Yellowstone Smallies

Ripjiggen wrote:

Think we are getting a little off course. Comparing Green Lake to Gardner River is like comparing the Gulf to the pond in my back yard.

The DNR there have a clear plan of what they are trying to accomplish in this river system. An invasive species was introduced to the river system that over time could jeopardize their goal.
They are trying to remove it or at least keep the levels to a minimum to not jeopardize there goal.
Sorry just don’t see anything wrong with there plan.

Valid point, you cannot compare the two, but in most cases WE are the problem which is I think what they were getting at. People blame the fish, but never themselves. I agree the management goal for the Yellowstone river is focused on trout and they should continue their management plan to keep it that way. I would doubt the smallmouth were put in there illegally however.

I understand the concern 100%. I have only fished that area once and did not go there to catch or see a bass. There is a quality to keeping a fishery what it is and not allowing other species to affect the native fish in the river. I would have no problem knocking smallies on the head and feeding the birds if that’s what is asked.

buschman wrote:

I understand the concern 100%. I have only fished that area once and did not go there to catch or see a bass. There is a quality to keeping a fishery what it is and not allowing other species to affect the native fish in the river. I would have no problem knocking smallies on the head and feeding the birds if that’s what is asked.

Agree buschman!

Like several other waters in and close to Yellowstone National Park, the regulations will mostly likely require an angler to immediately kill an invasive predator upon being caught. There will be no daily bag limits, and if an angler does not want to keep the fish they can be legally thrown away.

Buffalo Fishhead

FryDog62 wrote:

<Green Lake = great walleye and smallie lake. People fish it for both, but keep the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes and not the smallmouth. Could be a major reason why it gets out of balance…

Oh NO. Its not the mentality of a Lot of walleye fishermen who keep a limit of walleye every chance they get that has anything to do with the decline in walleye population. I know because they all tell me its not.

They’ve worked really hard to eradicate invasive Lake Trout from Yellowstone Lake for the same reasons. Lake Trout are my favorite fish in the universe, but I agree with the plan. They don’t belong there and they wreak havoc on the entire ecosystem and food chain. The native cutties don’t stand a chance if they go unchecked.

In general I’m not a fan of introducing any non-native species anywhere. Closer to home, resort owners introduced SMB into lakes in the BWCA in the late 1930s. Stocking continued into the 40s. Even Sig Olson was involved. Shows how far the science has come since then.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I’m so glad that flatheads only eat rough fish!

It is amazing how people defend their favorite fish. Can’t blame them I spose.

We had a guide/member that would post 13 pound walleyes from Oregon(?) but salmon was the game out there. No one wanted guide trips for walleye though!

Oh NO you didn’t !!!! Those die hard walleye guys will be yelling for all fishermen to bonk every Cat they catch and throw them on the bank now. You really messed up BIG this time. Fellow cat fishermen are going to have a bounty on your scalp for sure after this.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Think we are getting a little off course. Comparing Green Lake to Gardner River is like comparing the Gulf to the pond in my back yard.

The DNR there have a clear plan of what they are trying to accomplish in this river system. An invasive species was introduced to the river system that over time could jeopardize their goal.
They are trying to remove it or at least keep the levels to a minimum to not jeopardize there goal.
Sorry just don’t see anything wrong with there plan.

Valid point, you cannot compare the two, but in most cases WE are the problem which is I think what they were getting at. People blame the fish, but never themselves. I agree the management goal for the Yellowstone river is focused on trout and they should continue their management plan to keep it that way. I would doubt the smallmouth were put in there illegally however.

In this case WE are not the problem so why bring it up and muddy the original topic.
New thread if we want to go back and fourth about walleye and SMB in a Minnesota lake.

Ripjiggen wrote:

In this case WE are not the problem so why bring it up and muddy the original topic.
New thread if we want to go back and fourth about walleye and SMB in a Minnesota lake.

I dont think we can definitely say we are NOT the problem the the smallies in the yellowstone. Im not convinced we are but the article said they do not know how they got in there so the possibility remains that we are the problem unless proven otherwise.

Ok.