Trout Surgery – Watch the Process!

Trout Surgery – Watch the Process!

by | 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...
2/18/13 – Is Floyd Dead?

2/18/13 – Is Floyd Dead?

by | 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...