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New fish species thriving in Jordanelle Reservoir

Posted at 6:10 PM, Sep 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-20 20:10:53-04

HEBER CITY, Utah — Once a year, state wildlife biologists and volunteers take a survey of the fish in Jordanelle Reservoir.

Unlike human surveys, the fish don’t offer opinions. Instead, they’re caught in gill nets, weighed, measured, and cut open to see what and how well they are eating.

This year, the survey was especially important at Jordanelle because the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources just implemented a new fish stocking plan.

“In addition to the rainbow trout, brown trout and smallmouth bass we've always had here, we also now have splake, kokanee salmon, wipers and tiger muskie,” said Jackie Watson, a sportfish biologist with the DWR.

While Fox 13 tagged along, the biologists pulled up a number of large red kokanee salmon from a net near the Provo River inlet to the reservoir.

Sportfish project leader Mike Slater says he now knows what to tell anglers who ask if the new stocking plan is working.

“The answer is an absolute yes,” Slater said.