Statewide fisheries investigations : Hauser and Holter drainage fisheries management : 2000 annual report

48 Pages·2002·2.3 MB·English

by  Dalbey, Steven Ray

s MONTANASTATELIBRARY
639.313
F2hhd 30864 100202335
2000
c.2
MONTANADEPARTMENTOFFISH,WILDLIFEANDPARKS
FISHERIESDIVISION
STATEDOCUMENTSCOLLECTION
STATE: MONTANA jUN C32003
FEDERALAID MhfOiNfT1nA5aN1A5mFS^TtA6taThEnAaLVIEB5R9A5R2Y0
PROJECTNUMBER: F-78R-6:F-113R-1
PROJECTTITLE: STATEWIDEFISHERIESINVESTIGATIONS
JOBTITLE: HAUSERANDHOLTERDRAINAGE
FISHERIESMANAGEMENT
2000ANNUALREPORT

Abstract:FisheriesdataweregatheredonHauserandHolterreservoirstoprovideinformation
neededto:1)managethefisheryofthetworeservoirs;2)evaluateimpactsofreservoir
operationsonthesportfishery;and3)evaluatethesuccessofthehatcherystockingprogram.
Thisreportsummarizesdatacollectedduringthe2000fieldseason.
Throughoutthisreport,speciesmanagementgoalsarepresented. Thesegoals/targetswere
developedduringtheCanyonFerry,Hauser,HolterFisheriesManagementworkgroupthattook
placein1999andarepresentedindetailinthedocument,“UpperMissouriRiverReservoir
FisheriesManagementPlan;2000-2009”. Thismanagementplansetthedirectionoffisheries
managementfortheperiod2000-2009.
HauserReservoir
Hauserreservoircontinuestorecoverfromtheimpactsofhighwaterandflushingthatoccurred
1995through 1997. Kokaneesalmon,rainbowtroutandyellowperchallremainbelowtheir
respective management plan targets which are based on gill net catch rates and in some
instances,anglercatchrates. Walleyedensities,althoughhavingdeclinedsincethe1998record
high,remainabovethemanagementplantarget. Inspiteincreasedstockingofrainbowtrout,
catchratesremainlow. Earlyindicationssuggestgoodsurvivalofthe2000plantof189,000
Arleerainbowtrout. Effortstorecovertheoncewildreproducingkokaneesalmonpopulation
withhatcherystockshavefailedtodate. Walleyepredationandflushinglossesaresuspectedin
thepoorsurvivalofhatcherytroutandkokanee. Predationonkokaneedoubledfrom1999levels
andremainshighrelativetokokaneedensities. Predationpressuresarealsobeingmanifestedon
yellowperchandsuckerspp.populations. Bothperchandsuckerpopulationsreachedrecord
lowdensities(basedongillnetcatchrates)in2000. Concurrentwiththelowdensities,both
populationsachievedthelargest(oldest)averagesizeonrecordindicatingpredationishavinga
substantialimpactonrecruitment.
HolterReservoir
Holterreservoircontinuestomaintainaqualitymulti-speciesfisheryinspiteoffallingbelow
managementplantargetsforrainbowtroutandyellowperch. Walleyepopulationsin2000were
atsufficientdensitiestoproducethehighesteverrecordedsummercatchrateof0.13walleyeper
hourforallanglersandaremarkable0.23perhourforanglersspecificallytargetingwalleye.
Additionally,thethree-yearrunningaveragegillnetcatchrateisdoublethemanagementplan
target. Walleyepredationhashadanimpactonperchpopulationwith81%ofthewalleyediet
comprisedofyellowperchinfall2000.Preliminaryrainbowtroutageatstockingevaluation
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from 1996and 1997,suggestsafour-foldsurvivaladvantageofageoneEagleLakerainbow
overagezeroEagleLakes. Wildrainbowtroutinfloatinggillnetsfelltoarecordlowin2000at
7%. Yellowperchanglerandgillnetcatchratesremainedbelowaveragein2000promptinga
regulationchange. In2000,alimitof50perchandnopossessionlimitwasinstitutedforboth
HauserandHolterReservoirs.
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLEOFCONTENTS
PROCEDURES
HAUSERRESERVOIR
CreelSurveys .6
SummerCreel .6
WinterCreel ..6
SpeciesTrendsandRelativeAbundance(CreelandGillNetting) ..8
RainbowTrout ..8
KokaneeSalmon 11
YellowPerch 14
Walleye 16
Suckers 19
HydroacousticEstimatesofFishAbundance 20
BeachSeining ,21
HOLTERRESERVOIR 22
CreelSurveys .22
SummerCreel .22
WinterCreel ..22
SpeciesTrendsandRelativeAbundance(CreelandGillNetting) ..24
RainbowTrout ..24
KokaneeSalmon ..27
YellowPerch ..29
Walleye ..31
Suckers ..34
HydroacousticEstimatesofFishAbundance ..34
BeachSeining ..35
TrapNetting ...35
WalleyeTagging ...36
APPENDICES ...38
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PROCEDURES
ThestudyareahasbeenpreviouslydescribedbyRada(1974),BergandLere(1983)andMFWP
