Page 15 - hunt tab 2013.indd
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August 2013
HUNTING & FISHING 2013
15
L
ast fall, the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife stocked East Lake
just south of Bend with a Canadian
strain of rainbow trout the agency
hopes will help control a potentially explo-
sive population of tui chub.
A fair number of these Blackwater trout
are now being caught by anglers and ODFW
is reminding anglers they can’t keep these
fish as part of their daily bag limit.
“Right now, we’re evaluating the Blackwa-
ters to see if they can help control tui chub
populations,” said Jen Luke, ODFW fish bi-
ologist. “There may be some opportunity to
harvest the Blackwater trout in the future
but for now it’s strictly catch and release.”
Anglers can identify the Blackwater trout
by the intact adipose fin, the small fin on the
trout’s back between the tail and the large
dorsal fin. Traditional hatchery rainbow
trout have had the fin removed (fin-clipped)
and may still be retained.
“If a rainbow trout still has its adipose fin
anglers need to release it unharmed,” Luke
said.
The release of 10,000 Blackwater trout into
East Lake is a part of ODFW’s on-going ef-
forts to control tui chub populations in lake.
This strain of rainbow trout is very aggres-
sive and within a year can begin feeding on
small bait fish like tui chub.
According to Luke, tui chub are not native
to the lake and were probably introduced in
the 1920s when the use of live bait was legal.
“The chub has been in the lake for a long
time and the populations are cyclical,” Luke
said. “It’s gotten worse over the last 10 or 15
years and we were starting to get complaints
from anglers about the quality of the trout
and kokanee fisheries.”
Tui chub reproduce quickly and compete
with rainbow trout and kokanee for food.
ODFW has used a two-prong approach to
try to reduce and control tui chub numbers:
trapping and removing tui chub when they
gather on the shallow spawning grounds in
the early summer, and introducing a top tier
predator that will eat tui chub.
Since 2010, the agency and local volunteers
have removed 48,500 pounds of tui chub from
the lake (approximately 250,000 fish) with
funding from the agency’s Fish Restoration
and Enhancement Fund and matching funds
from local angling clubs, OSU Cascades and
local resorts. The goal is to knock down the
tui chub population enough that it can be
kept in check by Blackwater trout.
ODFW is using the same approach to re-
move chub from Paulina and Lava lakes. Pau-
lina Lake has been stocked with the predato-
ry Eagle Lakes strain of rainbow trout that,
like the Blackwater, should prey on tui chub
and grow to trophy size. Also like the Black-
water, the Eagle Lake trout are not fin-clipped
and must be released unharmed.
Early indications suggest the chub removal
in East Lake is paying off.
“We have data from 2011 and 2012 that
show an overall improvement in health and
condition of trout,” Luke said. “And anglers
have been reporting this is one of the best
years for trout fishing in East Lake in a long
time.”
ODFW will continue to monitor the trout
fishery and tui chub populations to see if
trapping continues to be effective.
— ODFW
Release non- nclipped rainbow trout in East, Paulina lakes
OSU-Cascades intern Joseph
Capria is part of the ODFW
team trapping tui chub on
East Lake; So far this year,
more than 10,000 pounds of
the sh have been removed
OSU-Cascades
intern Joseph
Capria is part of
the ODFW team
trapping tui chub
on East Lake. So
far this year, more
than 10,000
pounds of the fish
have been
removed.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO:
ODFW
