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were captured within 1 km of the confluence of the Yampa and Green rivers. Northern pike <br />captured averaged 644 mm TL (191 to 825 mm TL), and all were healthy and fat. Most were <br />captured from deep eddies and pools or runs. There was evidence of reproduction by northern <br />pike in Lodore Canyon as a 191 mm TL fish, presumably age-0, was captured in summer 2003 in <br />lower Lodore Canyon. There was also evidence that northern pike may be reproducing upstream <br />of Lodore Canyon, based on finding age-0 specimens in Browns Park in autumn 2005 (n = 10). <br />Number of northern pike (13 in 1994 to 1996, 21 in 2002 to 2004) and CPUE in each <br />period (0.2 fish/h in each study period) was similar, as was the size distribution, with the <br />exception of the small individual. Thus, northern pike abundance in the study area appeared <br />stable between the 1994 to 1996 and 2002 to 2004 study periods. We captured four tagged pike <br />in 2004; all originated in the Yampa River between Craig and Lily Park and were tagged in 2003. <br />Three of the recaptured fish were from the Green River just upstream of the Yampa River and one <br />was captured just below the confluence. <br />Channel catfish distribution and abundance in Lodore Canyon in the 2002 to 2004 <br />sampling period increased upstream relative to that found in 1994 to 1996; abundance increases <br />were evident across Lodore Canyon and channel catfish was most abundant in reach LD4. <br />Abundance of channel catfish among the 2002 to 2004 sample years in Lodore Canyon was <br />highest in 2002 and 2003 but similar to smallmouth bass, declined in 2004, particularly in reaches <br />LD1 to LD3. Channel catfish abundance was similar in the Green River in each Whirlpool <br />Canyon reach across all sample years in the 2002 to 2004 period. There was no evidence of <br />reproduction by channel catfish in the Lodore Canyon reach of the Green River because we did <br />not collect any channel catfish < 180 mm TL in seine or drift net samples. <br />Smallmouth bass increased in abundance in Lodore Canyon throughout the study period, <br />and were much more abundant in 2002 to 2004 than in the 1994 to 1996 period, when only a <br />single smallmouth bass was captured by electrofishing and two were captured by seining. <br />Smallmouth bass abundance increased most between 2002 and 2003, particularly in the lower two <br />Lodore Canyon reaches and in Whirlpool Canyon (Fig. 46). Abundance of smallmouth bass in <br />58