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 18, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
We did more car tracking this weekend – on Friday, two of our volunteers took off upriver in search of Floyd and others who had perhaps escaped our initial study section. They again located Floyd (#014) and Stanley (#011). Floyd’s tag was giving off a very strong signal, very near the bank. Suspicious. While I was standing by the highway trying to pinpoint the location of 014, Jeff and Kelly came by and stopped to help. The signal was so strong (signal strength ~200 at gain of 30) that we wondered whether it was actually in the water. On the bank was a tall tree that would be a perfect osprey perch, and the blackberry vines below it were covered in bird droppings. The signal seemed to be strongest in those blackberries. We searched there for a while but it was like a needle in a haystack, and we didn’t find a tag. We can go back and look again when we have work gloves and boots to sort through the briars; a metal detector would come in handy if anybody has one. We can’t rule out the possibility that the tag is in the water just off the bank, but it didn’t look like good trout holding water. Two other volunteers went up on Saturday to try to pinpoint Floyd’s location. The volunteers were able to determine that Floyd was indeed in the water. As you can see in the attached video, the signal is coming from calm water in Leaburg Lake. The pile of logs directly in the center of the frame is the likely resting spot...
by Scott | Feb 9, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
After the past two weeks of tracking, we expected to have to hunt a bit to find our AWOL fish. On 2/9, we took the car for a drive up the McKenzie Highway with a roof-mounted antenna. We located two fish, #011 at river mile 28.6 (about 4.5 miles upstream from our study section) and… Floyd…#014… Good ol’ Floyd decided to skip town and run almost 20 miles up the McKenzie. He was found in front of Ike’s Pizza at river mile 40.0! Wow. With three fish still missing, our search radius just expanded substantially. Floyd apparently had some downtime after grabbing pizza at Ike’s, and is now...
by Scott | Jan 19, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates
Due to technical issues with our receiving equipment as well as a prolonged stretch of cold weather and high water, we took the month of December off from tracking our fish. On 1/18, several intrepid trackers ran a jet sled through several miles of river (RM 18.6 to 25.5) , locating 12 of our fish. It’s a mystery as to where the other eight have run off to. It is definitely possible that the fish are in the study section, yet tucked away in side channels inaccessible to the larger boat. Dasha, as seen above, makes us wonder what the winter range is for our fish. She spent several weeks within the same half-mile stretch, and then recently headed downstream a couple of miles. We will get a better idea of the movement of some of the other fish in the next week when we plan to float some of the areas outside the intial study...
