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2. To better utilize the available habitat for adult trout and <br />enhance the quality element of the sportfishery, trout between <br />330 mm and 508 mm (13-20 inches) should be protected from <br />harvest. Only two trout less than 330 mm and one trout greater <br />than 508 mm TL should be permitted in the creel. <br />3. To reduce mortality attributable to hooking, terminal gear <br />should be restricted to lures and flies. <br />4. Stocking rate should be reduced from 200,000 to no more than <br />100,000 150-mm fingerlings per year. Stocking of catchable <br />sized trout should be eliminated. <br />5. Population estimates should be employed, both during fall and <br />spring, to monitor response of the fish population to these <br />management alterations. <br />In addition, changes in operations of the Flaming Gorge <br />hydroelectric units should be closely followed. A proposal to rewind and <br />uprate the generators could increase maximum discharge by about 15% and <br />increase the range of fluctuation by as much as 19 percent. Results of <br />the current study suggest that usable winter habitat for trout is <br />negatively affected at higher discharge levels. The role of discharge <br />rate on winter habitat should be more precisely defined, and means of <br />mitigating any negative effects identified, before proposals that would <br />elevate winter discharge are implemented. <br />Finally, the contribution of instream recruitment to the <br />sportfishery was not evaluated during the study period. Brown trout were <br />not stocked during the study but their annual contribution to the creel <br />increased steadily. Rainbow and cutthroat trout recruitment was clearly <br />-7-