Too many rainbows in Boysen?

[LingEater]

Hello Everyone.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen many perch at all over the past several years and I sure would like to catch more
Crappie as well. So, yesterday I gutted a big rainbow and that thing was full of 3 inch crappies. Saw some photos of other rainbows full of crappies as well.. That and the fact that WGFD stiocks around 175,000 rainbows in Boysen every year makes me wonder how many more prized fish like perch, crappie and even walleye would be in that lake if those aggressive rainbows weren’t eating everything. Wondering if it isn’t time to ask WGFD to chill out on their stocking program. Wondering what you all think.

[huntinfool18]

I’m on board. I think we have plenty of trout fishing in Wyoming. It’d be nice to have some lake managed for other species. Boysen is centrally located in the state so I think I’d be a good place and they can’t come up with excuses like it’s going to hurt the ecosystem as they are already present in there.
Bluegill would be awesome to have in there as well.

[musclewhitefish]

So, a couple things with my amateur opinion.

Looking at the stocking report. https://wgfapps.wyo.gov/FishStock/FishStock

There are stocking bigger rainbows for the most part, so they are not eaten by the walleye/sauger/burbot etc.

They have also stocked Kokanee and Cutthroats into the lake, which is interesting to say the least.

If the Kokanee can take hold, then you will have more food for all species even perch.

In other lakes, the reason why rainbows are stocked is they are give and take due to their popularity. There is a reason why Rainbows are the most stocked fish in the west. It is because people love to catch them. So, rainbows are the prize. A few of us get tired of rainbows and want to catch something else, but we are the minority.

The other thing with perch and crappie, is they breed at an incredible rate. I know they do  not recommend Crappie for stocking farm ponds, because they breed so fast. One female crappie can spawn up to 60,000 eyes per cycle.  The average spawn size per perch is 23,000 per female. You do not need many breeders to maintain a population. Stocking them may cause an over population. Trout on the other hand only spawn up to 3,000 per female. So, numbers would suggest you would need to stock more trout.  I am not sure if the Wyoming stock of Rainbow trout they stock is sterile or not. I would assume so, because it makes the fish more aggressive and allows it to put on weight faster. There may be a native population, but I know some states (Utah and Nevada) like to stock sterile trout for recreation (Give and take) fisheries.

There are a lot of mouths to feed in Boysen. Catfish, Burbot, Walleye, Sauger, Perch, Crappie, etc And there can be an abundance of food as long as the lake conditions provide it. I never thought it was a particularly good perch lake, but the ones that can survive get big.

It is probably a monster to try and manage with the mixture of warm and cold water fish, but the fact that there are a few state records to the reservoirs name means that it is managed quite well.

[appleye]

Having watched the boom/ bust of perch and crappie in Boysen since the 80's. It's more a matter of time before it comes back. Predator's eat each other it's what they do. Trout have been stocked always. I don't agree with it but it's how the state manages things and it's what they have. The Kokanee eat zo plankton and as said will be food for a short time until they get too big which less that a year unless its a lake trout. Just remember we are in a drought period so number go down as the water goes down. I also feel there are a ton of fish no one fishing for in the middle of the lake around the trees, which hold a ton of life.

[SLAYERFISH]

I think a lot of people fish for walleyes and they only catch a few perch as a by-catch.  It takes a LOT of searching to find the Boysen perch piles.

And the perch tend to go where the walleye aren't!

[fish/hunt4ever]

Last year for the derby we fished a spot that we always have caught perch at, but later in the ice season and last year we were almost fishing new ice. But we did not catch any perch at all. During the summer out of the boat I could find some piles of perch but not the big ones of the past but the walleye fishing has gotten better the last few years and with high number of walleye usually for us means lower population of perch just been this way for the 30+ years I have been watching and fishing boysen. Ole fish might have some better reports on the lake as I just really have been trying to learn walleye fishing the last 10 or so years, well always but getting better at it, and I have seen this, at least with the trout you can usually have a few flags to keep it interesting instead of a few years ago when they did not stock trout and those years made it so you did not want to go back out ice fishing on the lake.

