Owens River stocking

[retired96]

Read the latest report from Tom Loe at Sierra Drifters and he talked about the huge amount of "Dinks" being planted in the owens by DFG. His article said they were the broodstock from Hot Creek intended for the Whitney hatchery, but due to it being shut down the fish have been planted in the Owens.

He shared his concerns regarding small fish and anglers throwing back small fish that may not survive.

[TypeCast]

If they were from Hot Creek hatchery, then they were planted in the Owens because they can only stock waters that already are infested by the NZMS.

[retired96]

The main point of his letter was that there has been a huge increase in stocking of small fish. I know that the Hot Creek hatchery can only stock the Owens due to the NZMS. The last few years the Owens has produced incredible amounts of fish. I think his main concern is bait fishermen killing small fish that they won't keep for their daily limit.

[TypeCast]

Just a couple of a ton of theories on why that happened. I just read one at lunch that said they may have done it because of the rumors that the Governator was going to take 30 million out of the DFG budget, and if that happened they might not have enough money to buy enough food to feed those fish all winter.

So, better to let them fend for themselves in the wild than starve to death in a concrete raceway.

Thankfully that money did not come out of the budget.

[retired96]

Well if fishermen practice safe c/r and don't kill the 5-8 inch trout by ripping there hunk of power bait from their throats and throwing in the river to die there will be alot of large trout in the Owens a few years down the road.

[Big Country]

There no such thing as safe C&R with powerbait or other dough baits. Yeah a few will survive an occassional lip hooking, but once the bait is down the throat, it's over.

The only proven safe C&R is artifical, and the mortality rate is even better if its C&R barbless.

[TypeCast]

Well said BC......planters are put there to be taken out and if someone does it via the ol power cheeeeze im ok with that. But thinking you can C & R bait fish is ridiculous. Almost equally as ridiculous is thinking you need to leave barbs on a spinner with a treble hook on it to stay connected.

Those hooks are pretty big, and if you debarb them it's night-and-day how much easier it is to release fish without even taking them out of the water.

The stretch of the Owens between Benton Crossing and Crowley is stocked-trout paradise, in and out they go, and in my opinion, any decent sized rainbow you catch in that particular stretch was either stocked that way (Alpers, Brooder) or swam up from Crowley rather than being a 10 inch stocker that held over for several seasons. I think that is extremely rare.

But, I will say, because of the heavy stocking in that stretch, it is a great place to teach kids how to fish moving water (no obstacles on the shore, just weeds in the water) or get a newbie hooked on it because it's such easy pickins in there.

Also a good spot to warm up for your trip on Day 1 after a long drive.

[Big Country]

I agree...especially about a great area to teach kids.

[numbnuts]

I think overall the size and quality of fish stocked has decreased compared to a few years ago.

bigcountry are you doing the opener this year? i wont forget the photo of that huge brown head/skeleton you posted a while back.

[Big Country]

Strickly fall for me these days...No crowds & bigger fish. The fall trips have been epic the past couple of years with some big fish being caught by my group.

The skelton is a classic shot and the guy's story of how he found it was even better.

[fishslayer01]

The only proven safe C&R is artifical, and the mortality rate is even better if its C&R barbless.
AMEN BROTHER!
For those of you who do not fly fish you can have extremely epic days fishing using nothing but various crappie and panfish jigs on spinning gear.