09-16-2011, 06:24 PM
BigOregon.
Hello,
Hope you are able to come enjoy some Henry's Lake fishing for big brook trout. Just thought I would clear up some misconceptions that seem to appear from time to time on the rumor mill vine. Some on this site have reported or stated that female brookies planted in Henry's Lake are sterilized. I majored as a fisheries biologist in college and have learned a few things--not that I am a know-it-all, but planting sterilized females of any species in a body of water is a myth. First of all, how do you sterile a female fish? If you could, the labor would be too expensive to justify the cost.
The truth of the matter is if any sterilizing of fish is done, it is done in the egg stage and I challenge anyone to sort eggs into fertilized female eggs and fertilized male eggs. They are only one or the other AFTER fish sperm fertilizes the eggs just like human eggs and then how do you tell which one is female or male without doing an invasive genetic test on each egg?
Sterilizsed eggs are produced by chemically treating all of the fertilized eggs or raising the water temperature surrounding the eggs a few degrees causing triploid eggs. This results in a sterile fish when it hatches. To plant sterile females after this is possible but not practical or cost effective. What's the purpose? To keep brookies from spawning in Henry's Lake? The lake already has naturally reproducing brook trout. To get planted brook trout to grow bigger because they direct their energy to putting on weight instead of milt or eggs? If this was the purpose, then sterile male and female brook trout would be planted. This steril idea has been used on brookies and rainbows where no fish reproduction is wanted but not by one sex or the other. It's not practical.
Secondly, the background color of a fish (i.e. darker or lighter) is usually determined by depth of water that a fish was dwelling in and the under water cover around it at the moment it was caught. This is a fish's ability to change the background color of its body to blend in to its surroundings in order to protect itself from over head predators like eagles and blue herons. This would explain while many of the brook trout in Henry's Lake are silvery because the lake is shallow ( mostly under twenty feet deep) and plants have died down during the winter (little under water cover) and their is white colored snow overhead on top of the ice.
Best time to catch a colorful male from Henry's Lake in spawning colors would be in
September or October during spawning season. Not only would they be spawning but the water is cooler and they would be more likely to bite. I would suggest contacting the Idaho Fish and Game regional office in Idaho Falls which is over the Henry's Lake area and speak to a fisheries biologist familiar with spawning time for Henry"s Lake brookies and where and when best to catching a spawning male. Hope this is helpful. The phone number for the Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game office in Idaho Falls, Idaho is 1-208-525-7290. Best of luck.
DeeCee.
[signature]
Hello,
Hope you are able to come enjoy some Henry's Lake fishing for big brook trout. Just thought I would clear up some misconceptions that seem to appear from time to time on the rumor mill vine. Some on this site have reported or stated that female brookies planted in Henry's Lake are sterilized. I majored as a fisheries biologist in college and have learned a few things--not that I am a know-it-all, but planting sterilized females of any species in a body of water is a myth. First of all, how do you sterile a female fish? If you could, the labor would be too expensive to justify the cost.
The truth of the matter is if any sterilizing of fish is done, it is done in the egg stage and I challenge anyone to sort eggs into fertilized female eggs and fertilized male eggs. They are only one or the other AFTER fish sperm fertilizes the eggs just like human eggs and then how do you tell which one is female or male without doing an invasive genetic test on each egg?
Sterilizsed eggs are produced by chemically treating all of the fertilized eggs or raising the water temperature surrounding the eggs a few degrees causing triploid eggs. This results in a sterile fish when it hatches. To plant sterile females after this is possible but not practical or cost effective. What's the purpose? To keep brookies from spawning in Henry's Lake? The lake already has naturally reproducing brook trout. To get planted brook trout to grow bigger because they direct their energy to putting on weight instead of milt or eggs? If this was the purpose, then sterile male and female brook trout would be planted. This steril idea has been used on brookies and rainbows where no fish reproduction is wanted but not by one sex or the other. It's not practical.
Secondly, the background color of a fish (i.e. darker or lighter) is usually determined by depth of water that a fish was dwelling in and the under water cover around it at the moment it was caught. This is a fish's ability to change the background color of its body to blend in to its surroundings in order to protect itself from over head predators like eagles and blue herons. This would explain while many of the brook trout in Henry's Lake are silvery because the lake is shallow ( mostly under twenty feet deep) and plants have died down during the winter (little under water cover) and their is white colored snow overhead on top of the ice.
Best time to catch a colorful male from Henry's Lake in spawning colors would be in
September or October during spawning season. Not only would they be spawning but the water is cooler and they would be more likely to bite. I would suggest contacting the Idaho Fish and Game regional office in Idaho Falls which is over the Henry's Lake area and speak to a fisheries biologist familiar with spawning time for Henry"s Lake brookies and where and when best to catching a spawning male. Hope this is helpful. The phone number for the Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game office in Idaho Falls, Idaho is 1-208-525-7290. Best of luck.
DeeCee.
[signature]