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SCOFIELD RESERVOIR, Carbon County — The Division of Wildlife Resources is seeking public input about the fishery at Scofield Reservoir.
Historically, Scofield Reservoir has been a great fishing spot for rainbow trout, according to the DWR. However, chub were observed in the lake in 2005 and since then their population has grown exponentially, peaking in 2009. Due to the large chub population, which isn’t good for sport fish like trout, DWR biologists altered their management approach from a family fishery to a trophy fishery.
As a result, large predators like cutthroat and tiger trout were stocked in Scofield Reservoir to try to control the chub population, and biologists have seen a steady decline in the population of the younger, smaller chub.
“We have no indication that what we’re doing right now is failing. As a matter of fact, it looks promising; it’s exactly what we expected to see,” DWR southeastern aquatics manager Justin Hart said in a statement. “The problem is it’s going to take a while for the larger chub to die, and people don’t want to wait. We need to get rid of the chubs. That could potentially be through a rotenone treatment. It could also be through using different species of predators that we’ve never used before in Scofield, such as sterile walleye or wiper.”
Before making any major changes, DWR officials would like to get the public’s input on what anglers would like to happen with the fishery. DWR has launched an online survey that will be available until Nov. 1. Biologists are hoping to learn what fish anglers would like to catch at Scofield and what management plan people would like to see implemented for the chub.
“We’re hoping to get feedback from the public on what direction we’d like to take Scofield in the future,” Hart said.
Fisheries managers will consider angler responses from the survey as they decide whether to continue using predators to manage the fishery or to treat it with rotenone instead. Rotenone is a tool used to remove fish from lakes and rivers that are not meeting the goals of fisheries managers or the public.
Click here to take the survey.
