DWR Fish Stocking

Just read in the Utah Fish Information that Strawberry Reservoir has stocked 2 separate Kokanee batches on 5 Jan 2009. First batch quantity 220,313- average length is 1.09". Second batch quantity 142,125- average length 1.15". And let there be KOKES!

That's a good thing and a bad thing. planting that size just means more feed for the carp (cutthroat) in that water.

Unfortunately when they are that many, DWR is making sure some kind of survival rate.

Are the Kokes there any bit stunted? We have some lakes out here that get planted too heavily plus some natural reproduction and the result is a lot of small fish.

The kokanee in Strawberry are not stunted at all. First, its a large and fertile reservoir with plenty of feed. Second, a good portion of those fingerling kokes are eaten by the reservoirs abundant trophy cutthroat. Strawberry is often underated as a kokanee fishery because its a bit more difficult than flaming gorge to find consistent success. But, having spent my first 6 downrigging years chasing kokes on Strawberry I can say with out a doubt that the kokanee in strawberry are big, healthy, and abundant. But, with that said, its still only #2 in Utah becuase of Flaming Gorge.

D-T, tell me a little bit about the cutthroat at Strawberry. Is it the most popular target at Strawberry? How are they fished for in the lake?

yeah digi troller ct plants kokes twice within 1 month of each other hereby as a backup plan incase the first planting grenades insurance for sure

Here is a website from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resourses that describes the reservoirs history, and fish management. http://wildlife.utah.gov/strawberry/

Cutthroat are definately the most targeted species. They provide excellent fishing, and grow pretty large because of the plentiful feed in the reservoir. Cutts are easy to catch. They'll take lures, flies, bait, or whatever. In fact, while targetting kokes you'll catch cutts. Sometimes they become a nuisance if youre dead set on putting kokes in the cooler. Kokanee fishing can be excellent too, but seems less predictable than Flaming Gorge. Rainbow trout grow very large in this reservoir too.

Check out that website. Its a nice reservoir and one worth spending some time at. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Another stock report-Kokanee has been planted at Sheep Creek 83,980 little suckers @1.96" on 3-18-09. For those of you that don't where Sheep Creek is, its Flaming Gorge.