Movement and Survival of Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout in an Ozark Tailwater River

We evaluated the movement of adult brown trout Salmo trutta and rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in relation to a catch-andrelease area in the White River downstream from Beaver Dam, Arkansas. Nine fish of each species were implanted with radio transmitters and monitored from July 1996 to July 1997. The 1.5km river length of a catch-and-release area (closed to angler harvest) was greater than the total linear range of 72% of the trout (13 of 18 fish), but it did not include two brown trout spawning riffles, suggesting that it effectively protects resident fish within the catch-and-release area except during spawning. The total detected linear range of movement varied from 172 to 3,559 m for brown trout and from 205 to 3,023 m for rainbow trout. The movements of both species appeared to be generally similar to that in unregulated river systems. The annual apparent survival of both trout species was less than 0.40, and exploitation was 44%. Management to protect fish on spawning riffles may be considered if management for wild brown trout becomes a priority. Catch-and-release area regulations are often applied in reaches of a river in efforts to increase the number and size of trout (Salmonidae) caught by anglers, and these regulations may be ineffective if fish range widely in daily movements or migrate extensively to spawn (Clapp et al. 1990; Bettinger and Bettoli 2004). Quantitative studies of trout movement in the regulated rivers of the southeastern United States are uncommon, and information to guide management of these fisheries is limited, relative to that available for free-flowing trout streams elsewhere. These tailwater fisheries are outside the native distribution of trout and have different environmental and biotic conditions than natural trout streams (Cushman 1985). *Corresponding author: [email protected] 1The unit is jointly supported by North Carolina State University, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Wildlife Management Institute. Received August 31, 2010; accepted January 20, 2011 Regulated rivers in the White River basin of Arkansas and Missouri have been recognized for their ability to produce trout of world record size, and they are intensively fished by anglers (Baker 1959; Aggus et al. 1979; Oliver 1987; Bowman et al. 1996; Weiland and Hayward 1997; Williams et al. 2006). Reproductive success of trout and stream productivity is highly variable among tailwater reaches within this system, and trout populations are maintained by intensive stocking programs (Hudy and Rider 1989; Bowman et al. 1996; Quinn and Kwak 2000; Pender and Kwak 2002). Mortality of stocked fish is usually unknown for these fisheries, and high mortality of stocked fish has been suggested as a reason for declines in the abundance of large fish (Weiland and Hayward 1997). The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has managed trout in the Beaver Dam tailwater with stocking, restrictive harvest regulations, and habitat rehabilitation. Approximately 200,000 trout were stocked during our study (1996–1997) because reproduction was considered negligible (Robison and Buchanan 1988; Pender and Kwak 2002). Species stocked included brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, brown trout Salmo trutta, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, and cutthroat trout O. clarkii. Harvest regulations at the time of our study included a six-trout daily creel limit of which only two could be brown trout, size restrictions for brown trout (400-mm minimum length limit), and a 1.5-km-long catch-and-release area (beginning 1.2 km downstream from the dam) where no harvest was allowed. The primary objective of our study was to describe movements of brown trout and rainbow trout in the White River downstream from Beaver Dam, Arkansas. We were specifically 299 D o w n l o a d e d B y : [ N o r t h C a r o l i n a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y ] A t : 2 3 : 1 7 2 1 A p r i l 2 0 1 1