7770

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7770
• Author: Trammell, M. A.
• Title: Evaluation of Colorado Squawfish Stocking in Kenney Reservoir, Rangely, Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1991.
• USFW - Doc Type: Colorado State University,
• Copyright Material: NO

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Squawfish continue to move downstream after exiting the reservoir.
Specimens were collected farther downstream on each sampling occasion in
1989 and 1990. On succeeding months, beginning with June in 1989,
Squawfish were collected at RK 158.4, 130.4, 127.2, 140.5, and 121.3; an
exception to the trend being at RK 140.5 in September. In 1990, on
succeeding months beginning with May, Squawfish were collected at RK
159.2, 133.3, (none in July), 130.4, and 127.8 in September.
The majority of Squawfish that escaped appeared to have done so
during a short time period. In 1989, when the number of Squawfish caught
in each section of the river in a month was converted to a percentage of
the total number of squawfish collected in the river in that month and
graphed, a series of peaks were revealed (Table 6). In each succeeding
section downriver of the dam (sections 2-4), a higher percentage of
squawfish was collected in succeeding months. Relatively more squawfish
were collected in section 2 in June and July, section 3 in September, and
section 4 in November. No squawfish were ever collected in section 5,
probably due to a lack of suitable backwater habitat. The "pulse" of
squawfish moving downstream is also discernable in 1990, although the
smaller sample sizes make it less evident (Table 7).
The squawfish were not found upstream from the reservoir in 1988 or
1989, but in 1990 confirmed specimens were found at sites 7.2 and 1.6 km
above the reservoir in June and 1.6 km above at one site in July. This
site was a large, deep backwater with an area at the upper end over 1.8 m
deep. No squawfish were collected after August, mirroring the decline of
squawfish elsewhere in the study area ("Upper White River" in Table 4).