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THE GREAT OUTDOORS — After receiving public feedback earlier this year, the Utah Wildlife Board has approved several fishing changes for 2017.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, anglers will be able to use corn as bait at eight waters throughout Utah, according to the Division of Wildlife Resources. The DWR proposed the change and opened it to public feedback, and 3,210 people responded, 70 percent of whom favored the proposal. Before the change, Utah was the only state in the West that didn’t allow using corn as bait.

The proposal was approved by the Utah Wildlife Board at a meeting on Sept. 29 and the two-year pilot program will run until the end of 2018, when it will be re-evaluated. The eight Utah waters selected for the pilot program of using corn as bait are Cutler Reservoir, Deer Creek Reservoir, Electric Lake, Fish Lake, Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Lake Powell, Stateline Reservoir and Utah Lake.

These bodies of water have kokanee salmon or common carp in them and corn is an effective bait for both species, according to DWR cold water sport fisheries coordinator Randy Oplinger.

Oplinger said corn is also a cheap and easy bait to use.

“I think that’s one of the main reasons anglers wanted a chance to use it as bait in Utah,” he said in a statement.

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It has often been believed that corn harms fish, but Oplinger said that isn’t true.

“Study after study has shown that isn’t the case. Corn doesn’t harm fish,” he said.

However, with the approval of using corn as bait, some of the state’s anglers are concerned about an increase in chumming (tossing bait in the water to attract fish) and littering. Both activities are illegal in Utah and will remain illegal during the pilot study. During the two-year study, biologists will work closely with DWR conservation officers to determine if allowing the use of corn has led to any negative results.

“If we find that it has, we can recommend not allowing corn as bait in 2019,” Oplinger said.

Along with corn being used as bait, the Utah Wildlife Board also approved a proposal to allow tributaries of Utah Lake to remain open to fishing year-round. In the past, the tributaries were closed to fishing from March 1 to the first Saturday in May to help protect walleye that spawn there during that time, DWR said. However, northern pike spawn in the tributaries at the same time and pose a threat to other species in the lake.

“Northern pike were placed in Utah Lake illegally,” Oplinger said. “They pose a threat to other fish in the lake — those fish include June sucker. June sucker are an endangered fish that are not found anywhere else in the world.”

The change will take place in January 2017, but includes some stipulations to fishing at the Utah Lake tributaries year-round. Anglers must release any walleye they catch and are required to keep and kill any northern pike caught in the tributaries. A catch-and-kill regulation for northern pike is already in place for Utah Lake.

Another change for 2017 includes allowing anglers to keep larger smallmouth bass at Jordanelle Reservoir. Currently, anglers can keep up to six smallmouth bass caught at Jordanelle, but only one of the bass could be longer than 12 inches. In 2017, the six-fish limit will remain, but the size restriction will be gone.

The board also approved a recommendation that will require anglers to keep and kill any walleye caught in Echo Reservoir in northern Utah. DWR recently discovered that walleye were illegally placed in the reservoir and biologists are concerned about the effect it will have on other fish species there.

What do you think about the new fishing changes? Let us know in the comments.

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