Hebgen Reservior Creel Survey - 2000-2001 



Project Description: Hebgen Reservoir is a popular sport fishery in southwestern Montana, providing an 

 estimated 28.884 angler days in 1997, which ranked as the tenth most fished lake or reser^'oir in the state. 

 Since the late 1980"s, Region 3 fisheries has been attempting to convert this fishery from dependence on 

 hatchery supplementation to a naturally reproducing wild trout population. In the early 1990"s. 

 considerable effort was spent investigating the extent of spawning and natural reproduction in tributaries to 

 Hebgen Reservoir. Unfortunately, annual gill netting has not provided an adequate measure of the 

 contribution of wild trout to the fish population and fishery. Additionally, recent information from whirling 

 disease research indicates that further enhancement of wild trout populations through thermal imprinting 

 may have application in the Hebgen basin. 



A yearlong creel survey has not been conducted on Hebgen Reservoir. Limited angler interviews have been 

 conducted sporadically since 1967. A full, season long creel survey is necessary to acquire iivformation as 

 to relative contribution of wild trout and hatchery trout to the creel. A summer creel siirvey would provide 

 a majority of the necessary information , but a winter creel survey would provide a more complete 

 assessment of the fishery. The Summer Creel will be conducted June 2000 through October 2000. Winter 

 creel would extend from November, 2000 through early Jime, 2001 . The creel survey will involve pressure 

 estimates based on actual coimts of anglers. This would facilitate actual pressure estimates based on angler 

 counts. Angler interviews would be conducted a minimum of 4 days per week to acquire catch rates, trip 

 length, angler characteristics and attimdes. Direct contact with anglers would also enable us to collect 

 vertebra and scale samples from rainbow trout. Rainbow trout stocked uito Hebgen have been tetracycline 

 marked to enable us to distinguish between wild and stocked trout in the creel. The creel survey will also 

 enable us to collect vertebrae over the course of the year to acquire information on growth of stocked and 

 wild fish, determine accuracy of fin erosion as an indicator of stocked versus wild fish, and determine 

 seasonality of stocked and wild trout in the creel. 



Hebgen Reservoir is a popular fishery with increasing attention drawn to it: by the West Yellowstone 

 community, Montana residents, and non-resident anglers. This creel survey will be fimded through PPL 

 Montana 2188 mitigation fimds approved by the fisheries Technical Advisory Committee. This study will 

 more clearly characterize the Hebgen Reservoir fishery, survey angler attitudes, and provide solid data on 

 which to base management decisions. 



Creel Survey Design 



Angling Pressure Estimates: Angling pressure will be estimated via direct angler counts. Counts for the 

 summer season will be conducted on randomly selected dates stratified in two week periods, begiiming 

 June 1 2 and Ending October 3 1 , 2000. During each two week period during the summer creel, 5 weekdays 

 and two weekend days will be selected at random. On each count date, counts will be conducted in either 

 the morning (6am to 2pm) or evening (2pm to 10pm), also selected at random. To be valid "instantaneous" 

 counts, they must be completed within a one hour period. In order to adequately sample Hebgen Reservoir, 

 it will be divided into north and South halves, the boundary approximated by a line from Watkins Point to 

 "Chub Beach" on the Horse Butte Peninsula. The summer creel survey will involve two creel clerks. Two 

 count starting times will be selected at random within the morning or evening samplings period (i.e. 6 or 7 

 am, or 2 or 3 pm). Counts will begin on either the North or South half selected at random. The second 

 count will alternate to the opposite half 2 hours later. Thus, on a given day: counts may begin at 6am 

 North, Sam South, 10am North, and 12pm South. On the North side, a clerk will count anglers from 

 Highway 287 at designated pull-offs from the dam to the Narrows (or vice versa), using a spotting scope or 

 binoculars. The other clerk will coimt anglers from Horse Butte in the vicinity around rainbow point. 

 Alternately, the south side will be counted from Madison Arms to Edwards Peninsula from the Horse Butte 

 Road. The other clerk will count from the South Fork arm to Spring Creek Campground. Count areas 

 may need adjusting to ensure complete, timely, and accurate counts. Count dates for the summer creel 

 through September 16 , including starting points times are listed in Table 1. Fall and winter schedule will 

 be set by Sept. 1 . Weather permitting, clerks may complete angler counts together by boat, if complete, 

 timely counts are feasible. Clerks will count: boat anglers, shore anglers, and non-motorized boats 

 (including fioat tubes) on the count form. 



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