Date of Award:

5-1972

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Department name when degree awarded

Zoology

Committee Chair(s)

George Baxter

Committee

George Baxter

Abstract

An intensive creel census and marking program was conducted in 1969 and 1970 to make possible population estimates and estimates of harvest of cutthroat trout in the Snake River in Teton County, Wyoming. Stock density determinations made in one of the five study areas provided an estimate of 400 and 992 cutthroat trout, eight inches or more in length, per mile of stream in 1969 and 1970 respectively.

Harvest data provide an estimate of 5,207 and 5,903 cutthroat trout harvested in 1969 and 1970 respectively. The harvest estimates obtained in this study are not comparable to those made in 1967 and 1968 due to a difference in the methods used in obtaining these data.

The catches of cutthroat trout per hour in 1969 and 1970 were calculated to be 0.31 and 0.30 respectively. These relatively low success rates are coincident with the fluctuating volume flows of the Snake River.

Average lengths, condition factors, and catch per unit effort do not indicate significant changes in the fishery from past years.

The population estimates and harvest data, coupled with volume flow information, indicate that production of the fishery is density-independent in nature, and strongly influenced by volume flow.

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