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TAILWATER FISH STOCKING AND MARKING <br />Job F-V <br />Background <br />With the exception of a small, unmeasured amount of natural <br />reproduction in Brown's Park, the Flaming Gorge tailwater fishery <br />is dependent upon stocked trout. A few brown trout and cutthroat <br />trout are naturally recruited in Brown's Park, but fluctuating <br />water levels and consistently low water temperatures prevent success- <br />ful spawning throughout most of the river. <br />Artificial stocking has taken place each year since 1964 and <br />will probably always be necessary to sustain the fishery. <br />For the past several years all fish stocked into the tailwaters <br />have been marked. This has been necessary to identify year classes <br />for age and growth determinations since the uniformly cold water of <br />the discharge prevents the formation of clear annuli on the trout <br />scales. <br />Methods <br />Two methods of marking were used. Catchable trout were marked <br />by clipping fins, while fingerling were marked with fluorescent dye. <br />Granular fluorescent pigment was applied to the fingerlings with a <br />compressed air sand blasting sprayer while they were suspended in <br />a screen bottomed box. The box was large enough to hold 200 to 300 <br />fingerlings at a time. <br />Stocking was carried out by rafting the fish between the access <br />points, with a few loads planted at the heavily used access areas by <br />truck. The transport raft was 23 ft long and equipped with a small