Burbot Anglers, 
Are you heading to the 2011 Burbot Bash scheduled to kick off this Saturday at the Buckboard marina? Here is some information that should help you figure out where to fish. Matt McKell, a Flaming Gorge Project Biologist has put together a map to show you where and how many burbot they have tagged at Flaming Gorge. Their goal was 500 tagged fish and they actually tagged and released 504 burbot! Now all they need is anglers to come and do their best to put the hurt on the some burbot. Remember you must take all of your fish to one of their check-in stations to have them scanned to see if you've caught a tagged fish. The event is scheduled to kick off Saturday (Jan 22nd) with seminars on fishing, cooking, cleaning and ice safety at the Buck Board Marina. Fishing derby will start at 5 p.m. The event will close on Jan 29th at the Manila Rodeo grounds. Should be a lot of fun, hope to see you there.

SORRY THE FILE WON'T UPLOAD, BUT IF YOU GO TO http://connect2utah.com/roughin-it-story/?nxd_id=126887 TO CAN SEE THE MAP AND A SIGN UP SHEET.

Adam Eakle 
Outdoors Reporter/KUTV NEWS


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

So let me get this straight:

They pulled over 500 burbot out of the Gorge, then tagged them and _released_ them back? :shock:

Aren't they trying to get rid of them? Why not put to use the same measures used to catch 504 burbot as much as possible, all the while killing them as they go?

That seems totally backwards to me. Especially when the public is expected to kill all burbot they catch, due to their not belonging there. I understand the effort to raise an interest in burbot fishing there, but if they're able to round up that many to tag, then they are only keeping the problem alive by placing them back in the water.

Sorry if that's not a popular point of view, but I find it a questionable move.


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## elkbudy (Dec 24, 2007)

+1 I have to agree with LOAH on this one,


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

+1000 Loah

I has been bugging the **** out of me for the past few days. They caught and released over 500 burbot back into Flaming Gorge AND there is a clear requirement in the fishing proclamation that says all burbot must be immediately killed. Completely pisses me off and for the life of me I cant figure this out. I also heard that out of the 500 or so tagged fish released, that most likely less than 50 of these fish will be caught during the derby. 

Just because its some govt agencys (green river or evanston whoever) that is putting it on, its ok to break the law in the mean time??? I hope sheeits about to hit the fan!!!!!


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

This has been an interesting read.
They tagged these fish to help promote getting anglers excited about attending the Bash.
There thoughts were in the right place but the example that they have set isn't being perceived the way that they had hoped.
It looks like it has even backfired on them.
That's too bad.
I doubt that they will tag Burbot again next year.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

I think the burbot bash is a excellent idea, but there are SO MANY other ways they can do a fishing contest. These same people are the ones that talk about how detrimental these fish are to the Gorge. These same people are the ones that took the time and effort to remove 500 of these things, just to put them back in there again. Not exactly what i would call helping their own cause. Why couldnt they do big/small/ugliest fish for the tourney/hour etc and different age and sex classes.Plenty of prizes to be given out that way. I dont think just because they are trying to promote something that its excusable to break the law. Anybody know if Wyomings requirements are to kill the burbot immediately also?


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

In fairness to the DWR and the Wyo G&F, they are trying to collect data on the total population of the burbot and the rate of harvest via angling. The microchips hopefully will allow their study to yield relevant information. The prizes will motivate anglers to have their fish scanned and counted.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

I'm usually one to defend the DWR as well, but this is one of those things that just doesn't seem to make any sense.

After reading your input, Catherder, I still wonder what relevance the data they receive has after providing maps to the locations of where the burbot were released. Angling under normal circumstances is usually done on one's own ability to find the fish.

In future years, I would hope that their motivational techniques would include prizes for, say, the MOST burbot caught, and for overall sizes, rather than for tagged nuisances. 

For this year's bash, let's just hope that more than 504 burbot are killed.


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## FG angler (Jan 12, 2010)

A lot of thought went into this idea and it wasn't something that was just pulled out of a hat. There are multiple goals with this tournament.

