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Jed Boal ReportingThe Division of Wildlife Resources went fishing for trout today in Mountain Dell Reservoir. They were pulling fish out of the water to make anglers happy all along the Wasatch Front.
In the streams above Mountain Dell and Little Dell Reservoirs, native Bonneville Cutthroat trout are spawning, swimming upstream to lay their eggs to be fertilized.
Big, healthy trout.
Fishing is not allowed in Mountain Dell, and in Little Dell there are special regulations.
Scott Root/DWR Conservation Outreach Manager: "We want to make sure that we have a good cutthroat population here. It's a perfect setting to raise beautiful cutthroat trout."
So, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources uses these protected fish as brood stock. Their offspring will populate other streams and lakes on the Wasatch Front.
Five years ago, the Bonneville Cutthroat was nearly listed as endangered.
Mike Slater/DWR Aquatic Biologist: "It's important to get the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout re-established throughout the state. And we've got an excellent source right here."
Aquatic biologists collect eggs from the females. They fertilize the eggs with the milt, or sperm, from the males.
The fertilized eggs go into a bucket. In about two weeks, those eggs will hatch. A few weeks after that those small fish, referred to as fries, will be able to feed at the surface. A month or so after that, those small fish will be stocked in lakes all along the Wasatch Front.
Mike Slater/DWR Aquatic Biologist: "Occasionally we'll put them on our back and carry them on trails into some of these lakes. But, the most effective way is always by airplane."
High lakes up in the Cottonwood Canyons and reservoirs. These cutthroats average two to three pounds, with lots of eggs. It's a fish anglers enjoy. It's fun to catch. It goes after flies, and looks impressive.
Mike Slater/DWR Aquatic Biologist: "It's a really colorful fish. It's been in Utah since Lake Bonneville, thus the name Bonneville Cutthroat Trout."
