Staff from the Wisconsin DNR and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Ashland FRO collect fish from Whittlesey Creek.  - USFWS Photo by Glenn Miller

Six days of back pack and barge shocking electrofishing surveys were conducted in northern Wisconsin's Whittlesey Creek to obtain a population estimate for salmon and trout species.  Along with this population estimate the crews were also evaluating survival of coaster brook trout fingerling and adult plants conducted in 2005.  Staff members from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Ashland Fishery Resources Office, Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Iron River National Fish Hatchery and the Wild Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited joined efforts to collect this important fish population information.  This survey is a part of a long-term data set the Wisconsin DNR has been collecting on Whittlesey Creek, and part of the experiment to establish a self-sustaining coaster brook trout population in Whittlesey Creek.

The crew focused on brook, brown and rainbow trout and coho salmon.  Once the fish were collected, length data was gathered and the fish were given a fin clip before they were returned to the creek.  All brook trout netted were checked for previous fin clips as there was the possibility of previously stocked years of brook trout still remaining in the system.  The majority of fin clips from individual brook trout were saved for genetic analysis.  During a second survey period, any fish collected were checked for an identifying fin clip.  A formula is then used to estimate the population size of the trout/salmon species based on the number of marked fish in the first run and the number recaptured in the second run.  Population estimates will be conducted annually for a nine year period that started in 2003. 

Approximately 950 brook trout young of the year, which are likely to have been from the June 2005 stocking in the North Fork and mainstem of Whittlesey Creek were netted in the survey.   Also netted were yearling brook trout stocked in 2004 that had a adipose clip along with coded wire tags that were injected into the snout of the brook trout at the Iron River National Fish Hatchery before stocking.  The crews were very happy to see the survival of all the brook trout that were collected.