7401 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

3.20 following percentages: 42 percent brown trout, 29 percent kokanee salmon, 24 percent bluehead sucker, and 5 percent rainbow trout (Nesler, 1979). Although brown trout is the most abundant species, their numbers seem to be declining. Based on the period 1969-1973, 20 gillnets caught an average of 9.6 brown trout per net, while 10 nets captured an average of 1.7 brown trout per net in 1978. Since most of the fish have been collected in open-water surface nets, adults seem to utilize the upper portion of the water column. Numerous juvenile suckers and several juvenile trout have been observed in the bays near Ruedi and Pond Creeks. The bays along the north shore probably represent important forage areas for adult and juvenile trout and rearing areas for juveniles. The Fryingpan River between Ruedi Dam and the Roaring Fork River confluence is considered a "Gold Medal wild trout water" (CDOW, 1988). Of the four trout species (brown, rainbow, brook, and cutthroat) occurring in this section of the river, brown trout and rainbow trout are abundant and distributed throughout the 13-mile section. In contrast, brook trout and cutthroat trout seem to be restricted to the 4- to 5-mile section below Ruedi Dam (Nehring and Anderson, 1981, 1982). Habitat requirements for these salmonid species are summarized in Table 3.9. Other species occurring in the river include mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) and mottled sculpin (Finnell, 1977; Hoppe and Finnell, 1978) (Table 3.8). Electrofishing surveys conducted between 1969 and 1986 on the Fryingpan River reflect several changes in the community structure of trout populations. Although rainbow trout outnumbered brown trout by a ratio of 2:1 from 1969 to 1973, there has been a shift toward brown trout dominance in the past five to ten years. In 1981 and 1982 brown trout comprised 60 percent of the total com- bined catch, while values at individual locations ranged from 36 percent to 90 percent (Nehring and Anderson, 1982). Rainbow trout comprised a much smaller portion of the catch during these years, representing 26 percent of the total combined catch, with percent composition ranging from 10 percent to 72 percent at individual locations. More than half of the rainbow trout catch just below the dam in 1982 was comprised of stocked fish. In 1986, brown trout comprised an average of 56 percent of the total trout population in the Fryingpan River (Nehring, 1987). Rainbow trout populations were estimated to be an average of 34 percent of the total trout population and brook trout populations averaged an estimated 10 percent of the total. However, population statistics varied significantly along the river. The reach just below