Thread: Got a bad feeling

If the MS gets in your lake you have carp. Wolfe is yet another example. I see huge gators and record gar being taken and wonder if carp is now on their menu. It apperars they can't keep up. .

They can fix oxbows for all intents and purposes as long as there is enough Rotenone. The west is a shining example.

Many years ago, the rainbow trout was the end-all-be-all of table fish. It was inexpensive to farm, adaptable to local streams, good enough to eat, and reached trophy sizes- not like the smaller, native brook and cutthroat trout that dotted blue line streams. At the time, subspecies of trout weren't regarded as unique or valuable, at least, not as valuable as the rainbow trout. Subsequently, wildlife agencies would literally sterilize a stream in the name of progress. Once all of the native trout were gone, the streams were re-stocked with rainbow trout.

Fast forward a few decades and the conservation/sustainability model changed quite a bit and folks saw the value in truly native fish. Aquaculture practices caught up with demand and it became feasible to locate severely threatened trout subspecies, successfully spawn them, and reintroduce those fish back into their native habitat. Of course, they would have no chance of competing with larger, more aggressive rainbow trout. So, what do you do?

Poison the stream again! Believe it or not, the powers that be just re-poisoned everything and restocked with the native fish. Shoot, it worked great in the 50's, might as well work just as well in the 2000's.

The restocking programs are wildly successful.

Start small and work up. Electroshock an oxbow to collect the biggest/most prized fish, poison the rest, and restock with game fish. They'll be back in balance- perhaps healthier- than they were before. Of course, any river intrusion will mess the whole thing up...