Each reservoir received 2,000 new rainbow trout on May 16 to start the summer season, and there are plenty more fish on the way, according to Ron Roubidoux, hatchery superintendent for the Mantua hatchery.
"Our quota for the end of the season is 15,000 in each reservoir," Roubidoux said. "We will probably be restocking every two to three weeks."
In past years, the reservoirs have been stocked by the Springville Fish Hatchery in Utah County, but at the end of the fishing season last fall, stocking assignments were reassigned. The Vernon reservoir still falls under the Springville Hatchery, but now the Tooele valley reservoirs are stocked with fish taken from Cache County instead of Utah County.
"We used to raise cutthroat trout for Bear Lake and a few extra rainbow trout for other locations on the side," Roubidox said. "But because it gets so cold up here, we've been reassigned to just raise rainbow trout and ended up with Tooele and Grantsville on our delivery route."
The Mantua Hatchery will continue to stock the reservoirs until October unless Mother Nature steps in the way. While Grantsville reservoir levels are doing well, Settlement Canyon levels are still low -- taking a toll on fish stocking.
Problems emerged for the hatchery upon arriving at Settlement Canyon reservoir to restock, according to Gary Bevan, Settlement Canyon Irrigation Company president.
"They came to plant the fish the other day, but the water was too low where they usually put them," Bevan said. "They unloaded the fish in a different location, which was a little hard, but they got in there."
Water levels in Tooele have never been a problem for fish until this year, according to Bevan, and he hopes the problem won't continue. If the water level drops further the hatchery will have to stop stocking the reservoir.
"Especially with the past Utah summers, there have been times we've had to temporarily stop supplying a reservoir," Roubidoux said. "If the levels get too shallow, the fish will die when the hotter weather gets here because the water temperature gets too warm for them to survive."
Although Tooele valley is the farthest location away of all the delivery locations for the Mantua hatchery, local fishermen are making sure their reservoirs aren't forgotten.
"We've been receiving phone calls from anglers out in Tooele anxious to start their fishing, and it seems we will be on our toes to keep up with the demand," Roubidoux said.
ntripp@tooeletranscript.com
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