by Scott | Apr 3, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
Our trackers floated the initial release section (Hendricks-Bellinger) on 3/29, and found only nine of the original twenty fish. This next week, we plan to float from RM 40 (Leaburg Dam) to Deerhorn (RM 32), and perhaps down to Hendricks (RM 24) if time allows. We are still working on arranging flights as well. As you can see in the attached document, we’re missing several fish and plan to call in all our available tools to find them! Twenty fish and 40+ miles of river is a big challenge especially with our tags transmitting only two days a week. Most Recent Fish Locations – 040213 Lloyd, a 327mm (12.7″) rainbow trout, is standing in for Floyd for the remainder of the study. Floyd met an untimely death in Leaburg Pool at the hands of a cormorant. Floyd continues to serve as our Facebook spokesfish from beyond the grave. We decided to reuse the tag to add an extra fish to the study, versus allowing it to expire while sitting on a desk. Lloyd will not be considered in the data analysis for the study, as he was tagged at a different time of year than the 20 other fish. As always, you can follow our fish...
by Scott | Mar 30, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
Our trackers ran from Bellinger to Hayden last week, and from Deerhorn to Hendricks this past weekend. Only two fish were acquired; Stanley (011) near Deerhorn, where he has been for a few weeks, and Mike S. (017), downstream of Bellinger. We also relocated Floyd’s tag (video soon!) and reimplanted it in Lloyd (The Artist Formerly Known As Floyd). Watch how...
by Scott | Mar 12, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
We went out tracking on 3/9 from Hendricks to Hayden. We found 10 of the fish in this stretch, with nine still in the initial study section. We found Mike S. downstream past Bellinger, and Sonya‘s finally moved a bit too. The highlight, no doubt, was finding Radio in a tailout where he could be videotaped! Check him (and his new lady friend?) out below. Recommended viewing this fullscreen and 720p...
by Scott | Mar 4, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
From our weekend volunteers: “On Friday afternoon we floated from Deerhorn Landing to Walterville Landing (at the upper end of the canal) to get a better fix on 011. We took the north channel at the top of Goat Island, as the signal seemed considerably stronger in that direction. I did walk over to the south channel, and the signal was very weak over there. Proceeding down the north channel, the signal got steadily stronger for about 300 yards or so, peaking about half way between the top of the island and the first left bend (where the flow passes over a riffle into a deep pool). This puts it about directly across from Taylor’s Landing, but in the opposite channel.” “On Saturday we floated the [initial release] study section, Hendricks-Bellinger. We located just 9 fish there. Most of those were very close to their last previously known locations, too, for whatever that info is worth; but several had gone missing since the last trip there 4 weeks ago. That leaves 9 fish that we did not find this week: 004, 007, 008, 009, 015, 017, 018, 020, 021.” We did locate Wanda, Dasha, Rusty, Lenny, Chicago, Waldo, Finn, Radio, and Eeyore. Our list of AWOLs has grown. It’s time to find our missing fish (probably by air), but until then, you can track the known quantities online with Follow Our Fish! Radio Tag ID Fish Name River Mile Last Seen 15 Dixie 23.2 10/19/2012 20 Harvey 19.1 11/30/2012 18 Sven 17.2 1/26/2013 4 Nigel 22.1 2/1/2013 7 007 20.8 2/1/2013 21 Ole 19.1 2/1/2013 17 MikeS 17.3...
by Scott | Feb 25, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve refreshed our website. Our goal is to provide you with easy access to the latest news about our McKenzie River trout studies – the Five-Year Mark & Recapture Study (2010 – 2014) and the Radio Telemetry Pilot Study (2012 – 2013). Don’t worry, all of the fun stuff is still here – including Meet Our Fish! and Follow Our Fish! We also encourage you to visit and befriend our flagship fish, Floyd, on Facebook. This past weekend’s weather put a damper on tracking plans, but expect more in the upcoming week! We are also planning some aerial surveys in the near future, which should shed light on a few of our missing fish....
by Scott | Feb 25, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study
Our first radio-tagged rainbow trout, nicknamed “Radio,” was tagged on October 14, 2012, at River Mile 20.0, by Arlen Thomason, Steve Brehm, and ODFW’s Jeff Ziller. Learn more about “Radio” or track him through our online tracking applet “Follow Our Fish!” Surgery Summary (courtesy Arlen Thomason) Lots of big October caddis were about, and while fishing a large dry fly (Michael T. Williams’ “Percolator”), Stevie hooked into a dandy redside that went airborne and then ripped line off his reel as it headed downstream in a fast current. After a considerable battle, we netted his 16″ beauty. We put it in a cooler of river water and phoned Jeff Ziller to come over and perform the surgical honors later in the evening. In the meantime, we kept “Radio” (as Stevie affectionately dubbed his new friend) in good shape by changing her (his?) water every half hour, while we continued pursuit of its brethren. We hooked several more trout, but only one rainbow which appeared big enough to radio tag; and alas, I lost that one when it jumped one last time and spit the hook at my feet. After the Beavers game was over (of course) Jeff and his son Dan arrived via jet sled, bearing the surgical kit and the know-how. Here are a few shots of the tagging operation, which was quite interesting to see. The first step was to move Radio from my cooler to Jeff’s, which contained fresh water spiked with an anesthetic that prepared the fish for surgery. When the fish was calm and compliant, Jeff used a scalpel to make a small incision into...
