SARATOGA - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Laramie fish management crew has been busy electro-fishing the North Platte River north of Saratoga this summer. Results from these surveys will be used to evaluate the health of the fishery and to determine if new fishing regulations should be considered in the future.

Sampling is conducted from rafts with gas generators injecting just enough electrical current in the water to temporarily stun nearby fish. If all goes well, the stunned fish are caught in dip nets and placed in a live well on the raft for temporary holding. The warmer the water and the warmer the day, the shorter the time fish are held.

All the fish seen were not caught. "One would think that catching a stunned fish in a dip net would be an easy thing," says Fisheries Biologist Steve Gale. "But on a moving raft rocking back and forth in flowing waters and with a fish only slightly stunned it can be harder than you might think."

The sampling, from the Pick Bridge 9 miles north of Saratoga downstream for 4.1 miles, takes three days to complete. "Because not all fish are netted on the first pass each study section is sampled three times, one time per day," says Gale.

Every few minutes the crews pull to shore to work the fish. They record the species, length and weight and mark each fish identifying the day it was first caught. The fish are then placed into a porous holding tank in the river so that crew members can make sure each fish recovers. Once all the fish are moving about normally they are released back into the river.

"The approximately 120 miles of North Platte River from the Colorado state line to Seminoe Reservoir is an important stretch of water in southeast Wyoming," says Mike Snigg, fisheries supervisor. "It is an unregulated system with no dams and has been managed as a wild fishery (no stocking) since the early 1980s."

In order to effectively manage this wild fishery, one of five sites is sampled annually. They are at the confluence of Douglas Creek, between Bennett Peak and Treasure Island, Pick Bridge, Rochelle-I-80 upstream and the Dugway to the headwaters of Seminoe Reservoir.

"These sites were chosen so that each one represents a different type of river habitat," says Snigg.

Data collected this summer will be analyzed this winter. "Once the analysis is completed we will look at how the current regulations are impacting the fishery and see if we need to make recommendations for any changes in the future," says Snigg.
(contact: Bob Lanka (307) 745-4046)