DENVER (KDVR) – Fish falling from the sky? That’s Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) pilots stocking mountain lakes with thousands of trout by dropping them from an airplane.
About 380,000 trout have been stocked by airplane into 330 lakes in Boulder, Grand, Jackson and Larimer counties.
“It’s efficient,” Fish Culturist Doug Sebring said. “We can get a large quantity of fish into high mountain lakes that are basically only accessible by foot or horseback.”
CPW wildlife pilots Larry Gepfert and Denise Corcoran fly the 1¼-inch trout to the destination lake and “they just float on down once deployed from the airplane at about 100-150 feet above the lake,” said CPW officials.
“They are so small and they don’t have a lot of mass to them, so their acceleration rate is pretty low,” Gepfert said. “Their heads are the heaviest parts, so they tend to go head first and drop straight into the water.”
The trout, bred at the Mount Shavano Hatchery in Salida, are transported for stocking while they are very small. It takes about two years for the fish to become at least 10 inches long, which is the legal catchable size for trout in Colorado.
^^^ Ha, my brother and I were just having a text conversation on that very subject. I was betting that this was a private outfit that contracted out to perform this kind of work...but I was wrong, or at least partially wrong, as at least one of the aircraft is registered to the CPW.
September 21, 2020, 01:37 AM
gw3971
Do the same thin here in Utah. I know one of the pilots who flew these drops. He told me they can do up to three inch fish and these drops have a ten percent kill percentage. Seems helicopters would be better assuming they could fly 10000+ feet above sea level.
September 21, 2020, 04:39 AM
TRIO
Haha, about 1 min mark he says,"It's eFISHent"
--Tom The right of self preservation, in turn, was understood as the right to defend oneself against attacks by lawless individuals, or, if absolutely necessary, to resist and throw off a tyrannical government.
September 21, 2020, 10:00 AM
MikeinNC
Stupid question, why stock all these lakes?
“You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020
“ in my opinion, anything that we can do to trigger a potential aneurysm in a leftist is a good thing and worth doing” nhtagmember 2025
September 21, 2020, 10:14 AM
sigmonkey
Maybe promote wildlife food source and perhaps fishing?
There are drones similar to those used for GIS, search and rescue, surveying that can carry about 2-3 gallons payload weight can reach about 10 thousand feet altitude and range about 60 miles that could be used. Some of those runs look pretty dicey getting in and out of a "box", and drones could be operated in such places for less dollar and risk.
"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא עוד
September 21, 2020, 05:19 PM
adobesig
To bad you can't drop your kids at collage like that.
September 21, 2020, 06:06 PM
sns3guppy
quote:
Originally posted by adobesig: To bad you can't drop your kids at collage like that.
Huh, what?
We weren't supposed to do that? It wasn't in any of the welcome papers. They really should be more clear.
September 21, 2020, 06:07 PM
flashguy
quote:
Originally posted by adobesig: To bad you can't drop your kids at collage like that.
Like this?
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth
September 22, 2020, 09:52 AM
RogueJSK
Do you think the first guys to come up with this had some engineer crunch the numbers, or did they just trial-and-error it to figure out whether the fish would explode on impact or not?
September 22, 2020, 10:06 AM
VonFatman
good post op
September 22, 2020, 10:21 AM
rburg
Kind of like anchovies on pizza. The ones that don't survive become food for other, existing fish. The pilots fly around, on the payroll, dropping fish meal. Gotta guess no one bothered to interview the existing fish to see their point of view on the practice. Minnows delivered like Door Dash. Guess the lucky ones don't land on one of the vegetation mats we've been seeing on the video.
I watched to see when the bombs hit the water, but the Dept of Parks and Wildlife was certain to cut before the splash down.
Unhappy ammo seeker
September 22, 2020, 11:19 AM
highroundcount
As God as my witness, I thought fish could fly......
"And I think about my loves,well I've had a few. Well,I'm sorry that I hurt them, did I hurt you too" I Was Wrong--Social D.
September 22, 2020, 11:22 AM
ensigmatic
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK: Do you think the first guys to come up with this had some engineer crunch the numbers, or did they just trial-and-error it to figure out whether the fish would explode on impact or not?
"As God is my witness, I thought fish could dive?"
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
September 22, 2020, 11:36 AM
ElToro
They do this in the Sierra Nevada mountains in CA especially the remote lakes that are bike in only. Couldn’t drive one of those water trucks full of fish to many of those lakes.
September 22, 2020, 05:26 PM
sns3guppy
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
"As God is my witness, I thought fish could dive?"
I thought that was just turkey. Like wet bags of cement.
