Belated Report From the SJ Freshwater Fisheries Forum

[Dave B.]

I actually have a moment during lunch here to jump online so here goes. First my thanks to 'Uglystick' and 'Surfrod' for their posts clarifying the details on the Aquaflor. I thought I saw you there Rob, you left just after the Q & A with Jeff I believe? I was sitting in the back as usual, BS'ing with Lisa and Chris Smith.
And Rob you are correct there are no plans to change the strain of rainbows currently in use. Also I do believe you're correct in stating that a small percentage of the 'bows were briefly exposed but none ever tested positive. I'll double check that with Lisa though to be sure.

Iceehot6766, if you encounter any fish with such lesions whether trout or other species I would strongly recommend you contact the Lebanon lab as soon as possible. Taking photos at least would be very helpful but ideally they would prefer to have the whole fish if possible. The number for Lebanon is (908) 236-2118. Explain to whoever answers why you're calling and try to have species and location info at hand.

Time to get back to work!

Originally Posted by Dave B.

I actually have a moment during lunch here to jump online so here goes. First my thanks to 'Uglystick' and 'Surfrod' for their posts clarifying the details on the Aquaflor. I thought I saw you there Rob, you left just after the Q & A with Jeff I believe? I was sitting in the back as usual, BS'ing with Lisa and Chris Smith.
And Rob you are correct there are no plans to change the strain of rainbows currently in use. Also I do believe you're correct in stating that a small percentage of the 'bows were briefly exposed but none ever tested positive. I'll double check that with Lisa though to be sure.

Iceehot6766, if you encounter any fish with such lesions whether trout or other species I would strongly recommend you contact the Lebanon lab as soon as possible. Taking photos at least would be very helpful but ideally they would prefer to have the whole fish if possible. The number for Lebanon is (908) 236-2118. Explain to whoever answers why you're calling and try to have species and location info at hand.

Time to get back to work!

Will do Dave and thanks again for your service and response...I just put that number in my phone.....I can only speak for myself, so I appreciate it.....

[surfrod]

Originally Posted by Dave B.

I actually have a moment during lunch here to jump online so here goes. First my thanks to 'Uglystick' and 'Surfrod' for their posts clarifying the details on the Aquaflor. I thought I saw you there Rob, you left just after the Q & A with Jeff I believe? I was sitting in the back as usual, BS'ing with Lisa and Chris Smith.
And Rob you are correct there are no plans to change the strain of rainbows currently in use. Also I do believe you're correct in stating that a small percentage of the 'bows were briefly exposed but none ever tested positive. I'll double check that with Lisa though to be sure.

Iceehot6766, if you encounter any fish with such lesions whether trout or other species I would strongly recommend you contact the Lebanon lab as soon as possible. Taking photos at least would be very helpful but ideally they would prefer to have the whole fish if possible. The number for Lebanon is (908) 236-2118. Explain to whoever answers why you're calling and try to have species and location info at hand.

Time to get back to work!

Dave, I hung around in the back for part of Chris's talk, then had to book out.

Thanks again for the great summary (and the lab #)!

Tight lines,
Rob

[NorthJerzyG]

Just wondering about the large stockings in the non scheduled locations. If I understand correctly, these will be one time stockings prior to the posted preseason dates? And, will these be done in multiple locations or just one spot within the posted areas?

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by NorthJerzyG

Just wondering about the large stockings in the non scheduled locations. If I understand correctly, these will be one time stockings prior to the posted preseason dates? And, will these be done in multiple locations or just one spot within the posted areas?

Sorry about the delayed reply 'NJG', been a little busy lately. I don't have the answer to all of your questions but you are correct in that these will be 1 time stockings. The folks at Freshwater Fisheries hope to be able to get these fish out prior to the Mar 17 closure to allow anglers a chance to pursue them early, prior to the season closure, but that is yet to be finalized.

As for whether or not the fish will be spread out in the various waters, in the lakes it would depend on how much access there is for the trucks to utilize. In the rivers listed I would like to believe that they would make an effort to distribute the fish as much as reasonably possible. Of course this depends a great deal on the extent of safe streamside access there is for the large trucks.

One thing I can tell you is that none of the larger stockings, that is those of 8,000 and up, will be a single truck as the capacity on the trucks is about 4,000 and that's pushing their design capacity. Since it's going to take a major effort by the Div staff to distribute all these fish I have to believe the F&G Council will agree to allowing them to complete the early stockings as planned so as not to impact the rest of the normal pre-season stockings.

The only other issue I don't have an answer for and the folks in Freshwater Fisheries won't either until after the Mar 11 F&W Council meeting is whether or not those particular waters will be open or closed to fishing during the normal pre-season stocking closure. Like everyone else I'll be waiting to see what these decisions are in the next couple of weeks.

[NorthJerzyG]

Thanks again for all the hard work. And keeping us well informed!!