Gerards in Alberta?

[npauls]

I am just wondering why Alberta hasn't stocked Gerards in any bodies of water?

Are they not able to grow as healthy and as big as B.C. or can they even survive at all?

I don't know anything about them other then they get really big and put up a great fight

[one shot]

they come from kamloops. i think that most triploids are part gerarde? most lakes that stock triploids will and do have 15+ pound trout in them. best time is spring, ice off. when wilds r sponing the triploids r feeding.

[npauls]

Ya I fish every year at ice off for some of those big bows that cruise around but I didn't think that they were related to Gerards.

I thought Gerards were a different strain of Rainbow trout that grew quite a bit bigger and darker in color.

[Pudelpointer]

Gerrards are a different strain of rainbow. They have adapted to very large bodies of water by taking advantage of an available food source: kokanee. Because of the food available (and exploited) they grow very large, much in the same way steelhead migrate to waters where there is abundant nutrient rich food, thereby growing much larger than they could if they were non-migratory.

Putting Gerrards in our lakes is likely a fool's errand. Without similar habitat and available prey, they would likely grow similar to other rainbows in our lakes; i.e. no advantage.

From what I remember (could be wrong) the rainbows that AB uses in their breeding facilities are a mix of various rainbow strains, but mostly Pennask (another strain).

[Pudelpointer]

they come from kamloops. i think that most triploids are part gerarde? most lakes that stock triploids will and do have 15+ pound trout in them. best time is spring, ice off. when wilds r sponing the triploids r feeding.

Gerrards are not from the Kamloops area, they are originally from Kootenay Lake, and most of the large man made reservoirs in the Kooteneys.

Any trout can me made triploid through manipulation of fertilized eggs.

[Pudelpointer]

Strain Summary:

Strain origin: Kootenay Lake/Lardeau River, Region 4
Feeding ecology: Piscivore – preferably kokanee in deep, open water in summer, closer to surface during winter
Wild-type appearance: Exceptionally large
Angling qualities: Good fighter, trophy size
Lake type most suited to: Large, deep, cool, well-oxygenated lakes with abundant kokanee
presence
Constraints: Unsuitable in systems with low/no kokanee production
Specialty types available: 2N, 3N

[npauls]

Oh ok thanks Pudel.

I was just thinking for places like ghost where there is whitefish but can't seem to hold a solid laker population might be a good place for gerards to live.

[Pudelpointer]

In case anyone was interested, I found this on another website:

The rainbow trout stock at Raven began as eggs imported to Calgary's Sam Livingstone Fish Hatchery from Mt. Lassen Trout Farms located in northern California. The success of the Mt. Lassen strain as a fast grower, excellent survivor, and good sporting fish has led to the continued maintenance of this strain. An experimental enhancement was conducted in the mid 1990's when the Mt. Lassen eggs were crossed with males from natural spawning rainbow trout from Pekisko Creek, a tributary to the Bow River. However, the "pure" strain of Mt. Lassen rainbows were found to have superior characteristics on all counts. The trial cross has now been retired and Raven has returned to the exclusive use of the Mt. Lassen strain.

The Allison station currently uses two distinct strains. In 1985/86, four rainbow trout strains and seven crosses were evaluated for egg production suitability. These stocks originated from: Troutlodge (Oregon), Beity Hatcheries (Washington), Mt. Lassen (California), and Pennask/Beaver Lake (British Columbia). A variety of strains and crosses were used up until 1989 when the Beity strain (BEBE) and the Beity x Pennask/ Beaver Lake (BEBL) had exclusive use. The BEBL strain was back-crossed with the BEBE's in 1990. This strain is still referred to as the Beity x Beaver Lake cross and is used alternately (two year alternation) with the pure Beity rainbow trout strain.

Since the establishment of cultured rainbow trout strains in Alberta, both Raven and Allison use a system of rotational three line crossing to maintain genetic integrity. Laboratory analysis has shown that this system has been successful in maintaining genetic diversity in rainbow trout stocks.

