This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
They may be tiny and vulnerable now, but fingerling tiger muskie released in two Utah reservoirs in April will one day bring huge smiles. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources fisheries biologists made a bit of wildlife history recently when the hybrid cross between a northern pike and a true muskie were hatched and survived to be released at Cottonwood and Bullock reservoirs in the Uinta Basin. Fisheries officials have been working for years to reach this point. When the fish hit the reservoirs they became the first known tigers to be successfully produced in the West.Cottonwood and Bullock reservoirs each received 100 fry on April 19. Newton Reservoir in northern Utah, already a popular destination for anglers hoping to land a toothy tiger, had 108 fry released on April 30.
This is a huge step for the DWR and for anglers. Tiger muskie are prized as a trophy fish by both anglers and biologists. Anglers love them for their size, the state record is a 49-inch and 33 pound lunker caught at Pineview Reservoir. The catch and release record tiger was measured at more than 53 inches. The pictures come courtesy of the DWR. The video was shot a couple of years ago at the warmwater hatchery at the Lee Kay Center where brood stock pike and true muskie are kept for the tiger muskie program.
Here's another video on tiger fishing at Newton.