This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ryan Mosley, Green River/Flaming Gorge Project Leader for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, sent in this report from the annual electrofishing spring sample survey. It's a cool program I've been lucky enough to do a handful of times. Make sure to check out the video for a feel of how it all goes down. Here's the report from Ryan.
Luckily Mother Nature gave us a break in the action last night [Monday] so we could perform our spring electrofishing on the Green River just below Flaming Gorge dam. It snowed most of the day in Dutch John, but about the time we were loading gear to head down to Spillway Launch to set-up, the clouds opened up, the snow ceased, and we even saw a glimpse of the sun before it set!The 14-person crew worked through the unseasonably cold, nighttime temperatures and processed a total of 597 fish. Fish were collected via boat electrofishing, measured, weighed, and checked for marks and/or tags, and released at the end of the night. Captured fish were predominantly rainbow or brown trout, with exception to one beautiful cutthroat measuring 18-inches and 2.2 lbs. See the pics of some young spectators petting it before it was released into the holding cage. We also observed many healthy rainbows and brown trout up to 19-inches in length.Due to the heavy snowfall (14-inches and falling) in Dutch John Tuesday, the Little Hole sampling was cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday. Barring anymore issues with inclement weather, a Little Hole summary will soon follow!Thanks, Ryan