# Chubs



## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

I was just wondering- what are the regulations on chubs at Strawberry, and other lakes/reservoirs that seem to be taken over by them? Are they considered a non-game species, without a limit, and penalties for not using their parts? If I were to catch one, would it be illegal to just throw it up on shore to rot? I know that the smaller chubs provide a good food source for the bigger cutthroats, but there seem to be a lot of larger ones as well, ones that would be much too big for a slot-sized cutt to gobble up. And there seems to be TONS of them.


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

I rip the gills out of the ones I catch and then return them to the water. They will die.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

I just read over the proc. Sounds like they can be used as bait on lakes where they are caught that bait is legal. That's a good idea to rip out their gills. I'll have to remember that one.


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> I know that the smaller chubs provide a good food source for the bigger cutthroats, but there seem to be a lot of larger ones as well, ones that would be much too big for a slot-sized cutt to gobble up.


There was an article in the paper last year that they are going to plant larger trout in Strawberry because the fingerlings were eaten before they were large enough to be caught. I think they figure big trout will eat little trout up to +/- 8 inches, I wonder if they can handle chubs that size.

Also, I have heard a lot of guys tip jigs with a strip of chub meat up there.


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## Poo Pie (Nov 23, 2007)

americanforkdude said:


> I rip the gills out of the ones I catch and then return them to the water. They will die.


+1- then they don't stink up the shore and lay there for my lab to roll around in them!


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## metal_fish (Mar 19, 2008)

Poo Pie said:


> americanforkdude said:
> 
> 
> > I rip the gills out of the ones I catch and then return them to the water. They will die.
> ...


And it gives somethin for the craws to eat!


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

whats that about handling an 8 inch chub? 
i have caught a lot of 12-13 inchers over the last few years, but for the size of cutts i catch, they are still bait!! i agree about leaving them on the shore, but only after a 15-20 yard punt :lol: :lol:


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

deadicated1 said:


> whats that about handling an 8 inch chub?


I wonder how an 8 inch chub compares to an 8 inch trout as a forage fish. I would imagine it is more difficult for a large cutt to swallow an 8 inch chub than an 8 inch trout.

Also, the article I read said that planting trout 8 inches and larger would increases survivorship, rather than planting fingerlings.


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## wizbang (Feb 14, 2008)

we were guiding some scouts and hooked into a large cut that was 23 inches long. While measuring it it barfed up a 12 in fish. Pretty awesome. Half digested but still in tacked.


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## great googly moogly (Jan 26, 2008)

kill all the **** carp too


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Well that settles it- the only way I'll be releasing chubs is dead. :twisted:


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

That is a good way to go!


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

For sure kill all the chubs you catch at Strawberry. There is no reason to release alive fish that have and will continue to create such a devistating problem for such a potentially world class fishery. I am not for throwing chubs on the bank. This to me is the same as littering. I like the "pulling the gills out" method to kill them but another suggestion is to puncture the swim bladder either with a knife or by squeezing the belly really hard. By puncturing the swimm bladder and returning them to the water they will provide nutrients to the fishery (food for the craws) but they will not float to wash up on shore to "pollute" the shoreline. As for the predation of fish, everything I have read suggests that the size of pray fish is more important than the species. In other words, if 50% of the fish in a fishery of suitable size to be prayed upon by preditory fish are chubs and 50% are rainbows, the diet of those preditors will be 50% chubs and 50% rainbows. Now if there are very few game fish in the fishery of suitable size to be eaten, then by defalt the diet of the pescivorous fish will be allmost 100% chubs since they are the only ones that are making little fish. By the same thinking, if most of the game fish in the fishery are of suitable size to be preditors then the controle of the chubs will be exponentially more efficient. It costs more to raise game fish to be large enough to excape predation before stocking so not as many can be stocked. But if there were a limited harvest of all the game fish in the fishery then fewer larger stocked fish would be enough to replace the game fish that are harvested. Another plus for encludding all game fish in the slott limit, mainly that that would be the best way to controle the chubs along with stocking only larger game fish.


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

I never thought about puncturing the air blatter. Good idea to get 'em to sink. Crayfish will get them before too long. I have piles of crayfish attack fish just after I get them on a stringer. I consider crayfish "lake ravens" :lol:


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## Poo Pie (Nov 23, 2007)

JAT83 said:


> I never thought about puncturing the air blatter. Good idea to get 'em to sink. Crayfish will get them before too long. I have piles of crayfish attack fish just after I get them on a stringer. I consider crayfish "*lake ravens*" :lol:


Tasty little ravens!


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

That's probably true! I bought a crayfish trap a couple of years ago and I have yet to use it, but this year I am gonna try and catch a bunch!


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