04-08-2003, 06:02 AM
[pirate]
Okay, I'll put my 50 cents worth in on this one. I'd make it 2 cents worth, but that wouldn't cover it.
I have fished Minersville since 1978. I've actually been at the reservoir for two of the last 4 rotenone treatments. I was participating in a year long creel survey with the Utah DWR when the proposal to make it an artificial flies and lures water came up. I was the one who took Doug Miller to fish there in '97. ( I took a lot of flack from the locals for that.) But I've seen more people from the surrounding towns break the law, than those who come from other parts of the state.
There are more big fish now than there ever was when the regulations allowed bait. I'll bet lots of guys from the area will disagree, but just because you aren't catching them doesn't mean they aren't there. Also, when bait was allowed, the fishing would be great for two years after a rotenone treatment. Then there would be two mediocre years. Then two LOUSY years. Then the DWR would poison it, and it would be closed for one or two years. so you would have two good, and two fair years out of 8. Since the artificial lure regulations, there has been good fishing every year. Even the year that they drained it was good fishing. The fishing last year was not exceptional, but was WAY better than the years before the rotenone treatment in '92.
I went to the proclamation meeting and tried to talk the DWR out of making Minersville artificial lures only. I said that the locals would be unfairly burdened. There isn't another good sized reservoir or lake for 80 or more miles away. I suggested Otter Creek or Piute reservoir. They are fairly close together. Someone who wanted to go to one to use bait wouldn't have to go very far if his favorite fishing hole was changed to artificial lures only. But the cormorants are worse at Minersville, and the DWR owns a 15 foot conservation pool in Minersville reservoir. They can't keep putting little planters in to feed the cormorants, so we've got to catch and release bigger fish or just give up on Minersville.
I've heard the complaint that the old folks and the little kids can't fish without bait. Hogwash. There is a guy who lives in the town of Minersville who is my hero. He has been a dyed in the wool fly fisherman for years. I have convinced him to carry a spinning rod, and to fish like I do. He carries both, and when he isn't having any luck on the fly rod, he breaks out the spinning rod. He had hip replacement surgery a few years back. That was in November. The next March I saw him wading out in the reservoir. The guy is like 74 or 75 years old, and he doesn't need to drown worms to catch fish.
And as far as kids, a guy I work with brought his 5 year old daughter over one day while I was fishing. I showed her dad how to rig her pole, and he turned her loose. Kids can't let a baited pole just sit still anyway. She caught a 5 lb rainbow that day. Probably the biggest trout she had ever even seen until that day.
Some of you are probaly asking why I don't tell you all how I fish at Minersville. I'll tell you why I don't. One day I was knocking them dead. There was a retired school teacher from the area out in a float tube. His brother had come down from Idaho to fish with him. I caught 9 fish in 10 casts. It would have been 9 for nine, but I missed one. They both were going nuts. I told them what I was using. I told them what color. I even cast my line over to them so they could take a look. We were fishing the same part of the res. They would cast in from their tubes to about the same place that I would cast to from the shore. There were a few other people fishing down the shore from us too. They went back to their truck, and I could hear them talking about coming back the next day. The guy from Idaho said "If we're coming back tomorrow, take me to Beaver now so I can buy the same type of lures that guy is using" I hollered over that it sounded like he had been converted. He hollered back and said he was. Three or four days later there were twenty guys lined up using the same type of rig that I use. Not everyone knew all of the little nuances to the technique, so after a few weeks I had the area to myself again. I'll pass on another deal like that, thanks.
I don't call Minersville reservoir a "Tropy Fishery". I call it a "Limited Harvest Fishery". It is too far away from the nearest hatchery, and doesn't generate the revenue that Quail Creek or Otter Creek do. It's never going to get planted with the number of fish required to allow everyone and their dog to drown worms and keep a mess of fish all of the time. Catch 'em, let 'em go, let 'em grow, and catch 'em again. Find a technique, or pattern that works, and there are TONS of 19 to 21 inch fish in Minersville. If people would quit taking that one 18 incher home for dinner, there would be TONS of 22 to 28 inch fish in there.
