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I really don't mean to stir the pot but, Tell me again why the ling are so bad? They taste great, are easy to catch, the lake trout eat them, people travel to the F.G. to fish for them all winter,there are 3 ice fishing Derby's now (that I know of), and they are every bit as indigenous as all the other sport fish species in F.G.? It's just very hard to understand when on one side of the great divide we are really trying to eliminate them completely, and on the other side we restrict limits and spend money on research to boost their population?Like I said I'm not trying to step on anybodies toes, Just a bit confused.
Doh, they are slimy, smell like wet wool socks, and will eat anything that swims including kokanee that are so beloved. They will also eat the windling in mumbers smallmouth bass.
Well fair enough then, I will trade you all my carp fishing opportunity's over here for your ling!
Well to answer your question with another question....what species of fish are in the lakes that have ling in them on the other side of the divide. Now that you have that picture in your head, picture the gorge. Trout, kokanee, and smallmouth bass for the most part. The only real predator is supposed to the lake trout. Now there are two species of predators in the lake that will eat anything...and their main food source is kokanee salmon. the koke numbers are dropping and so are the rest of the game fish including rainbow trout and a big hit to the smallmouth because the bass live in the same spots of the lake as the ling do. Not to mention the ling have eaten all of the crayfish that the bass use to survive. The species of fish in the Gorge are not built to live with the ling.Thanks Trent,,,Boysen has a good population of walleye and the ling are way fewer than they used to be, Have the wallies or cats thinned them out I don't know. Good question fpr G&F. The limit is 3 on Boysen.
The fish assemblage in FG is almost completely artificial (introduced nonnative fishes). The problem with burbot is that there are already too many predators in the lake (lakers, rainbows, brown trout, smallmouth). What ultimately drives the energy (food) in the reservoir is the phytoplankton, and zooplankton that consume it. The zooplankton is then consumed by the kokanee (and other planktivores), which can then be consumed by the predators in the lake. When the balance between planktivores and predators gets out of whack, the link between the energy source (plankton) and the predators is broken.While lake trout may consume burbot, burbot are not planktivores and could ultimately affect the kokanee and the lake trout in FG both through direct predation and by disrupting the food web.Hope that did not sound too much like a lecture!.
I don't even like seeing folks throw suckers up on the bank.