I remember catching more rainbows 10-12 years ago in valley lakes. Now it seems like when I go ice fishing it's almost all dollies or landlocked salmon in some lakes. Does anyone else think this is the case? I'd much rather get into some rainbows for the kids but haven't had a lot of luck the last few years.
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More dollies than rainbows?
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Originally posted by fishingyoda View PostI remember catching more rainbows 10-12 years ago in valley lakes. Now it seems like when I go ice fishing it's almost all dollies or landlocked salmon in some lakes. Does anyone else think this is the case? I'd much rather get into some rainbows for the kids but haven't had a lot of luck the last few years.
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Originally posted by Bushwhack Jack View PostThere is a long interesting history about this actually. Make a long story short, supposedly the old fish hatchery by Eklutna used to be responsible for raising the rainbows that were stocked in the valley lakes. Then, about 10 years ago or so (remember when our fishing licenses went up from $20 to $25) that all stopped and fish and feathers began building the million dollar facility (William J. Hernandez) hatchery down in Anchorage. Well, when fish were raised at the Eklutna plant, the waste heat from the hydroelectric facility helped speed up the production of the rainbows because the ATUs (accumulated thermal units) were higher at a lower cost. Hopefully now that we have this new high-tech facility, hopefully fish and feathers will start speeding up production again but then again, maybe not. Maybe they'll just release more fish but not bigger fish. At least this is what a friend of mine who is a retired fisheries biologist in the valley told me.Your bait stinks and your boat is ugly
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i dont know about you, it all depends what lakes u fish, i always generally catch rainbows, always look at the stocking chart, theres only a few lakes that i know and famialer with cause they hold bigger fish, Its a rare day if i go skunked and not catch a rainbow, i normally catch 22-33 inch Rainbows and its mainly what I target and release when caught, remember most lakes if u catch a fish over 20 inches the limit is one and it has to be recorded. good luck!
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Originally posted by FishGod View PostSorry, but the info you got is 100% false. The rainbows that were stocked in the Valley always came from the old Elmendorf and Fort Richardson hatcheries. Eklutna was a non-profit hatchery, which produced salmon for commercial reasons. Trout and char stocked in various lakes is dictated by what users want and what the stocking coordinator thinks will work best in a particular lake. If you want more rainbows instead of chars in a particular lake than you need to contact the stocking coordinator and voice your concern.
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Originally posted by wesak81 View Posti dont know about you, it all depends what lakes u fish, i always generally catch rainbows, always look at the stocking chart, theres only a few lakes that i know and famialer with cause they hold bigger fish, Its a rare day if i go skunked and not catch a rainbow, i normally catch 22-33 inch Rainbows and its mainly what I target and release when caught, remember most lakes if u catch a fish over 20 inches the limit is one and it has to be recorded. good luck!
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Originally posted by fishingyoda View PostWell I did get into a few rainbows today. I don't know about all these hogs you guys catch. I caught a 16.5 inch bow today and that's the biggest one I've ever caught. I've caught bigger dollies semi regularly but maybe I just don't have the touch for rainbows.sigpic
Release Lake Trout
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The difference between rainbows and char is warm water. when fish and game had the fort rich hatchery going with free heated water from the power utility, rainbows could grow very quickly to "catchables" which were already frying size. Without the warm water, the same fish only grow to 3 or 4 inches in the same amount of time. So rainbow releases have been mainly the smaller fingerling size for quite a few years. Char do better rearing in cold water, thus the higher frequency of char stocking over the last 10 years. the new hatchery on Ship Creek has a much larger capacity than the old facility did, also warmer water for faster growing. The next few years should see an increase in the numbers of rainbow trout and kokanee catchables being released in valley and anchorage lakes. Not to dispute sources, but this information is readily available from the offices of Fish and Game in Anchorage or Palmer. There is also a hatchery report available on the website, which shows all lakes that are stocked, maps of them, and what, when, and how many fish are stocked.
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