Habitat Use, Survival, and Site Fidelity of Rainbow Trout Stocked into an Appalachian River

Abstract

Rainbow trout from private culture facilities were stocked into Bluestone River, West Virginia, to evaluate biological feasibility of stocking to enhance local angling opportunities. Between fall 2007 and spring 2009, over 2,400 fish were stocked. A subset of fish was tagged using radio transmitters (ATS model 1580), each bearing a unique frequency (48.000 to 49.999 Mhz) to monitor survival and availability of fish to anglers along a 1.6 km river reach. Tagged fish were 366 mm TL (33 mm SD) and 617g (128g SD) on average. Summarized seasonally, 73%–96% of fish remained within the study reach. Survival varied between years. Between fall 2007 and spring 2008 seasonal survival was 62%–89%, but from fall 2008 through spring 2009 it was 32%–66%. Mean availability (product of survival and site fidelity) ranged from 48%–78% over the study except it declined to 23% in winter 2008 due to low survival. This case study shows that cultured rainbow trout from private producers can be stocked into seasonally suitable streams to enhance local angling.

Keywords:

• Stocked fish persistence
• recreational fishing
• trout
• Oncorhynchus mykiss
• telemetry