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<br />the Yampa River from the Green River downstream. If records of early stocking are <br />inaccurate there may have been unreported stockings in the Yampa River basin prior to <br />1977. In 1970, the state of Colorado stocked northern pike in a variety of small <br />impoundments in northwest Colorado and although no specific records appear to exist, <br />it is conceivable that a small reservoir in the Yampa drainage could have received fish <br />in 1970 ( P. Martinez, pers. comm.). A reliable angler from Craig recalled northern pike <br />in Ralph White Reservoir located on Fortification Creek north of Craig in the early <br />1970s; but, no stocking records could be found for northern pike in Ralph White and <br />creel samples of the reservoir from 1973 through 1979 did not report northern pike <br />(S. Hebein, pers. comm.). There are no known reports of northern pike in the Green <br />River until well after they were found in the Yampa River, suggesting that northern pike <br />did not infiltrate from downstream and implying a Yampa River origin. Although there is <br />much speculation, the initial source of northern pike in the Yampa River remains <br />unknown, however their initial increase and range expansion occurred in the 1980s, <br />after their legal introduction into Elkhead Reservoir. <br /> <br />Reconstructing the origin and expansion of northern pike from events that <br />occurred over 25 years ago is problematic; even recent expansions in the Yampa River <br />basin are difficult to document. Northern pike presently inhabit upstream Catamount <br />and Stagecoach reservoirs, and their origin in these waters is undocumented and likely <br />illicit. Catamount Reservoir was filled in 1979 and Stagecoach Reservoir further <br />upstream, was filled in 1989. Northern pike were first observed in Catamount Reservoir <br />in 1995 (K. Rogers, pers. comm.). Although there is speculation that northern pike <br /> <br />5 <br />