WATCH: Fish dropped by airplane into Utah lakes
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SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is showing video of lakes being stocked with fish by airplane.
“This week we stocked around 200 high-elevation lakes across the state,” it said in a Facebook post on Friday. “These lakes are not accessible by vehicle and other means of stocking.”
The agency said since the fish are 1 to 3 inches long, they “flutter down slowly to the water.” Aerial fish stocking has been used in the Beehive State since the mid-1950s. It’s also a method used in Idaho.
Ninety-five percent of the fish dropped into the lake survive, DWR said.
The airplane can hold hundreds of pounds of water and can drop 35,000 fish in a single flight.
Lakes are typically stocked with fish using trucks, but depending on how accessible a lake is, horses, backpacks, airplanes and dirt bikes have also been used. In the early days of lake stocking, fish were transported inside metal milk cans, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Click here to learn more.