Enough for now,
Fishrmn
Okay, I'll put my 50 cents worth in on this one. I'd make it 2 cents worth, but that wouldn't cover it.
I have fished Minersville since 1978. I've actually been at the reservoir for two of the last 4 rotenone treatments. I was participating in a year long creel survey with the Utah DWR when the proposal to make it an artificial flies and lures water came up. I was the one who took Doug Miller to fish there in '97. ( I took a lot of flack from the locals for that.) But I've seen more people from the surrounding towns break the law, than those who come from other parts of the state.
There are more big fish now than there ever was when the regulations allowed bait. I'll bet lots of guys from the area will disagree, but just because you aren't catching them doesn't mean they aren't there. Also, when bait was allowed, the fishing would be great for two years after a rotenone treatment. Then there would be two mediocre years. Then two LOUSY years. Then the DWR would poison it, and it would be closed for one or two years. so you would have two good, and two fair years out of 8. Since the artificial lure regulations, there has been good fishing every year. Even the year that they drained it was good fishing. The fishing last year was not exceptional, but was WAY better than the years before the rotenone treatment in '92.
I went to the proclamation meeting and tried to talk the DWR out of making Minersville artificial lures only. I said that the locals would be unfairly burdened. There isn't another good sized reservoir or lake for 80 or more miles away. I suggested Otter Creek or Piute reservoir. They are fairly close together. Someone who wanted to go to one to use bait wouldn't have to go very far if his favorite fishing hole was changed to artificial lures only. But the cormorants are worse at Minersville, and the DWR owns a 15 foot conservation pool in Minersville reservoir. They can't keep putting little planters in to feed the cormorants, so we've got to catch and release bigger fish or just give up on Minersville.
I've heard the complaint that the old folks and the little kids can't fish without bait. Hogwash. There is a guy who lives in the town of Minersville who is my hero. He has been a dyed in the wool fly fisherman for years. I have convinced him to carry a spinning rod, and to fish like I do. He carries both, and when he isn't having any luck on the fly rod, he breaks out the spinning rod. He had hip replacement surgery a few years back. That was in November. The next March I saw him wading out in the reservoir. The guy is like 74 or 75 years old, and he doesn't need to drown worms to catch fish.
And as far as kids, a guy I work with brought his 5 year old daughter over one day while I was fishing. I showed her dad how to rig her pole, and he turned her loose. Kids can't let a baited pole just sit still anyway. She caught a 5 lb rainbow that day. Probably the biggest trout she had ever even seen until that day.
Some of you are probaly asking why I don't tell you all how I fish at Minersville. I'll tell you why I don't. One day I was knocking them dead. There was a retired school teacher from the area out in a float tube. His brother had come down from Idaho to fish with him. I caught 9 fish in 10 casts. It would have been 9 for nine, but I missed one. They both were going nuts. I told them what I was using. I told them what color. I even cast my line over to them so they could take a look. We were fishing the same part of the res. They would cast in from their tubes to about the same place that I would cast to from the shore. There were a few other people fishing down the shore from us too. They went back to their truck, and I could hear them talking about coming back the next day. The guy from Idaho said "If we're coming back tomorrow, take me to Beaver now so I can buy the same type of lures that guy is using" I hollered over that it sounded like he had been converted. He hollered back and said he was. Three or four days later there were twenty guys lined up using the same type of rig that I use. Not everyone knew all of the little nuances to the technique, so after a few weeks I had the area to myself again. I'll pass on another deal like that, thanks.
I don't call Minersville reservoir a "Tropy Fishery". I call it a "Limited Harvest Fishery". It is too far away from the nearest hatchery, and doesn't generate the revenue that Quail Creek or Otter Creek do. It's never going to get planted with the number of fish required to allow everyone and their dog to drown worms and keep a mess of fish all of the time. Catch 'em, let 'em go, let 'em grow, and catch 'em again. Find a technique, or pattern that works, and there are TONS of 19 to 21 inch fish in Minersville. If people would quit taking that one 18 incher home for dinner, there would be TONS of 22 to 28 inch fish in there.
Enough for now,
Fishrmn