AZGFD Paying us to fish for trout

[UggRedBilly]

https://www.azgfd.com/anglers-can-earn-cash-bonuses-during-the-brown-trout-bonanza-on-the-colorado-river/

 

They are paying people to take brown trout. Are they trying to get rid of them? Arent they native?

[trophyseeker]

6 minutes ago, UggRedBilly said:

https://www.azgfd.com/anglers-can-earn-cash-bonuses-during-the-brown-trout-bonanza-on-the-colorado-river/

 

They are paying people to take rainbow trout. Are they trying to get rid of them? Arent they native?

Reread it. 

[coueser4]

It says Brown trout. They want to remove brown trout. Pretty sure azgfd hates brown trout in AZ. Which sucks.

Brown trout > Rainbow trout. 

[jdown]

The two fish they keep trying to get rid of are the best ones.. Browns and Smallies.  

[PatrickJr]

Brown trout are not native to AZ but they really offer some of the best fishing we have. I release every brown I catch (assuming I catch any!)

[UggRedBilly]

7 minutes ago, coueser4 said:

It says Brown trout. They want to remove brown trout. Pretty sure azgfd hates brown trout in AZ. Which sucks.

Brown trout > Rainbow trout. 

My bad I meant to put brown! I was thinking rainbow for some reasom

[trophyseeker]

7 minutes ago, UggRedBilly said:

My bad I meant to put brown! I was thinking rainbow for some reasom

Neither the brown or the rainbow are native. The only AZ native trout are the Gila & the Apache. 

[trphyhntr]

Yeah screw that

[WhtMtnHunter]

I wonder how Lees Ferry Anglers feels about this.  I think the brown trout is the best thing that's happened to Lees Ferry in 40 years!  They are getting really big whereas the rainbows max out at around 16-18".

[NOTAGS]

20 minutes ago, PatrickJr said:

Brown trout are not native to AZ but they really offer some of the best fishing we have. I release every brown I catch (assuming I catch any!)

PLUS ONE!

 

Had one of the USFW goobers approach me a couple years ago at the fish clean to ask if we caught any.  I told him yes and we released them all.  He asked why  and if I knew they were trying to get rid of them.  I told him why, and yes I was.  That was the first I heard about them  considering offering a "bounty" on them and if that would change my mind.  NO! He was not very happy with our conversation.

[UggRedBilly]

7 minutes ago, NOTAGS said:

PLUS ONE!

 

Had one of the USFW goobers approach me a couple years ago at the fish clean to ask if we caught any.  I told him yes and we released them all.  He asked why  and if I knew they were trying to get rid of them.  I told him why, and yes I was.  That was the first I heard about them  considering offering a "bounty" on them and if that would change my mind.  NO! He was not very happy with our conversation.

What is the fishing like over there? I do catch and release too with barbless and I havent caught a brown trout yet

[NOTAGS]

2 hours ago, UggRedBilly said:

What is the fishing like over there? I do catch and release too with barbless and I havent caught a brown trout yet

Game changing.  Depending on time of year, it can be really good, other times  you gotta grind it hard.  I've fished it  in the winter so I could shoot ducks too, and had my hands so numb I couldnt tie on a lure.  Other days in summer  so hot, I am jumping in that ice cold river several times a day to cool off.

But 30-50 fish/person  days are not unrealistic  if you fish hard all day.  A boat is a must in my  book, and someone who knows the river will save your prop and skeg.  I see lots of first timers run straight through the many gravel bars and trash their lower units.  Know the water flow patterns and always carry a spare prop. 

[rossislider]

The browns are so much more aggressive than the rainbows that it makes it hard for the rainbows to thrive, ever survive if the population ratio gets to far out of whack. Clearly they are trying to create a better balance for rainbow survival, or make it a maybe (but unlikely) rainbow habitat entirely. I fish the Southfork of the Snake River near Swan Valley fairly regularly and have seen them do this for years. You can't keep the native cutthroats but have much more "generous" limits for browns. It hasn't hurt the brown population at all, but at least gives the cutthroats a fighting chance at survival.

[654321]

1 hour ago, rossislider said:

The browns are so much more aggressive than the rainbows that it makes it hard for the rainbows to thrive, ever survive if the population ratio gets to far out of whack. Clearly they are trying to create a better balance for rainbow survival, or make it a maybe (but unlikely) rainbow habitat entirely. I fish the Southfork of the Snake River near Swan Valley fairly regularly and have seen them do this for years. You can't keep the native cutthroats but have much more "generous" limits for browns. It hasn't hurt the brown population at all, but at least gives the cutthroats a fighting chance at survival.

Not rainbow survival they're worried about in the Colorado river, endangered native species is what they're trying to help out

[NOTAGS]

2 hours ago, 654321 said:

Not rainbow survival they're worried about in the Colorado river, endangered native species is what they're trying to help out

Some humpbacked chub sucker no gives a rip about. The browns don’t come close to competing with the ‘ bows at  Lees! You’ll catch 100 rainbow for every one brown. They’re an endangered species there. I can remember catching a brook there in the early 80’s but they were stocked and never took. My dad used to fish it in the 70’s when bait was legal, they never kept a fish under 3 lb.s.  He caught a 10.5 rainbow that looked like a hooked jaw salmon.