I've recently been in contact with Mr. Drew Cushing on a few fish related topics. To summarize my e-mails to him I asked about the future of the Utah Tiger Musky Program; Capturing and transporting to Pineview some Tiger Muskies from Newton Reservoir due to very low water conditions at Newton; A quality Perch Program; Potential for a Saugeye program (Hybrid between a female Walleye and male Sauger).
I asked his permission to share this information and he indicated that would be fine. Here are his replies to my questions and I sincerely thank him for his very quick responses and for taking time to answer my questions.
Cut and pasting Mr. Cushing replies:
"The tiger musky program is a priority for the UDWR. What happened at the Lee Kay Center is awful but we are moving forward. We have fence on order and a cover for the ponds as well. The directors office has agreed to increase the budge (sic) at the Lee Kay Center which will help the program move forward.
I believe we do have some true musky fingerlings identified for potential importation this fall. If these fish work out they would be mature in 3 years from this year. We also are attempting to purchase some tiger musky for our management waters for the next three years. Nebraska and South Dakota have a fairly stable supply so we will just hope for that to continue for the next three years.
Moving fish from Newton to Pineview is not legal according to our fish health rules otherwise that would be a great idea. By the way we are most likely moving towards an emergency regulation at Newton to allow harvest of one fish over 40 inches and a doubling of the limit on bluegill, channel catfish, crappie and largemouth bass.
As far as perch management waters are concerned. We have just finished writing a Yuba management plan that includes stocking yellow perch as needed. This portion of the management plan would provide a high quality perch fishery down the road.
We have discussed saugeye as a sportfish in Utah. We actually have a couple of waters that we have identified as good candidates. Pineview Reservoir, Lost Creek Reservoir and I believe Millsite reservoir are the three potentials. Right now we lack a consistent source of saugeye but we are working on that. Keep your fingers crossed.
Drew"
