Diefenbaker Lake

4354 Views 21 Replies 11 Participants Last post by flatlander, Jan 8, 2008

flatlander

Discussion Starter · Jan 3, 2008

WOW...read with great interest the STS article on Diefenbaker Lake bows...

Common to land 20 pounders and is gave up the world record at 43 pounds 6 oz.

Anyone been to this place...the fish look like footballs and they refer to these fish as triploids...now what is a triploid?

May be a place to visit sometime this summer/fall. I guess you might say Go Riders!!!

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

finseeker

· #2 · Jan 3, 2008

I just googled it and came up with this qoute:
"Enter the triploid trout. Triploid trout, steelhead, and salmon, are genetically altered fish. Because they are sterile they do not reproduce but rather, the energy which would have been focused in these fish toward reproduction, goes directly into body growth. Over time these fish become huge."
Hope that helps ya Flatlander ??? :beerchug:

professori

· #3 · Jan 3, 2008

Fertilized eggs in the hatchery are subjected to high pressure and temperature, early in the maturation process. This treatment causes an extra set of chromosomes to be developed. This results in sterile fish. Because there is no energy used in reproductive development, the food intake is used only for growth and maintenance, resulting in much larger fish in a much shorter period of time.

Kuma

· #4 · Jan 3, 2008

The biggest ones were a result of the "jailbreak" at a fish farm there back in the mid-late 90s. There has also been some deliberate stocking of rainbows but Sask. tends not to stock triploids from what i understand.

Fishaholic

· #5 · Jan 4, 2008

This again ;D There is also a chemical that can be used to make them, cant remember the name, can find out though. The fish are escapees from Wild West Steelhead, A so called "steelhead" farm

fishfanatic

· #6 · Jan 4, 2008

I was shown some photo's a few years back and can say that these 20 pounders don't look like rainbow's at all. Football does describe them well.

dereke

· #7 · Jan 4, 2008

I think I saw a post about this place a while back. I think someone was saying that they feed these fish with pellets?? Could be wrong.

Bent Rod

· #8 · Jan 5, 2008

I'm betting those Diefenbaker boys are grounbaiting those fish.

Meaning they routinely go to a certain spot and throw in HUGE amounts of some homemade trout food.
The fish become accustomed to THAT food and will take it over all others. They also grow obese on THAT food and will move to areas where THAT food is thrown or dropped. \

Along come the fishingeeks(there name for themselves not mine) and whatever they happen to be using that is scented or tipped with THAT bait is KILLED by the fish.

This is very common in Europe by pro, semi- pro carp fisherman.

You must have seen pics of OBESE Carp, being caught regulary there. These fish grow massive on a nice supply of different anglers home concoctions. Come derby day the guy who has most dilligently groundbaited the water, takes home the $$$.

Either that or nobody else has figured out those fish or knows how to fish back there.

Looking at those obese specimens, good chance they are being fed a little extra to get like that in a natural environment.

Certainly not a world record in my opinion.

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HOOK

· #9 · Jan 5, 2008

ya not to mention these fed fish would be difficult to get on a fly. HMM unless i come up with a "pellet" pattern LOL :happy: ha ha well they might not be difficult but i would bet they wouldnt fight like a fish that has grown that size naturally.

I heard rumours that Dragon lake in Quesnel gets fish to this size. Is this just a myth? do they feed the fish in that lake also?

Fishaholic

· #10 · Jan 5, 2008

lol...pellet pattern... when i fish at the farm...... floating tom thumb or rolled muddler works like a hot dang :happy: too bad we are trapping the lake this weekend... some slow trout fishin ahead

That record is just as valid as the chuck caught steelhead that held it before? LOL the fish was even tested for genetic alteration.... I think they missed something...like the gonads???

dereke

· #11 · Jan 5, 2008

Thats hilarious. Pellet patterns will be all the rage on Diefenbaker Lake. :thumbup: :thumbup: I wonder if these fish are healthy being fed so unnaturally?

professori

· #12 · Jan 5, 2008

HOOK said:
ya not to mention these fed fish would be difficult to get on a fly. HMM unless i come up with a "pellet" pattern LOL :happy: ha ha well they might not be difficult but i would bet they wouldnt fight like a fish that has grown that size naturally.

