Rainbow trout count on Summit County’s Lower Blue

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Bob Berwyn

Aug. 24 survey will gauge results of experimental release

Rainbow trout have been sparse in the Blue River since whirling disease wiped out many of the fish. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has been releasing resistant fish in various streams, including the Lower Blue.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist Jon Ewert will lead a team of volunteers on another electroshocking expedition in local waters today (Aug. 24), this time focusing on the Gold Medal trout waters of the Lower Blue below Dillon Dam.

In past years, the sampling and fish count has been done later in the fall during lower flows, but the accuracy of the count was affected by seasonal spawning activities. So this year, Ewert will test the water from a raft in order to get a more representative count.

One of the goals is to determine whether a special strain of rainbow trout, bred for resistance to whirling disease, is surviving in the Lower Blue. Ewert released several thousand of the Hofer rainbows in the same area a couple of years ago, most of them just a couple of inches long. (more…)

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