Coaster Brook Trout

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johnhens
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Coaster Brook Trout

Post by johnhens »

Article on Coasters on IR:

If you love trout fishing in Northern Michigan, then this study from Isle Royale National Park should peak your interest. In cooperation with the Isle Royale National Park and Michigan DNR, fishery biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been gathering data on the abundance, growth, age and movement of coaster brook trout in Tobin and Washington Harbors.

At Tobin Harbor, 99 coasters were captured during the 2018 electrofishing assessment. Their size ranged from 14.2-48.2 cm with a mean of 35.1 cm. Thirty-seven of the captured trout were recaptures from previous years. An indicator of a small and vulnerable population. Of those 37, 2 were tagged in 2015, 2 in 2016, 10 in the summer of 2017, and 23 in the fall of 2017. One fish originally tagged in 2015 only grew one centimeter in over 4 years.

Since 2008, brook trout captured in Washington Harbor and Washington Creek have been PIT tagged and a dual antennae system was installed to track their movement in and out of the creek. (PIT stands for passive integrated transponder.)

At Washington Harbor a total of 30 brook trout were collected, with the length range being 17.2-38.5 cm, smaller than those collected at Tobin Harbor. Thirty fish more than doubled the number captured in 2017 when twelve brook trout were PIT tagged and released. . Biologists have found that tagged fish began to enter Washington Creek as early as late July and early August and stay through the spawning season in late October.

In addition to coaster brook trout, lake and round whitefish, white and longnose suckers, ciscoes, rainbow smelt, sculpins, lake chubs, burbot, and trout-perch were found in both locations. Hopefully the PIT tagged fish will live for many years and continue to provide good data to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Re: Coaster Brook Trout

Post by Grandpa »

Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
Do you have a link to the original article?
First visit 1982. Last visit August, 2022. Isle Royale is my favorite National Park!
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