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Despite the limited area in Lilly Park from which most of the channel catfish were sampled, only one recapture was recorded. This resulted from an angler tag return, not subsequent sampling. . ~ Table 2. Distribution of channel catfish sampled in the Yampa River, 1987- 1988. Sample Reach River Miles No. of Catfish Sampled Hayden - Craig Juniper Springs Maybell-Sunbeam Lilly Park - Deerlodge ll5 - 170 90 - 114 58 - 90 45 - 56 o 3 5 41 The length frequency distribution of all channel catfish captured through October 1988 indicates these fish ranged from 320 to 760 rom in length, and from 200 to 4200 gm in w~ight (Figure 5). Most channel catfish sampled were between 360 to 520 rom in length, and under 800 gm in weight. Average length and weight for the sample population was 440 rom and 1209 gm, respectively. The length frequency distribution by river mile (Figure 6) indicated an absence of catfish smaller than 400 rom in the upstream sample reaches of Juniper Springs and Maybell-Sunbeam. No catfish larger than 415 rom in length were captured at the Yampa-Green confluence, but this represented a very limited sampling effort with dissimilar techniques relative to the upstream sample reaches. The length-weight relationship for the Yampa channel catfish population was: logW = -7.661 + 3.964logL W=weight; L=length Condition factors (K) for these fish ranged from 0.466 to 1.407, and averaged 0.839. The regression coefficient for the length-weight relationship appears quite high relative to values reported in Carlander (1969), suggesting relatively large weight gain with increasing length, but this may be affected by small sample size (n=36) and a potential bias toward larger catfish. Nineteen catfish ranging from 314 to 444 rom in length were not weighed, and no catfish smaller than 314 rom were present in the sample. The average condition 16