This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The results are in and although participation was down, anglers still did a huge service by removing an estimated 1,700 pounds of illegally introduced and non-native burbot from Flaming Gorge during the recently completed Burbot Bash fishing tournament.
Ryan Mosley, Flaming Gorge Project Leader with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, sent in this recap of the event.
Participation was much lower this year, most likely a result of the poor ice conditions. The anglers that showed up were still very devoted to the tournament and it is a benefit to the resource. There were 233 anglers that participated in the 3-night event, checking in a total of 1,057 burbot. Using an average weight from burbot sampled in last fall's netting, that's approximately 1,700 lbs of burbot. Here are the winning categories:Most Fish - Team Meeks with 135 burbot.Big Fish - Lynn Stocking with a 35-inch, 8.56 lb burbotYouth Big Fish - Mark Fewkes with a 29-inch burbot.Youth Small Fish- Charlie Collett with a 9.4 inch burbot.The tagged fish winner was Thomas Greene. Three tagged burbot were recaptured, all of which were tags from this year. One burbot was pretty much stationary, but the other two fish moved quite a ways up the Black's Fork Arm. In just 8-days, one burbot traveled from the main body of the reservoir almost 7-miles up river. Some burbot are likely moving towards the inflows to spawn and if the anglers could target those areas in the future they may potentially increase their overall catch. We also subsampled the overall catch at the check stations to observe stomach contents. See picture of Robb Keith (WYGF) and Matt McKell (UDWR) processing fish. Diet items included smallmouth bass, chubs, crayfish, kokanee salmon and even burbot (see pic of burbot found in a burbot's stomach). It's obviously good to see them eating themselves too!It's great that the local Chambers of Commerce put this event on and we hope it continues to just get bigger and better. It's also great to see so many repeat anglers and that they are quickly learning how to further exploit burbot in Flaming Gorge.