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01295 Table 7. Date IYIl2 " IY63 1963 1964 ~ 1965 ]9f)5 Anecdotal accounts of native and non-native fishes in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Expedition (Diarist) Notes P.T. Reilly Reilly (1\)99. p. .t..l5) Reilly (1999, P 4...\6) Reilly (]Q99, p. -1.:16) Reilly (1999. p. 449) ReIlly (IY99. p. 4;0) He llbst"rved !rou( in Lav:! Creek and caught cattbh at Elves Chasm. He l'uughl rainbow trout at SperKer Canyon. 28.800 (wut, 7-9 ill. long. and one million bu~~ were pJumeJ al Ll'e'~ Ferry. 89,080 nc.:uchable" rainbow (rout ""ere releJst'tl betwt'l'n the dam and Lt'e'.~ Ferry. H8.200 rainbow truut were released at Lee's Ferry: IO,(KIO were 10 in. long 9.500 r:lInbow trout wt're relc.l"ed:lt Lee'" Ferry In lht" first three rnonth~ of 1965. Parasllic c)'sblirsl ohserved in troul at Lct'\ Ferry. re~orded their presence in the 19505. In 1937. Holmstrom repeatedly and humorously noted that "rats.. ate his butter, indicating that consumption of unsecured food by rodents is not new in Granu Canyon. Fishes 1\ Eight species of native fish were found in the Colorado River in the 19th century (Fig. 6). Although none of these species is extinct within the Colorado River basin, four species -- Colorado pikeminnow (Pl.l'chacheilus lucius). bony tail (Gil(l elegullS). roundtail chub (Gila rohllsta). and razorback sucker (Xl'rCllIchen lex,,"us) -- have been extirpated from G;and Canyon (Minckley, 1991). The humpback chub (Gila cypha). ftannelmouth sucker (CalOslomus 1(llipil/l/is). bluehead sucker (c. discahallls). and speckled dace (Rhil/ichlhys asculus) all retain reproducing populations in Grand Canyon. Human modification of the riverine environment. and most notably the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and its regulated. cold-water releases, are generally blamed for declines in native species. Also, 24 species of non- native fishes have been introduced or es~aped into Grand Canyon starting in the late 1800s (Fig. 6). Competition with and predation by these fishes is also a large factor in the decline of the native species (Valdez and Rye!. 1995). Few of the currently listed endangered fish in the Colorado River were caught or seen by pre-dam river runners (Table 7). The Stamon expedition (1889- 1890), caught Colorado pikeminnow. and in 1911. the Kolb brothers caught 23 "bony tail"' chub and one pikeminnow (Fig. 7b; Kolb, 1914). In 1923. Emery Kolb caught a "boneytail fish.' near Mohawk Canyon (mile 171.5-L). Photographs (Fig. 7) show that most of the fish referred to as bony tail probably were humpback chub. which was not described as a species until 1946 (Miller 1946). The holotype used by R.R. Miller 10 describe the humpback chub was taken by N. N. Dodge angling with hook and line near Phantom Ranch in 1942. In 1940. Goldwater mentions catching "salmon'. (Colorado pikeminnow) in the mouth of Shinumo Creek (mile I 08.6-R) in addition to catfish. Nevills observed 4-in. suckers and 2-in. minnows in Shinumo Creek, 2.5 miles upstream from the Colorado River. Humpback chub and razorback sucker were not specifically mentioned. but "humpbacked suckers'. were caught in Shinumo Creek and near Gneiss Canyon Rapid (mile 236; see Table 7). Although most fishermen caught trout in Tapeats Creek (mile 133.8- R). John Doerr. the chief naturalist at Grand Canyon National Park, caught Colorado pikeminnow there in 1948. Some Old Timers remember seeing fishermen along the river. particularly in the first 32 miles downstream of Lee's Ferry. Nevills observed a fishing boat pulled up on the bank at mile 187 in 1947. Many trips included fishermen. which led to m,my observations about the kinds of fish in the river. Dynamite was commonly used to kill fish at Lee's Ferry (Table 7). and Frank Dodge, a river runner and U.S. Geological Survey employee in the I 930s and 1940,. was one of its biggest users. Cross Sr. talked with Bert Loper about fishing in Glen Canyon in the I 940s; dynamiting earlier in the century yielded Colorado pikeminnow. whereas later dynamiting yielded only catfish. Nevills found a cache of dynamite at the mouth of Parashant Wash (mile 198.5-R) in 1942, that he thought was used for fishing. Rigg and Nichols saw dynamite being used to fish for catfish at Whitmore Wash (mile 188.I-R) in the 1950s. Catfish were extremely common and are mentioned in every fishing reference after 1938. except most years at Tapeats Creek (mile 133.8-R). Before 1938. no fisherman reported catching catfish despite SPECIFIC CHANGES OBSERVED IN GRAND CANYON 29