Blue Mesa

[Gilles]

Fished big blue with a boat Wednesday. Tried to find a sumo but to no avail caught five macs and had several others on shortly.

The smaller macks were very active in the morning until about 1:00pm and then everything shut off. The abserd thing was that the reports led me to believe all of the marina's were open but when I got to Elk Creek I find 1/2 inch of ice about 100 yards out from the dock, which made for a interesting trip out.

People are ice fishing around the lake fork bridge and the ice extends to Iola.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Thanks for the report Gilles.

[FISHGRAPPLER]

Dan, I know thet the bag limit for perch has been lifted by the DOW, but has anyone out there caught perch on a consistant basis? How big is the problem really? Don't want to see a great fishery go down the tubes.

[Gilles]

I haven't caught or fished for perch yet at Blue Mesa but have heard of many others catching a lot of them from 7 to 15 inches. The perch arn't a problem yet but if they keep multiplying they could cause a crashing in the kokanee population by consuming large quanities of plankton which is the main source of food for kokanee fry. That's what is most alarming. Perch also don't have the nutritional value kokanee have which would eventually lead to stunted growth in lake trout.

[FISHGRAPPLER]

Gilles, If a local could give us some reports, I'm sure that we could help the Mesa out. But perch multiple like most unwanted species. Big PROBLEM. The only place and way I like perch is on the plate battered, and in my living room while I watch a good football game.