Proposal to replant Smelt in the Oliver Lake chain link

[taxid]

For those of you that fish the Oliver Lake chain for trout you know rainbow and brown trout are planted annually (there was a period where the brown trout stocking was discontinued.) Thanks to the INDNR they have found a federal source of brown trout and resumed stocking them a few years ago. Kudos to the INDNR!

However a coldwater forage base of smelt and the cisco seem to have been disappeared at some point, and according to all the scientific literature I have seen indicates that a coldwater forage base is needed to produce trophy size brown trout that grow rapidly and holdover better consistently.

Through NEITA (The Northeast Indiana Trout Association) we came up with the following written proposal to replant smelt with fry from a health certified source in Maine (fry are shipped overnight fed ex.) Unfortunately we were turned down citing them as an exotic species and it was indicated they are detrimental to the native species in the a lake. I beg to differ as previous INDNR surveys showed smelt and cisco coexisted in the lake in good numbers at one time, and smelt were found in the stomaches of some of the native species. Furthermore the Oliver Lake chain according to INDNR surveys does not have a lot of habitat for bass, bluegills, etc. due to the limited littoral zone with an average depth of 40 feet.

Anyway I'm hoping many of you will read the following proposal and put some positive pressure on the INDNR to reconsider. In the least you will find some interesting reading in the proposal that may help you in fishing the chain.

Funding of the smelt is not an issue as I and others would be happy to contribute to the cost. It would probably take two or three planting to get them reestablished.

One major concern I have with nixing this is, at some point some individual will take it upon himself to dump in some smelt or alewives from a source that could introduce a pathogen or something else like the dreaded VHS virus that is found in the Great Lakes.

https://goo.gl/9xa5os

[taxid]

Here is a proposal put together via NEITA to get an 18 inch size limit on brown trout in the chain back when it was up to NEITA to plant brown trout. Some good information on the previous brown trout surveys cited from the INDNR that show brown trout survival, growth and return size was superior to the rainbow trout. The rainbows seem to have a high attrition rate vs. the browns after a certain size.

Keep in mind at the time of the surveys smelt and cisco were quite common.

The proposal was accepted as you know. Again kudos to the INDNR!  

https://goo.gl/x57n6D

[taxid]

lets cross our fingers and toes.


wouldnt you get better results if the bow and brown numbers were down?  it seems with the high numbers stocked recently, you would just be stocking food.  shouldnt they stop the stockings of predators to allow the prey to take a better hold and faster?

But we don't have evidence of smelt and cisco present anymore. Could be a moot point.

If a forage base were to be reestablished by planting them, perhaps you have a point. But at this point it's a no go by the INDNR.

[filetandrelease]

 check out our bait regs , all our bait has to be certified (VHS) free and we have regs on transporting and in lake Ontario they have lowered stocking to help Out the bait supply

[taxid]

if its just for feeding them i would be a no vote.  i could see doing it if there was a chance at reestablishing them but not just to feed them dollar bills.  hell just put some feeders out. lol  how much of a percentage would they have to spawn?  could anyone even begin to guess at that?

The smelt reproduced well in the chain at one time. It's not about just feeding the trout. It's about getting them reestablished.

I guess I just feel we are underutilizing a resource by not managing it to its full potential. Several northeastern states regularly support smelt planting to get them established or reestablished as they can be cyclical.

Personally believe the lake trout that were planted in 79' pretty much annihilated the smelt and cisco, and have seen literature that says this can happen in smaller lakes and reservoirs along with the cyclical nature of the smelt. Just too much of a coincidence that the population seemed to be in decline after the lake trout plantings. Caught several lake trout packed with smelt. I mean really packed as 9 to 12 in a 16 inch lake trout stomach. And for lake trout they seemed to have been growing quite rapidly.

A fly in the ointment will be if cisco are designated an endangered species. This could have a negative effect on trout stocking. I believe that was the reason for discontinuation of trout plants into Crooked Lake in Whitley County?

[taxid]

check out our bait regs , all our bait has to be certified (VHS) free and we have regs on transporting and in lake Ontario they have lowered stocking to help Out the bait supply

I am painfully aware of the VHS regs as a fish producer. Testing is very expensive for a small fish producer. The average fish farms spends about 10 grand for fish health testing. Fortunately most of my fish are not sold live.

Like I said though, there is source for smelt fry in Maine that has all the testing needed and are disease free. My concern is at some point someone may take it into their own hands as in dumping in smelt or alewives from i.e. Lake Michigan we could end up with our first VHS fish kill in Indiana. (That how the smelt go there in the first place before we had disease concerns like today).

As of yet VHS has not been found in Indiana inland waters, last I talked to a vet at BOAH (Board of Animal Helath) that's tested numerous waters. And of course it's NEVER been found on a fish farm and probably never will.

i was gong to donate several hundred trout to public waters from a closed system with testing trout eggs from the original source, but I'm not going to spend $1300.00 to give fish away.

[filetandrelease]

Yes testing is expensive as I have several friends in the bait business ,but in our case it's better than the alternative  , and I hope your luck continues and some bucket biologists doesn't  try and take it upon them selves and contaminate  ,

[taxid]

Yes testing is expensive as I have several friends in the bait business ,but in our case it's better than the alternative  , and I hope your luck continues and some bucket biologists doesn't  try and take it upon them selves and contaminate  ,

Has any of that bait tested positive for VHS? I know fathead minnows aka crappie minnows need to be tested but there is no record of them ever testing positive. Was told they were put on the list of susceptible species because they could be an easy vector to transport the virus.

[filetandrelease]

Not as of yet ,