(1985). AmapofthetworeservoirsispresentedinFigure1. Verticalandhorizontalgillnetting
(timing,netsizeandnetlocations)continuedin2000basedonproceduresestablishedinLere
(1986). Single-leadtrapnets(4x6footframewitheither1"orVi mesh)wereusedtosample
walleyeonHolterReservoirinspring2001. ThepartialcreelcensuscontinuedonHauserand
Holter reservoirs from May through October and again during ice-coverd months (January
through March) as described in Lere (1987). Zooplankton and water quality samples were
collectedduringice-freemonthsatthreeestablishedlocationsonHauserandHolterReservoirs
according to methods established in Lere (1987). Hydroacoustic estimates ofpelagic fish
densitiesandtotalfishabundancewereconductedasdescribedinSkaarandHumphrey(1995)
andDalbeyand Humphrey (1999). In2000, hydroacoustic surveys were completed between
September18and19.
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Figure1. MapofHauser,HolterandtheHelenaValleyRegulatingReservoirs.
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HauserReservoir
CreelSurveys
SummerCreel(Table1)
Atotalof446anglerswereinterviewedduringthe2000 summercreel onHauserReservoir.
Totalnumbersofcreeledfishinclude;89rainbowtrout,9yellowperch,0kokanee,26walleye
and8browntrout. Statisticsgeneratedfromtheweekendcreelindicatetheaverageshoretrip
was3.8hours and 6.2hours foraboatbasedtrip. Anglingpressurewasgreatlyreducedon
HauserReservoirin2000duetopoorfishingcombinedwithnumerouslargefiresthatoccurred
aroundtheHelenaValley. Averagecatchratesforthesummerwerelowforallspecieswith
rainbowdocumentingthehighestat0.06fish/hour. Rainbowfishingwasmostproductivein
Octoberwhilewalleye catchratespeakedinJulyat0.10 fish/hour. Themajorityofanglers
interviewedcontinuetofishforrainbowtrout(38%)whileanglersrespondingthattheywere
fishing for “any fish” accounted for 26%. Walleye anglers comprised 23.5% of anglers
surveyed.
WinterCreel(Table2)
Atotalof266icefishermenwereinterviewedduringthe2000ice-fishingseason. Poorice,late
ice-onandgenerallylowcatchratesresultedinlessthanaverageice-fishingpressure. Only188
total fish were recorded compared to the long-term average of614. Rainbow catch rates
remainedabovethe long-term average at0.11 fish/hourwith anaverage sizeof19.0inches
(range=12.7-23.0inches). Atotalof31 walleyeswererecordedwithanoverallcatchrateof
0.04/hourthroughthe ice. Average sizeofwalleyes was 13.7 inches (range= 12.8 to 16.0
inches). NearlyallthewalleyesharvestedcamefromtheCausewayarm. Yellowperchcatch
ratesremainedbelowthelong-termaverageof0.37perchperhourat0.11 (Table2). Average
sizeofperchremainedexcellentat10.5inches.
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Table1. Summercatchrates,meansize,andharvestofselectedspeciesinHauserReservoir. Harvestincludeswintericefishing.
RAINBOW KOKANEE YELLOWPERCH WALLEYE
Mean Mean Mean Mean
Year C(afticshh/hrra)te (iSnichzees) (HXar1v0e0s0t) C(afticshh/hrra)te (iSncihzees) (HXar1v0e0s0t) C(afticshh/hrra)te (inScihzees) (HXar1v0e0s0t) C(afticshh/hrra)te (iSncihzees) (HXar1v0e0s0t)
1986 0.25 13.5 - 0.10 16.6 - 0.13 8.6 - 0.00 N/A -
1987 0.24 14.2 - 0.13 15.6 - 0.12 9.7 - 0.00 N/A -
1988 0.24 15.8 - 0.24 16.3 - 0.06 9.6 - 0.00 N/A -
1989 0.12 13.7 25.5 0.42 14.6 101.4 0.10 7.7 27.2 0.00 N/A N/A
1990 0.10 14.9 27.8 0.22 15.7 60.9 0.17 8.9 38.9 0.00 N/A N/A
1991 0.02 15.3 7.8 0.46 14.7 141.3 0.08 8.1 36.8 0.0001 N/A 0.03
1992 0.05 15.1 13.0 0.22 15.8 78.4 0.16 9.0 55.4 0.0005 * 0.08
1993 0.05 16.3 16.5 0.22 16.0 89.3 0.05 9.0 49.4 0.0001 N/A 0.03
1994 0.02 16.6 4.2 0.15 14.8 37.1 0.15 10.6 38.2 0.0004 N/A 0
1995 0.05 17.5 11.5 0.11 17.0 29.1 0.16 8.9 23.2 0.002 * 0.08
1996 0.05 17.5 12.4 0.10 14.1 18.6 0.31 9.4 37.2 0.002 * 0.09
1997 0.08 16.9 11.0 0.03 16.8 5.8 0.07 8.4 16.1 0.001 * 0.09
1998 0.08 16.4 10.6 0.01 16.3 1.5 0.12 9.8 28.9 0.04 16.4 3.9
1999 0.12 17.4 21.4 0.01 19.1 1.8 0.06 9.2 12.9 0.14 13.6 7.9
2000 0.06 20.5 15.0 0.00 N/A 0.06 0.01 10.1 6.8 0.02 14.2 4.9
Mean 0.10 16.1 14.7 0.16 15.6 47.1 0.12 9.1 30.9 0.01 14.7 1.4
Harvestestimatesfor1986-88werenotestimatedbecausecreelsurveyswerenotcompletedduringwintermonths.
*Insufficientsamplesize.