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endangered fish (see Goals section above), capture rates of YOY Colorado pikeminnow <br />during ISMP annual seine surveys were examined to see if Colorado pikeminnow relative <br />abundance increased during the predator removal period. <br />To assess depletion effects from removal efforts without the confounding factors <br />of potential immigration and emigration, trend in catch rate was examined in one <br />backwater that remained isolated from the main channel during several seasonal removal <br />efforts. The best backwater for this was a backwater near Horsethief Wildlife Area at rm <br />154.5. It contained relatively high numbers of fish, was sampled in all seasonal efforts, <br />and had no inflow from irrigation return. <br />RESULTS <br />General <br />Total numbers of nonnative fish captured and removed varied greatly among <br />individual backwaters and among seasons. During the three-year effort, 3,758 <br />largemouth bass and 10,432 green sunfish were removed (Table 1). Other sunfishes <br />(total number in parentheses) included black crappie (27), smallmouth bass (27) and <br />bluegill Lepomis macrochirus (630). Other nonnative fish included 3,551 black bullhead, <br />2,807 white sucker, 101 channel catfish, and 6,642 common carp. Only two northern <br />pike were captured. Crews were more effective capturing centrarchids when the <br />electrofishing barge was used than when the electrofishing boat was used. The barge <br />allowed access to shallow-water areas and could be dragged or carried to backwaters <br />partially isolated from the channel. These habitats contained pond-like features <br />(vegetation, branches, and other structure) typically favored by various species of sunfish <br />(Sigler and Miller 1963). Also, the hand-held probes allowed netters to most effectively <br />shock microhabitats associated with structure (branches, beaver lodges, rip-rap blocks, <br />root-wads, etc.). The boat was primarily effective at removing adult carp along rip- <br />rapped banks. The number of backwaters shocked using the barge was 21-25 in five of <br />7