Triploids Invade Lake Berryessa

http://www.lakeberryessanews.com/030911/Berryessa_fish_stocking_final.htm

Why go through the trouble to make them sterile? I guess I'm missing something. It says they don't necessarily get any bigger and most are caught in the first 6 months.
I'm just glad they are still providing LMB bait

Why go through the trouble to make them sterile? I guess I'm missing something. It says they don't necessarily get any bigger and most are caught in the first 6 months.

The article says this:
 "Through the mandated environmental impact studies done on California’s trout stocking program, it was found that the steelhead, a federally threatened species, could interbreed with the non-native strains of hatchery trout that could escape over the dam. So in order to protect the genetic integrity of the native steelhead, only the sterile triploids are allowed to be stocked in Lake Berryessa."

Hopefully  they will have a little tougher hide and be resistant to them fuzzy little parasites that infest the rainbows in the past .

I think they should plant brown trout in Berryessa , trout fishing could really get exciting then !

It says they don't necessarily get any bigger

That's funny because I thought the triploids grew to grotesque sizes.

It says they don't necessarily get any bigger

That's funny because I thought the triploids grew to grotesque sizes.

The article is wrong, or at least misleading, on this point.

What I read was since the Triploids aren't focused on reproducing, they become voracious eaters and tend to get much bigger than other trout.  Forget where I read that though...

What I read was since the Triploids aren't focused on reproducing, they become voracious eaters and tend to get much bigger than other trout.  Forget where I read that though...

That's pretty much it.  Since triploids don't put any energy into making eggs or milt, they can dedicate all that extra food they consume to growth.  That's why they can potentially get very big very fast, given that there's enough food to sustain their growth.

i think they will be in all lakes, not just berry.  curious as to which lake they will grow largest in.  Berry is a large and fairly nutrient rich lake due to its low elevation and runoff.  new melones and don pedro are similar.

the one thing is that triploids are just as dumb as planted rainbows, so yeah, the 50% catch estimate within the first year is probably accurate, if not more.  a good percentage also die off in the summers, as they are not smart enough to handle the transition to deep water.  anyways, anyone looking forward to one of these being entered into AOTY in 10 years?

i think they will be in all lakes, not just berry.

Yeah, hopefully they'll be planted in all lakes/bodies of water that are connected to rivers that flow into the ocean & contain steelhead. This way, we can ensure the native steelheads' genes don't get tainted by inferior planter trout...and still enjoy the benefits of a viable put&take fishery. Heck, I say mass produce those freaks and put them in every body of water that used to receive dumb planter trout pre-1997!!!
In that sense, I welcome the triploids! Imagine how big the Florida-strain LMB will get lol!!!

Yeah, but the downside to that, PK, is they eat massive quantities of food and may effectively eat other species out of "house and home."