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Stewardship Tip – Don’t Dump your Baitbucket
By Arshia | June 7, 2011
I am a steward; I don’t dump my bait bucket…
Rainbow Trout were introduced into fishless Diamond Lake, near the headwaters of the Umpqua River, in 1910. The rainbows thrived. Fish weighing 10 pounds were not uncommon.
In the 1940′s, tui chubs were introduced into Diamond Lake. The chubs were used as live bait; a practice that was legal at the time. Eventually, the tui chubs established themselves. While the rainbows ate the chubs, the chubs feasted on zooplankton, thrived, multiplied, and, literally, cut off the rainbows’ food chain at its base.
The effect was devastating. Catch statistics indicated that anglers caught 12,807 rainbows in 1947 with an average length of 15.75 inches. In 1953, the number dropped dramatically to 8,455 rainbows with an average length of 9.6 inches.
Diamond Lake was treated with rotenone in 1954 and, according to the Oregon DFW, the treatment was 100% successful. Trout were successfully reintroduced.
In the 1980′s, tui chubs were introduced into Diamond Lake once again. This time illegally; in Oregon, it is now against the law to use live baitfish in freshwater streams and lakes.
In 2006, the Oregon DFW treated the lake with rotenone, a second time, to rid the lake of 95 million tui chubs.
Stewards don’t dump their bait buckets: We often mention exotic species such as zebra mussels or Asian carp when we talk about aquatic nuisance species (ANS). We do not think of our bait buckets as something that can carry ANS. But they
can. And, in the case of Diamond Lake and tui chubs, they have.
Also, we don’t think of chubs as ANS. But they can be. Despite the fact that tui chubs came from the Klamath River Valley, near Diamond Lake, they proved themselves to be nuisances, two times over.
This is why it is critical to keep the contents of your bait bucket out of the lake. Dispose of any unused baitfish in the garden, the compost pile, or bag it and put it in the trash.
We are stewards; we don’t dump our bait buckets…
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