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<br />The traits most useful for identifying juvenile fish (<150 mm TL) were 10 principal anal fin rays <br /> <br />and angle of anal fin base extending well onto upper lobe of the caudal fin. The presence of a <br /> <br /> <br />predorsal hump and subterminal mouth were not helpful for identifying humpback chub <br /> <br /> <br />juveniles. There was considerable uncertainty in identifying juvenile Gila. However, recent Gila <br /> <br /> <br />collections from Island Park that were preserved and sent to Dr. Darrel Snyder at the Larval Fish <br /> <br />Laboratory at Colorado State University for identification has given us more confidence in our <br /> <br />juvenile humpback identification for this study (personal communication, D. Snyder to T. Modde <br />and C. Kitcheyan, 5 October 2001). <br /> <br />Adult captures. Electrofishing and angling captured 83 adult humpback chub in Yampa <br /> <br /> <br />Canyon. The fish were distributed from Laddie Park (river km 17) upstream to Disappointment <br /> <br /> <br />Draw (river km 72). This distribution was similar to earlier data collected, although previous <br /> <br /> <br />data showed greater numbers caught downstream (Figure 2). The distribution was very uneven; <br /> <br /> <br />most fish preferred deep pools and eddies associated with large boulders. The river locations <br /> <br />that yielded the highest catches in this study and historically were 0.8 km above Mathers Hole <br /> <br /> <br />(river km 31), Big Joe (river km 39), Five Springs (river km 43), and Irvings Hole (river km 61). <br /> <br /> <br />The larger catches at Big Joe, Five Springs, Little Joe, and Irvings Hole were in part the result of <br /> <br /> <br />camping at these sites and spending more time angling. <br /> <br /> <br />Angler caught humpback chub averaged 255 mm TL (n = 17) and electrofishing caught <br /> <br /> <br />fish averaged 244 mm TL (n = 69, includes 3 recaptures). The relative length-frequency offish <br /> <br /> <br />captured in this study (mean 245 mm TL) compared with historic data (mean 278 mm TL) <br /> <br /> <br />showed more smaller and fewer large fish (Figure 3). This result may be due to different capture <br /> <br />8 <br />