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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />, <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />r <br />I <br /> <br />to be frequently dragged in shallow reaches. Dragging became the case for the Hyside at <br />flows less than 100 cis on the Yampa. The boat was maneuvered by either oars or by a <br />battery powered 40-pound thrust trolling motor. Two nellers caught as many fish as they <br />could while the shocker was in operation. All fish were measured to the nearest <br />millimeter. Only fish over 150 mm were marked and therefore used for mark and <br />recapture population estimates. Density estimates were made for the each study site on <br />the Yampa, Colorado and Dolores. <br /> <br />The Darroch multiple mark method (Everhart and Youngs] 981) was used to <br />make the population estimate with ninety-five percent confidence intervals. A total fish <br />eslimate was made for all species and for each species. Recapture rates generally varied <br />between species and size-groups. For our samplings larger suckers had the highest <br />recapture probabilities. Species with appreciably lower recapture probabilities included <br />catfish, bass, pike and carp (the lower group). The total fish estimate was a blend of <br />recapture probabilities, but should produce reliable comparisons for total fish abundance <br />between years, when species and size composition was consistent. For rare species <br />(pikeminnow, etc) with zero or one recapture in the sample, abundance was estimated by <br />dividing the number in the sample by the mean recapture probability of the lower group. <br /> <br />The z-test with an alpha of 0.05 (z = 1.96) was used to test for significant <br />differences in density estimates between years at each station. At stations with three or <br />more years of sampling, the Bonferroni inequality was also used to control the overall <br />significance level (.05) for the simultaneous comparison of all pairs of years (Dr. David <br />Bowden, CSU. pers. communication). At stations with 4 years of data, (Duffy and <br />Sevens) the z value (2.631) corresponds to an alpha of 0.05 divided by six (0.0083). <br /> <br />On the Yampa River, a different mark was used for each run-riffle sequence, <br />which allowed for determining ifrecaptured fish had moved up, down or had not moved <br />between captures. The dates and the flow for each field trip during the four-year period <br />1998 to 200 I for Sevens and Duffy are given in Table 3. The Lily Park Site was electro- <br />fished for two years in 2000 and 2001 (Table 3). Flow readings were taken from the <br />Maybell gage. Flows recorded from the Lily Park gage tended to be somewhat higher <br />than Maybell and are included in Table 3 parenthetically. <br /> <br />On the Colorado River, fish in both study sites within the IS-Mile reach were <br />marked to designate the upper, middle and lower sections of the site to give a general <br />idea of movement between passes within the station. A total of eight electro-fishing <br />passes were made at the Com Lake station in 1999. Four passes were made on the left <br />half and four on right half of the river. The Clifton site was added in 2000 and fish from <br />Clifton were given a unique mark so they could be distinguished from fish marked <br />downstream at the Corn Lake station. The sampling strategy was modified in 2000. The <br />total number of electro-fishing passes was six at both Com Lake and Clifton. Instead of <br />sampling left and right sides, the river was divided into three longitudinal zones, i.e., <br />right shoreline, left shoreline and mid channel so that fish caught in shallow shoreline <br />habitat were distinguished from the deeper channel habitat. The electro-fishing boat <br />sampled each zone (right and left shoreline and mid channel) twice. In 200], the same <br /> <br />13 <br />