Boquet River fishway, Willsboro, NY early runs encouraging - including this 9.6 lb. freshwater Atlantic salmon. October 4, 2005. Photo Credit: David Nettles, USFWS, Lake Champlain FWRO

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) staff have put the Boquet River, Willsboro Fishway into fall salmon trapping mode.  Fishery Biologist, Dave Nettles (USFWS) and Fish and Wildlife Technician, Bob Davies (NYSDEC) have cleaned up the fishway, installed flash boards to the Willsboro Dam crest to improve flow at the ladder, installed passage improvement channel and pooling sills on the bedrock approach to the fishway, installed viewing window enclosures and placed the facility in trapping mode.  As of October 4, five freshwater Atlantic salmon have made the climb and were captured.  Salmon were processed for biological information and released upstream.  One salmon represents the largest salmon handled by Dave in 14 years of Lake Champlain sampling.  This male salmon weighed in at 9.6 lbs.  Expectations are that salmon spawning run numbers will increase this year due to progressing sea lamprey control activities.  Contact:  David Nettles at (518) 897-1348.