Blue Mesa Reservoir Fish Survey and Management Information

Home , Blue Mesa Reservoir, Gunnison River

FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT INFORMATION Dan Brauch - Aquatic Biologist (Gunnison) [email protected] / 970-641-7070 Updated January 2020

General Information: Blue Mesa Reservoir, a 9000 acre storage reservoir, offers good fishing for kokanee salmon, brown trout, rainbow trout, and lake trout. Blue Mesa Reservoir is located within Cure- canti National Recreation Area. Location: Gunnison County. Gunnison River inlet to Blue Mesa Reservoir is located 5 miles west of Gunnison. For map of Blue Mesa Reservoir and Curecanti: CNRA Map Recreational Management: National Park Service Fishery Management: Coldwater angling for kokanee and rainbow, brown, and lake trout. Purchase a Fishing License: http://cpw.state.co.us/buyapply/Pages/Fishing.aspx

Amenities Regulations Sportfishing Notes Ice fishing shelters must be  9000 surface acre reservoir portable Kokanee Salmon

can be accessed by boaters  Kokanee catch majority of from two marinas, five de- Kokanee snagging permitted summer boat angler catch veloped boat ramps, and sev- November 1-December 31 Rainbow Trout eral additional access points  96 miles of shoreline is Bag and possession for lake trout  Rainbow trout predominate available for shore anglers. is unlimited for lake trout up to shore angler catch. 32 inches, one fish over 32 inches  Brown Trout Campground facilities and restrooms are available at Bag limit for kokanee is 5 fish  Brown trout add a signifi- several locations. and possession is 10 fish cant catch for boat and

shore anglers and ice fishing anglers. WARNING!!! Bag limit for cutthroat, brook, Prevent the Spread of Zebra brown, and rainbow trout is 4 fish Lake Trout Mussels and other Aquatic with possession limits of 8 fish  Lake trout provide trophy Nuisance Species opportunity with fish up to  Clean, drain, and dry your Previous Stocking 50 pounds caught. Lake boat after each use. trout catch best in spring and ice fishing seasons.  Blue Mesa Reservoir re- 2018 quires mandatory inspec- Yellow Perch 112,000 ten inch (catchable) tions before launching. rainbow trout  Perch provide additional See CNRA web site for opportunities, especially in more info. 3.5 million fingerling kokanee summer and ice fishing seasons.  Find additional local fishing 2019 info and a list of fishing 124,684 ten inch (catchable) guides at: Gunnison - rainbow trout Crested Butte/Activities 434,000 three inch rainbow trout 3.5 million fingerling kokanee Blue Mesa Reservoir

KOKANEE SAMPLING AND STOCKING INFORMATION

Figure 1. Blue Mesa Reservoir kokanee catch rates (creel survey last completed in 2012) compared with previous year estimated open water fish abundance (primarily kokanee). Kokanee stocking rate was dou- bled in late 1990’s and increased by 500,000 in 2009, creating a bump in abundance. Sonar estimates did a good job of predicting following year kokanee catch rates most years although did not explain bump in catch rates in 2011 and 2012.

Blue Mesa Kokanee Plant Totals by Stocking Location 1965-2019 4 3.5 BLUE MESA LAKE FORK GUNNISON RIVER

3 GUNNISON RIVER 2.5 EAST RIVER 2 1.5 1

0.5 NumerStocked millionsin

1965 1967 1977 1979 1989 1991 1999 2001 2011 2013 1969 1971 1973 1975 1981 1983 1985 1987 1993 1995 1997 2003 2005 2007 2009 2015 2017 2019 Year Figure 2. Blue Mesa Reservoir kokanee stocking totals by location 1965-2019. Stocking has been increased to offset increased predation within Blue Mesa Reservoir. Blue Mesa Reservoir

CREEL SURVEY INFORMATION

Boat Angler Total Catch by Species 140 120 100 80 60 40

Total CatchTotal Thousandsin 20 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Kokanee Rainbow Trout Lake Trout Brown Trout Yellow Perch

Figure 3. Boat angler catch by species for May-October surveys 2000-2012.

