Sharelunker program

1209 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Mattsabasser, May 5, 2005

Methiolate Man

Discussion Starter · May 3, 2005

Why doesn't Colorado have a sharelunker program for big trout. Texas has one for largemouth bass. If you catch a 13 pounder or bigger, DOW will come get the fish and then use the fishes eggs in the hatcheries. This way they ensure the fry to have strong genes. If you catch a sharelunker, the state gives you your fishing license free the rest of your life. I think that is a really good idea. It can't be that expensive. People in Colorado fall head over heals for trout, why not give them even bigger fish.

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· #2 · May 3, 2005

Texans are obsessed with size. Hats, trucks, belt buckles, motors on their boats, ranch size, etc.

Probably 90+% of trout in CO are stocked/transplanted/augmented and those are spawned from brood fish which are the big ones. Go to the Pueblo hatchery and look at the brood females, they are bigger than most Texas bass. In reality though, trout rearing in CO is not done for size reasons, they are reared for numbers.

By the way, I am a Texan....by birth.

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TroutFishingBear

· #3 · May 3, 2005

Hmmm. that's interesting but I don't think they would do it. Our trout, especially in rivers, spawn very productively the way it is. The colorado river around glenwood springs is a prime example. If you go to exit 109 off of I-70 canyon creek between mid march and until canyon creek blows out, you will see monster bows all over the place in that big hole.There are also probably some of the canyon creek native bows spawning in there, and I have seen a few big cutthroat in there too. Seeing hundreds of 18-36" rainbows spawning in a hole is amazing. Thank god DOW closed it to fishing a few years ago during the spawn times (which are correct for rainbows and slightly off for browns.), even though a bunch of people still try to fish it. I am very glad they close it. Because of this, I can see why our DOW doesn't do a share lunker program for trout, it would be a waste of money for them, especially when they could just go down and scoop up as many big bows as they want to spawn anyway, without having to by fishing licenses for a bunch of anglers. At least that's my view on it.

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IceInTheVeins

· #4 · May 4, 2005

dkooser said:
Texans are obsessed with size. Hats, trucks, belt buckles, motors on their boats, ranch size, etc.

Probably 90+% of trout in CO are stocked/transplanted/augmented and those are spawned from brood fish which are the big ones. Go to the Pueblo hatchery and look at the brood females, they are bigger than most Texas bass. In reality though, trout rearing in CO is not done for size reasons, they are reared for numbers.

By the way, I am a Texan....by birth.

Real trout are always far bigger than largemouth bass anyway. I think Colorado needs to start managing for trophies more in many lakes and I think it may be a good idea for them to do this. However the Colorado River is the brood stock for much of the hatcheries in the whole state.

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wmccree

· #5 · May 4, 2005

I think most would have a hard time keeping trout alive long enough to transport even if the DOW/TU wanted to adopt the program.

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andyrm66

· #6 · May 5, 2005

Forget the trout, why not do it for bass, and eye's?

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Mattsabasser

· #7 · May 5, 2005

Catch and release...that's my program. Throw 'em back and they just get bigger and bigger.

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epic

· #8 · May 5, 2005

Mattsabasser said:
Catch and release...that's my program. Throw 'em back and they just get bigger and bigger.

I wish that was true, alot of fish in Colorado get stunted, I'm not a biologist so I dont know why. Food, reservoir size, fishing pressure, habitat, climate and I'm sure a whole bunch of other stuff all has something to do with it.

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Mattsabasser

· #9 · May 5, 2005

Stunting will occur if the fish begin to over-populate. Smaller waters are more at risk and this can develop sooner if predator/prey ratios become out of balance. This is a much easier and better problem to manage in my view compared to re-stocking fingerlings. (Slot limits help but can actually create gaps in generation cycles if heavily pressured.)

Catch and release is just my personal choice and wish I could see more of it...especially for bass on metro waters. A lot of my favorite lakes have taken a real pounding and the fishing has dropped considerably. The lakes that are managed as catch and release fish much better in my opinion. More fish, bigger fish, that's what I'm after.

I'm not here to preach but there's gotta be more fishing close to home that's not bait and take. Out of all the metro lakes, I know of 2 lakes that are managed as C&R. (One is semi-public and one is private.) They both hold trophy size fish and stunting has never been a problem.

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