I heard rumours that Dragon lake in Quesnel gets fish to this size. Is this just a myth? do they feed the fish in that lake also?

Dragon gets fish 10+ lbs. They are natural, and are not the only ones in the province. No one gets 41+ lb fish, which is why this one is the world record. There is a fish hatchery/rearing farm on the Lake Diefenbaker, which likely is the real reason for the size.

sage2106lb

· #13 · Jan 5, 2008

Does anyone know the story about Jewel lake back in the day... I remember reading some where the monster trout that came out of that lake. Just don't remember how big they where... I believe they where gerard strain...Thanks sage :cheers:

Kuma

· #14 · Jan 5, 2008

Diefenbaker Lake is very large and is fed by a large river system that brings in all kinds of nutrients and bait fish for a wide variety of hungry fish. Some locals even complain that the big rainbows are killing off their beloved walleye but I have trouble believing that. Atlantic Salmon are also (rarely) caught there. The point being, those fat triploid rainbow could get that way just on their own.

Bent Rod

· #15 · Jan 5, 2008

If you look at past cases of huge rainbows in new lakes, they never look so deformed as the Diefenbaker fish.

Jewel lake rainbows looked like giant Kootenay lake or Arrow lake trout, enormous not deformed.

England has many stocker lakes and trout there will go 25 pounds, but they look like diefenbaker fish and have a life history of being fed by man. The folks who fish for those will tell you they fight like a dirty sock.

Corbett lake, same deal, Peter gets them big and blobbish and then sets them free to engulf the fly of angler who pays the bucks. I have talked to him about how he gets them that way, it close containment with sick amounts of food.

Pregnant football fish are not wild rainbows, unless they do it on their own.

Our interior has lakes that produce natural footballs, but they look nice, fight well and can eat well if conditions are right.

It will be interesting to see if Diefenbaker lake becomes a world destination or blip in time.

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professori

· #16 · Jan 6, 2008

3

I gotta agree with Bent Rod. I was at Sayers Lake 3-4 years ago when a guy brought in a 22 lb rainbow. It was only 31 " long (I measured it myself) and didn't look like a rainbow except for the colouring. It was one of those lunkers that feed off the excess pellets from the rearing pens at the lake. Here are a couple of old photos of Jewel lake trout. Look at the size of their heads in comparison to their bodies. That's what naturally large fish look like.

Compare this one to the previous two

This is a record trout like Barry Bonds is a record holding home run king.

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dereke

· #17 · Jan 6, 2008

ya i agree prof and bentrod. they are obese and shaped differently than what a large fish actually looks like. wonder what the fight is like from one of these fat buggers?

Kuma

· #18 · Jan 6, 2008

My understanding from the reading is that they are a blip. The "records" are escapees and are probably all dead by now. No new records coming out of there unless triploids are stocked. Sask. doesn't stock triploids as far as I know so that's the end of it. Stocking of the lake is inconsistent and varies from 435,000 fry (2002?) to nothing at all. Some locals believe that they (rainbows) are now reproducing in the tributaries. (Other locals in other areas believe in the Sasquatch)

professori

· #19 · Jan 6, 2008

japander said:
My understanding from the reading is that they are a blip. The "records" are escapees and are probably all dead by now. No new records coming out of there unless triploids are stocked. Sask. doesn't stock triploids as far as I know so that's the end of it. Stocking of the lake is inconsistent and varies from 435,000 fry (2002?) to nothing at all. Some locals believe that they (rainbows) are now reproducing in the tributaries. (Other locals in other areas believe in the Sasquatch)

There was an escapement of approximately 400,000 trout in 2000 from the Cangro aquaculture operation on the west side of Diefenbaker. The Saskatchewan fisheries officials estimate that 80-90% of the escapees were caught by anglers by 2002. There was considerable damage to the walleye and other native fish stocks for several years following the escapement.

sage2106lb

· #20 · Jan 6, 2008

Thanx prof...Those were the pics I was looking for... :cheers:

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