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1993 Kenney Res. Channel Catfish Study Report <br />Page 12 <br />except for electrofishing. Ninety percent of the reservoir catfish <br />catch came from gill or trammel netting. The use of trammel nets <br />was restricted shortly after the study began to reduce the overall <br />amount of -time spent removing large numbers of entangled carp. <br />Therefore the trammel net effort is approximately only 1/2 the gill <br />net effort. The trotline effort was 1/4 the baited hoop net effort <br />but produced just one catfish compared to 10 catfish for hoop nets . <br />The best catch per effort on the reservoir was produced using a <br />combination of gill, trammel, and hoop nets. <br />The electrofish catch per effort from the upper and lower river <br />reaches did not vary significantly. This suggests there is no <br />significant difference in the numbers of channel catfish inhabiting <br />the upper reach and the lower reach; or conversely, the size of the <br />catfish population in each reach is similar. The catch density of <br />catfish is very low, approximately 2-3.fish/mile. Martinez et al. <br />(1993) also reported low channel catfish populations in the White <br />River based on his sampling as well as from other researchers. <br />The length of the White River in Colorado from Kenney Reservoir <br />downstream to the Utah border is 32 miles. -The upper and lower <br />sampling reaches lie on either end of this section of river. The <br />electrofishing catch was approximately 3 fish/mile in the river. <br />Assuming a low catch efficiency of 5 percent, this expands (3/0.05) <br />into a catfish population of 60 fish/mile or 1,920 catfish i.n the <br />White River in Colorado. If 10 percent of the stocked catfish from <br />Kenney Reservoir had escaped downstream (300 fish), they would have <br />increased the White River catfish population in Colorado by 15 <br />percent. Given such a scenarid, it is likely even at a low catch <br />efficiency that some stocked fish would have been captured. <br />However no stocked (adipose fin clipped) fish were found, <br />suggesting that the escapement rate of channel catfish from .Kenney <br />Reservoir must be very low. <br />The hoop net catch in the lower river reach for July and September <br />(80 fish) was much higher than the catch in the upper reach for the <br />same period (2). The September hoop net catch in the lower river <br />was twice the July hoop net catch for the same area. Hoop net bait <br />in July was mackerel flavored catfood and carp chunks, whereas in <br />September the bait was shrimp and carp chunks. Water temperatures <br />for both reaches were cooler in September (19°C) than in July (21- <br />22°C). Some of the difference in catch may be explainable by the <br />use of better bait (shrimp) in September. <br />Some of the difference in hoop net catch may also be due to <br />problems at the Kenney Reservoir power plant. During summer and <br />early fall of 1993, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel <br />observed a movement in the White River of radio tagged Colorado <br />squawfish and forage fishes away from Kenney Reservoir to areas <br />