1. Increase harvest on invasive burbot. Both UDWR and WYGF have been very open about burbot and there impacts to the sport fishery and the importance of their removal. The thing to remember when analyzing the structure of this tournament, is these tags are internal. They are PIT tags about a 1/4-inch in size and only read with specialized readers. Anglers catching burbot will not know if a fish is tagged or not. *Every* fish will have to come through a check station to be scanned for a tag. This provides two benefits. One, those fish will not be returned to the Gorge, that's a certainty. Two, it also provides valueable information about catch and harvest rates, being all of the fish will come across the table in front of the data collectors.

2. Increase angler education on burbot. This is the third annual Burbot Bash. Last year's event hosted approximately 300 participants. This is just the first one to be associated with a tournament.

3. To generate some population data on burbot, if at all possible. Based on the tag returns both agencies could potentially learn more about movement in the reservoir, based on where they were tagged and where they were recaptured. Based on the number of recaptures, and the total number of fish harvested, a population estimate can be calculated for the reservoir- possibly a first of it's kind. Tags have a long life and fish can be scanned in the future providing info about growth, survivability, and further movement. The tagged fish map should give anglers a better idea of how burbot were distributed in the reservoir and expedite tag return, especially if they are new to angling the Gorge. Essentially, the more tags returned the better the population data too.

Last winter, was the first ever burbot ice fishing tournament on the Gorge, the Reeling for Relay. With minimal promotion the orgranizer accepted sixty one 3-man teams for the 3-day, 2-night contest. During that event, 1219 burbot for a bulk weight of 1823 lbs were harvested. That's a lot of burbot. With three times as many days for this event and potentially even more anglers based on promotion, imagine the potential for harvest. The grand prized tagged burbot will be $5000. There is another $5000 in prizes for most burbot, biggest burbot, and youth categories for biggest and smallest burbot. Go to http://www.flaminggorgeresort.com/ if you want more info.

Hope it helps.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

The burbot were tagged and released last November. The Burbot Bash is sponsored mainly by the Rock Springs, Green River, and Flaming Gorge Chamber of Commerces; the WY G&F and the UT DWR.

From the Utah DWR:
"Recapture data can supply vital information on population structure, movements, survivability and eventually growth," said Ron Stewart, outreach manager for the DWR's northeastern region. "If this aspect of the Burbot Bash continues, the agencies will tag more fish and acquire more years of additional data."

From the WY G&F:
A unique feature of the Burbot Bash Derby is the opportunity for anglers to catch specially tagged fish. A select number of burbot have been implanted with internal tags, which can only be identified with specialized electronic readers. State fish biologists hope to learn more about the extent of the burbot problem in Flaming Gorge based on tag return data. Information from the tagging program will allow biologists to determine a variety of information about the species, including movement, migration, survivability, growth rates and population estimates.

The Bash offers many prizes; biggest fish, smallest fish, total fish, with categaries for adults and kids and there's door prizes too from local businesses and agencies. There's a least $10,000 in prizes, and from what I know only 1/2 is from tagged burbot.

1,100 burbot were turned in, removed from Flaming Gorge, at last year's event.

The Bash starts on Jan 22 at Buckboard Marina, Wyoming and ends with a cookout and prize ceremony on Jan 29 at Manila Utah.

Here's a good article from a Utah newspaper:
http://connect2utah.com/roughin-it-story?nxd_id=119207


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Thanks FG angler, good stuff. We were typing posts at the same time.

Tagging and releasing burbot will continue. It's called science, fisheries management.
http://gf.state.wy.us/services/news/pre ... 0110_3.asp

Burbot are an introduced, non-native, specie to Utah and Wyoming, just like walleye, yellow perch, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, smallmouth bass........others.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Well it's nice to get more feedback and information regarding what the main goal is. Hopefully they get enough data back to push a bunch of paper around and something positive ultimately comes from this.

I really do appreciate the added background information and now understand that it took a lot of effort over time to obtain the fish needed for tagging. I only would've had a gripe if they were able to collect those fish in a quick and efficient manner, then release them back (because it would only make sense to do that as much as possible, if that were the case).



wyogoob said:


> It's called science, fisheries management.


Thanks for the condescension. :roll: My concern had merit and was addressed sufficiently (thanks to those that provided useful info). Hopefully the information provided has helped clear things up for more people too.

Like I said, I'm usually one to defend the DWR. Without more background originally, it looked like some counterproductive practices were taking place for a fishing contest, at the expense of a major fishery.

I wish everyone who attends good luck and hopefully several tons of garbage can be removed from the lake.


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