Wednesday, November 5, 2008 C3 Vernal Express Late Sheep Creek kokanee run is a bonus for anglers Flaming Gorge anglers could see a nice bonus in future years as state fisheries biologists begin to collect eggs from a late run of kokanee salmon in Sheep Creek. The eggs will be hatched in Utah's hatchery system and the fingerlings returned to the stream in the spring. "We'e been planning to establish es-tablish a late run in Sheep Creek to provide another opportunity to collecteggs," said Lowell Marthe, project biologist for the state Division of Wildlife Resources. "Nature helped us out and provided pro-vided us with an excellent run this year. We were able to take about 166,000 eggs last week." In 2000 and 2001, biologists noticed some of the late run kokanee that usually spawn in the reservoir started spawning in Sheep Creek. The intensity of this run has varied from a few fish some years to numerous fish like this year. Additionally,in2004,theWyo-mingGame Additionally,in2004,theWyo-mingGame and Fish Department stocked late run fish in Henry's Fork in an attempt to establish a run offish for future egg take. Those fish ran last year and were going to spawn in 2008 also. As the Henry's Fork run looked like the larger run, DWR worked with Wyoming and set traps this year to collect fish for an egg take. It was on the way back from checking these empty traps that the biologists noted just how many fish had entered Sheep Creek. "We saw there was a nice run of kokanee conveniently trapped by a beaver dam just a few hundred hun-dred yards above the reservoir," Marthe said. "These fish looked like they were ready to go, so we made some quick phone calls and pulled a multi-agency crew together. "We were able to get additional addi-tional help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest For-est Service as well as division biologists from the Whiterocks Hatchery and Vernal office," Marthe noted. "We collected and stripped the eggs from over 100 females," said Whiterocks Hatchery Manager Man-ager Dana Dewey. "There were roughly 166,000 eggs and they looked exceptional: nice, big, . healthy eggs." The eggs will spend a short period at a quarantine station before being returned to the region to be hatched and raised at the Whiterocks Hatchery. In the spring, the fingerlings will be returned to Sheep Creek to imprint on the stream where they will return after spending about 3V2 years in Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The Burbot Threat Historically managers didn't worry too much about collecting r i COOPER DISCOVERER MS Snow Groove Design V Long wearing lip ,q" perlotmance. ( w f Excoilent ' 1 J trac tion and . (. performance on snow and icel V L V eggs to restock into Flaming Gorge as kokanee spawn within the reservoir and these runs provided enough reproduction. That may have changed. "Thegoal of stocking kokanee into Flaming Gorge is to boost the reduced number of kokanee that our hydroacoustic surveys have been showing," Marthe said. "Our reservoir management plan calls for eventually stocking up to 2 million kokanee in the reservoir reser-voir in an attempt to reduce the drop in population that may be caused by lake trout and burbot predation." Burbot were illegally introduced intro-duced to waters in western Wyoming Wyo-ming and moved down the Green River into Flaming Gorge. Since then they have moved down-reservoir and biologists have found them gathering in the kokanee and lake trout spawning areas. "Burbot are voracious predators preda-tors and are very good at feeding on whatever is near the bottom," Marthe said. "While it's still unclear just what effect they could be having on the kokanee population, we know from stomach stom-ach sampling they are definitely eating kokanee eggs and even some 8 to 9 inch kokanee. New Kokanee Run "Over the last few years we have taken eggs from the early I 1 $ jrr Mike McCarty with the Utah Division of Wildlife resources holds up a large male kokanee salmon caught in Sheep Creek. Photo: Ryan Mosley Rick says, "If you need traction, COOPER TV i uiscoverer oi was designed for you! It delivers superior traction on both hard and soft ' surfaces." COOPER DISCOVERER STT COOPER DISCOVERER Deep lugs, ? notched snouWorwilh ii,1 center traction zone. Bold. J aggressive tire. Mileage run fish in Strawberry Reservoir, then hatched and stocked them into Sheep Creek to re-establish the four year cycles of runs," Marthe said. "These early run fish are the descendants of fish originally spawned in Sheep-Creek. Sheep-Creek. , Marthe said soon after the division established the kokanee in Strawberry, the source runs were almost wiped out by a series of mud flows down Sheep Creek, and by increased predation. Now biologists are bringing a few runs back to supplement the survivors and increase the size of the population in anticipation of future egg takes. Strawberry isn't always consistent. con-sistent. Some of the yearly runs there are larger than others, and weather, lake and stream conditions also play a role in how many fish can be caught. As a result, efforts to gather fish for an egg take aren't always successful suc-cessful enough to produce the number of eggs needed to cover the manager's requests. "By having another kokanee run we can supplement the main effort at Strawberry," Marthe said. "This later run will keep the options open and create more opportunities to enhance the kokanee population in the Gorge." V- V ' t CP TIRES JNCLUDES: Complete road hazard warranty with tree replacement down to 232 tread Free tire rotation Free tlat repairs Free replacement AIR . v. J V 5 rib all terrain design, excellent traction and treadwear. very low noise, excellent ride on and 0(1 the road. Guarantee VISA MdJlorCatd Anwiican hpmu DUcovoi is i A DWR employee harvests eggs from a female kokanee salmon. Photo: Ryan Mosley DIAMOND MOUNTAIN SPEEDWAY Myton's Adam Christensen takes season championship Pure Stock Class competitor, Adam Christensen of Myton, ended up the season winner at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Vernal, Utah, in his double 00 red Chevrolet Camaro. Christensen Chris-tensen stated that he traveled from his work project at Vail, Colo, for every race during the 2003 season. i Also in this class Scott Bradford Brad-ford of Price area and Mike Baker of Vernal. Bradford placed second and Baker third for the season. Christensen ran another car number 01 built by him and Veldon Rowley in the Pure Stock Class and driven by Veldon. Adam also raced a 66 Street Stock car. He was given second award for best and most exciting wreck of his street stock car. This summer sum-mer at a night race his car jumped the cement barrier right at the checkered flag and he rode it for near 50 feet in front of the grand stands, sparks a flying and in second place, as the crowd went wild. , -' " " ,; Adam and his family are long i !' Devon Energy proudly salutes our veterans for your courage and heroism. We honor your bravery and commitment to defending our country. devonenergy.com time racers from the previous track at Whiterocks. He now competes at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Vernal. His father Butch Fouts, of Myton, is his pit manager. Veldon and Chipita Christensen Chris-tensen Rowley ran the 0 1 and her 02 car, in the Pure Stock Class. Joe Christensen raced Pure Stock and Carl Christensen as well. Carl won 1st place positions posi-tions in the final main event race on Sept. 27. Joe was also 1st place for the mini stock main runtsTrtr El VERNAL . . f ','j t ,-iV t event that day, with his son Joey Christensen getting third place overall in the mini stock class for the season. Honorable mention to other sons Daniel Rowley, Chas Rowley, and Carl Jr., who all raced at times in the Mini Stock Divisions. Diamond Mountain Speedway owned by Uintah County, put staff and events in place for the whole Uintah Basin, attracting attract-ing people from other states as well. inrnrirhn 54 North Vernal Avenue Vernal, Utah r. 435-789-3511 www.vernal.com devon 14 Commitment Runs Deep