So, that is the origin of the three strains of rainbow trout used in government fish culture operations. What are the origins of the strains of rainbows originally brought into Alberta? Well that is the subject of recollection, opinion, and incomplete records. With some degree of certainty, those strains originated with the Shasta, Arlee, Montana, and Donaldson varieties of rainbow trout in the northwest United States and Beaver Lake in British Columbia. One thing we CAN say for sure is that the rainbow trout is native to the pacific northwest, intermountain, and east slope regions of North America and is now a popular hatchery and sport fish all over the world. Aren't we lucky!

Jon Underwood is the station supervisor of Allison Creek Brood Trout Station.

[Pudelpointer]

Oh ok thanks Pudel.

I was just thinking for places like ghost where there is whitefish but can't seem to hold a solid laker population might be a good place for gerards to live.

It appears that they do not adapt to eat other fish (other than Kokanee) so it would likely not work.

Pike eat whitefish :thinking-006:

J/K.

[npauls]

It appears that they do not adapt to eat other fish (other than Kokanee) so it would likely not work.

Pike eat whitefish :thinking-006:

J/K.

Yup and so do big walleyes.

[jrs]

British Columbia uses many more rainbow trout strains than Alberta. Our stocking programs (until very recently with delayed harvest/ catch and release lakes) focused on providing a bunch of trout for anyone who wanted to go catch some. Attaining large size wasnt much of an issue as harvest was likely within a season anyway. Budget constraints in alberta are a big deal too. I believe Lethbridge College tried developing a strain for alkaline/saline lakes at one time (Tyrell Lake as an example), but eventually priorities changed and the program was discontinued. Even strains more likely to feed on perch (Blackwater i believe) are used in BC, i can think of a few places that would work good here. Use of brown or tiger trout would also be kind of sweet for some of these lakes.
Hopefully Alberta can grow to be a bit more creative someday, but then again the current system seems to work good enough as far as most fisherman are concerned.
Currently, an Athabasca strain broodstock is being developed south of Edson, hopefully that triggers a bit of new thought into diversifying our stocking program. Mind you, our fish can get big when allowed. I know of a few lakes that seem to grow 10 lb trout consistently, takes the right conditions for productivity and fish longevity. I always wondered if Gerrards couldn't be tested for sucker control, probably has been tried in BC.

[npauls]

I guess the only thing to do is start stocking the kokanee's into deep clean lakes for awhile and establish a solid population and then add some gerards to the mix.:sHa_shakeshout:

I would go out and fish for both species if that ever happened.

I am thinking a trip in the near future to b.c. for gerards and kok's is in order. I have never fished for either but have wanted to for a long time.

[fishinggeek]

I guess the only thing to do is start stocking the kokanee's into deep clean lakes for awhile and establish a solid population and then add some gerards to the mix.:sHa_shakeshout:

I would go out and fish for both species if that ever happened.

I am thinking a trip in the near future to b.c. for gerards and kok's is in order. I have never fished for either but have wanted to for a long time.

My bro and i head out to montana once a year and hit up some monster gerrards. There are kookanee there also, which we fish for in the afternoon while the trout bite is off. The gerrard bows are one of the best fighting trout iv ever hooked.
There area also LARGE bullies there, seen 25+lbers right in front of me. the biggest we have landed was a 13lber. And the scenery is amazing.
First day we fished we got one bite, took a while to figure the system out. then it was game on.
i definitely recommend it.

[chubbdarter]

Kootenay lake stock i believe is Steelhead stock
Just as kokanee is Sockeye stock
Dams prevented their normal migrations

[npauls]

Kootenay lake stock i believe is Steelhead stock
Just as kokanee is Sockeye stock
Dams prevented their normal migrations

Good to know chub. I am going to install the downriggers I picked up off of the PIF thread on the boat this winter. The flywheel is ordered and on its way so I want to make a trip to Kootenay to test the boat and riggers and maybe get a few fish while I am at it. I have never used riggers or fished for either species so it could be an interesting trip if it does happen.

[greylynx]

Yup and so do big walleyes.

And so do Chinook Salmon which have shown success in Alberta.

But due to a certain group of people who have shown that they can destroy a Salmon fishery in several seasons with no punishment, it is not economically feasable to stock them.

[Bushmaster]

I always thought Crawling Valley was stocked with Gerrards in the 80's......?