Wildlife Photography and Writings of Harry Morse

Yellowstone cutthroat trout are being studied on the Upper Blackfoot River. A new electronic weir was installed early this year. It is only one of the project fisheries biologists are conducting this year.

"We have crews working with fish almost everyday," says Dick Scully regional fisheries manager. "We started work on the Blackfoot River in April putting in a new electric fish weir and will be checking water and oxygen levels on the Snake River below American Falls Dam into October."

Fish and Game manages fishing not water. That is the rub. No matter how much anglers and Fish and Game biologists want water for fish, neither can save nor redistribute water for fish.

Few bodies of water in our region have a legal minimum flow for fish and other aquatic life in our streams, rivers and reservoirs the water is owned or allocated to agricultural interests.

We get calls from frustrated anglers, "Do something! You can't just let reservoirs like Chesterfield, Treasureton and Blackfoot Reservoir drain. Do something."

It's easy to understand their frustration. Four years of drought, reservoir draining, fish dying and temperatures soaring into the 100s are a nasty combination.

Fisheries Crews At Work

Planning for fisheries this spring started a year ago. A new electric weir was ordered for installation on the Upper Blackfoot River near China Hat last fall. The new weir makes fish counting more accurate during varying

water conditions. This spring biologist David Teucher and his crew worked with a private contractor installing and monitoring the new electric weir.

Part of the recovery program for Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the Blackfoot River system is to monitor and count the number of spawning adults going up river to spawn and recording how many return downstream toBlackfoot Reservoir. The new electric weir and a new screw trap to capture downstream migrants were installed this spring.

Bonneville cutthroat trout at Bear Lake faced hard times with low water levels also. Fisheries technicians spent weeks living out of a trailer studying and figuring out how to help spawning cutthroat trout migrant out of Bear Lake during low water.

When spawning Bonneville cutthroats in Fish Haven Creek faced rapidly lowing water conditions the fisheries crew captured as many spawning cutthroat as possible and moved them to St. Charles Creek.

As Treasureton Reservoir drained fisheries technicians Brian O'Hearn and Kevin Yelton spent nights from 10 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. capturing rainbow trout and moving them to other Franklin County reservoirs.

Their wives and families watched them straggle in during the early morning hours, sleep and get up and go spend another night on the reservoir.

Night work continued, as they captured tiny young fish by trolling a billowing net on the surface of reservoirs known for bass, bluegill and crappie. Their task was to find out how the spawning season was going for bass, crappie and bluegill.

Planted catfish in Alexander Reservoir near Soda Springs got special attention. Had they grown to potential? Were they reproducing? Had they spread out around the reservoir or just congregated in one area?

After a week of running the electro fishing boat each night and capturing hundreds of catfish they found survival and growth rates were good, most of the fish congregated along the west end and no young catfish turned up.

At Blackfoot Reservoir the study of pelicans and cormorants on Bird Island continued.

Fisheries technicians and biologists are working to estimate the numbers of fish eating birds nesting on the reservoir and the kind and amount of fish they eat while raising their young.

Do they mainly eat carp and suckers or cutthroat and rainbow trout? How fast is this colony of fish eating birds growing? How does the drought affect which species of fish they can catch? Are the colonies of pelicans and cormorants growing?

Small Stream Surveys

What is affected by the drought in the region's small streams?

Shouldering backpack shockers O'Hearn and Yelton are currently sampling the small streams in the area and recording their findings. They capture and identify as many fish as possible from small streams like Mink Creek and Rock Creek.

The object of this hazardous work is to compare the numbers and type of fish found this summer with the work done in 1999 and 2000 coming off good water years. How much of a difference is there? The only real way to know is to get into these small streams and wade mile after mile to see if fish have changed locations or if they are just not there.

Helping Fish

These are only some of the work projects fisheries employees are doing in our region. Negotiations with state and federal water agencies and work with private irrigation companies to try and meet fish needs is an on going job.

Fish and Game is working hard to help fish in our region. But let's face it, water is what we need and Fish and Game does not manage water or its distribution. What we need is an end to the drought.