[ClearCreek]

Last year for the derby we fished a spot that we always have caught perch at, but later in the ice season and last year we were almost fishing new ice. But we did not catch any perch at all. During the summer out of the boat I could find some piles of perch but not the big ones of the past but the walleye fishing has gotten better the last few years and with high number of walleye usually for us means lower population of perch just been this way for the 30+ years I have been watching and fishing boysen. Ole fish might have some better reports on the lake as I just really have been trying to learn walleye fishing the last 10 or so years, well always but getting better at it, and I have seen this, at least with the trout you can usually have a few flags to keep it interesting instead of a few years ago when they did not stock trout and those years made it so you did not want to go back out ice fishing on the lake.

Trout have been stocked in Boyson every year since at least 1986, and I believe each year prior to 1986 for many years.  The stocking records on the G&F website only lets you search back to 1986.

ClearCreek

[LingEater]

[LingEater]

This batch came out of one rainbow. I get the natural predator/prey cycles, but If we’re going to crash perch and crappie populations, I’d like to see more and larger walleye instead of more and larger trout. Plenty of other trout lakes in WY.

[LingEater]

Different fish, same story.

[reelrusty]

  Hmmm....well, at least those of us who really don't mind a limit of those tasty Boysen Rainbows in the smoker a few times a year now know what bait profile to use! Thanks LingEater!

[LingEater]

WGFD’s 2022 lander angler newsletter show slightly increasing walleye populations over the last ten years and a huge spike in the number of mature rainbows, especially over the last 3-5 years, which coincides with the perch crash.

[POk3s]

Hard to form an opinion on this besides just thinking out loud. Rainbows have ALWAYS been stocked in Boysen. Does that mean it’s still right? I don’t know? Have they always eaten this many crappie? I also don’t know. I think the rainbows are probably taking the brunt of the punishment here because they’re doing so well while the rest of the species is really slow fishing.

[WYcoyote]

After planting rainbows every year I wonder why there isn't more 8 to 12 pound trout caught.

Most seem to be fairly similar in size. Not sure how that can be possible.

[waterlike]

Do the rainbows in Boysen have orange meat?  In some of these photos it appears they do.  Maybe someone could educate me.  Does boysen have scuds like other wyoming lakes that produce orange/pink meat trout.  What percentage of their diet does it take to produce orange meat? Do trout slowly switch their diet as they get bigger?  Does this change the color of the meat if they switch from scuds to fingerlings of other fish?  I have no idea about any of these questions, but very interested in knowing. 

[fish/hunt4ever]

I know a few guys trolling thus summer out in 60 foot of water with downriggers caught some trout in the 6 to 8 lb range. Seen a few bigger ones several years ago when the ge and fish stocked the eagle trout those things got big and would bite right at the bank and usually break the line as you where throwing lures, at least that is what they did to us anyways. Not sure of the diet in the lake but the ones I have kept have anything from crawdads to minnows in them.

[Keith Walters]

I think the crawdads will help give them the orange meat.
Good fishing and Happy New Year to all.

[Team H]

Bummer. We specifically go to Boysen to catch the bigger rainbow. We like the walleye there too. There's just good sized fish in that lake period. Have you tired Keyhole for crappie? There's a lot of them in that water.

[Dorado]

Every walleye and big perch I caught was stuffed full of small crappie on the 2 trips I made.  I have kept rainbows in Boysen for years and never saw many fish in their bellies, most are jammed with zooplankton.  The rainbows have a lot of crappie in their stomachs this year because there are a lot of small crappies!!!!

Game and fish surveys have shown a clear correlation between walleye abundance and perch abundance. When there’s a lot of walleye, they eat most of the perch. It’s a very common cycle don’t blame the rainbows!