Matt McKell, Flaming Gorge Project biologist for the Division of Wildlife Resources, sent in this report from the twice-annual electrofishing conducted in earlier this fall. The video was shot in the fall of 2010.

Back in mid-September we were able to complete our annual fall electrofishing survey on the Green River, in spite of an equipment issue and some foul weather (wind and horizontal rain) at Tailrace during the first night of survey. By the next night, we had our equipment issue resolved and a full moon shining over the river at Little Hole. As usual, we had a full crew of eager volunteers both nights, with representatives of GROGA, TU, BOR, USFS, USU, all sections of UDWR, and the general public.

Here's a quick summary of what we found:

Tailrace, September 12th - A total of 325 fish were captured, with a fair mix of browns and rainbows of varying sizes. The biggest brown trout was 19 inches and the largest rainbow was 16 inches. As mentioned above, we had some equipment trouble, which turned out to be an intermittently functioning electrofishing unit that was not stunning fish effectively, resulting in the lowest total catch at Tailrace since at least 1990.

Little Hole, September 13th - Collected a total of 393 fish, including browns, rainbows, whitefish, sculpin, flannelmouth sucker, white sucker, and a channel catfish(?!). The overall health of the trout was pretty good. Biggest trout was a 19-inch rainbow, while biggest fish overall was a 22-inch 4 lb flannelmouth sucker (see pic). As far as we know, the catfish was the first of its kind captured in the upper Green River since the dam was built (a dubious feat we hope to not repeat, considering that's not a species we want here).

Despite the amount of water released through the dam during the prolonged high flow period in June and July, there appeared to be no decrease in the number of fish at either Tailrace or Little Hole, with population estimates still exceeding 15,000 trout per mile. Also, just a tip for Green River anglers' future reference, the fishing was good during the high flows!

A big thanks to all those who help out with the Green River monitoring program, as it would be impossible for us to do on our own!

Photos:
Adam Rodenberg with a brown trout captured at Little Hole.
Charlie Card with a big flannelmouth sucker from Little Hole.
Crews busy processing fish.