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this 1-1/2-month period. Six of these pikeminnow were originally captured in the <br />Lower Gunnison River, two were from the 18-mile reach, and one from the 15-mile <br />reach of the Colorado River. In 1996, two of the pikeminnow captured in the 15- <br />mile reach moved downstream into the 18-mile reach but none of the pikeminnow <br />captured in the 18-mile reach moved upstream into the 15-mile reach. A similar <br />pattern was observed for fish radiotagged in 1997. Four of the five pikeminnow <br />captured in the 15-mile reach in 1997 moved downstream into the 18-mile reach but <br />none of the pikeminnow captured and released in the 18-mile reach moved upstream <br />into the 15-mile reach. <br />The smaller, lighter 3-V radio transmitter used in 1999 did not perform as <br />well as the prototype test tag provided by the manufacturer during "in-field" <br />tests, or as well as the larger 7-V radiotag used in previous studies. The <br />inability to adequately test this smaller tag in situ could have been attributed <br />to the small number of pikeminnow implanted in 1999 and the high water <br />conductivity (range: 416-1,260 pS/cm, 25° C) in the Gunnison River which can <br />severely attenuate radiotag signal reception and detection. <br />Telemetry has been useful in discerning aggregations of pikeminnow during <br />spawni ng and i denti fyi ng potenti al spawni ng si tes i n the Green (Tyus et al . 1981; <br />Tyus 1990; Irving and Modde 2000), Upper Colorado (Wick et al. 1985; McAda and <br />Kaeding 1991; Burdick 1995), and San Juan River subbasins (Ryden and Ahlm 1996). <br />However, during this study, ground telemetry did not detect radio-tagged <br />pikeminnow simultaneously with congregations of non-radio-tagged pikeminnow <br />during the spawning period. Therefore, movement data from radio-tagged <br />pikeminnow did not lead researchers to delineate aggregations of pikeminnow. <br />Consequently, telemetry did not identify new or verify former spawning sites in <br />either the Gunnison or Upper Colorado rivers. <br />CONCLUSIONS <br />Some of the following conclusions are interpretations from the data by the <br />author. Other interpretations may exist, but it is believed that the current <br />available biological and hydrological data most likely support these <br />interpretations. <br />1. Colorado pikeminnow successfully used the passageway from 1996-2000. <br />The high number of pikeminnow that used the passageway in July and <br />August during both 1997 and 1998 could have been the result of an <br />influx of adult pikeminnow that moved upstream from the lower reach to <br />the upper reach of the Upper Colorado River in the mid-1990's. There <br />are several hypotheses for this upstream movement: 1) a response to <br />46