Bank Angler Total Catch by Species

5 Total Catch Total Thousandsin

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Kokanee Rainbow Trout Lake Trout Brown Trout Yellow Perch

Figure 4. Bank angler catch by species for May-October surveys 2000-2012. Blue Mesa Reservoir

CREEL SURVEY INFORMATION

Winter Catch by Species 2004-2012 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 Total CatchTotal 2,000 1,000 0 Feb - Apr 2004 Jan - Apr 2006 Jan - Apr 2012

Kokanee Rainbow Trout Lake Trout Brown Trout Yellow Perch Figure 5. Winter angler catch by species in 2004, 2006, and 2012 at Blue Mesa Reservoir. Most of catch was by ice anglers (8,910 fish) followed by boat anglers (3,871 fish) and bank anglers (1,282 fish).

SPECIES TARGETED SPECIES TARGETED BY ICE, BOAT OR BANK ANGLERS BY BOAT OR BANK ANGLERS Species Ice Bank Boat Species Bank Boat

Kokanee Salmon 1% 0% 32% Kokanee Salmon 1% 73%

Brown Trout 0% 5% 8% Brown Trout 2% 2%

Rainbow Trout 2% 7% 0% Rainbow Trout 7% 1%

Lake Trout 27% 23% 18% Lake Trout 5% 4%

Yellow Perch 1% 0% 0% Yellow Perch 0% 0%

Any / All Species 69% 64% 42% Any / All Species 85% 20%

Figure 6. Species targeting by anglers at Blue Mesa Reservoir during January through April (left table) and May through October 2012 (right table). Anglers with a response of Any/All Species were not specifically targeting a single species or were fishing for whatever they happened to catch. Blue Mesa Reservoir

CREEL SURVEY INFORMATION

Kokanee 2000 1500 1000 500

0 NumberMeasured 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Length (in)

Rainbow Trout 800 600 400 200

0 NumberMeasured 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Length (in)

Brown Trout 250 200 150 100 50

0 NumberMeasured 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Length (in)

Lake Trout 120 100 80 60 40 20

0 NumberMeasured 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Length (in)

Figure 7. Length frequency for harvested fish checked during creel survey interviews at Blue Mesa Reser- voir, January—October 2012. Lengths were measured or reported for 10,398 fish from 6,161 anglers. Blue Mesa Reservoir

PERCH SAMPLING INFORMATION

Table 1. Summer shoreline electrofishing survey 2019 entire reservoir (perch monitoring sites). Fish Species (sportfish listed # Caught Average Length in inches Length Range in inches in order of abundance)

Yellow perch 1417 5.1 1.0—12.0 Rainbow trout 75 7.6 4.1—17.3 Brown trout 73 11.2 2.1—19.4 Kokanee 1 4.3 4.3 White sucker 389 13.0 2.4—19.4 Longnose sucker 87 6.8 2.6—15.2 Longnose dace 1 1.9 1.9

Blue Mesa Yellow Perch Length Frequency Boat Electrofishing-Entire Reservoir 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400

Number Sampled 200 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Length (in) 2004 2006 2009 2013 2016 2019

Figure 8. BMR yellow perch electrofishing length frequency for 2004-2019.

Yellow Perch Catch Per Hour 600 500 400 300

200 Catch Catch per Hour 100 0 2004 2006 2009 2013 2016 2019 E CPUE E CPUE>S (>5 in)

Figure 9. Yellow perch catch rates for all perch and for perch 5 inches and longer in length 2004-2019. Blue Mesa Reservoir

LAKE TROUT SAMPLING INFORMATION

Figure 10. Length-frequency distributions (25 mm size bins) of lake trout captured during consecutive SPIN surveys on Blue Mesa Reservoir. Figure 11. Summer lake trout sampling (SPIN) population estimates 2011-2018 (right) for trout greater than 275 mm (light gray bars) and 400 mm (dark gray bars). For more info please see: BMR SPIN 2018 Lake trout sampling fact sheet Blue Mesa Reservoir

FISH SAMPLING INFORMATION

Figure 12. Migrating kokanee lice burden during kokanee spawntake, 2016 - 2019.

Management Notes — Kokanee populations have rebounded well from lows seen after 2013, where poor reservoir habitat conditions likely impacted kokanee survival. Kokanee catch rates and kokanee egg takes (for restocking pur- poses) in recent years have been good with record kokanee egg takes in 2016 and 2017 but lower eggtakes in 2018 and 2019. The 2019 sonar survey estimated late July open water fish abundance of about 426,000 fish (primarily kokanee), which should result in good kokanee catch rates in 2020. Blue Mesa Reservoir habitat conditions were generally good in 2014 through 2017, but a 2018 drought did see some development of a warm temperature / low oxygen squeeze in the Cebolla Basin. In 2019, a return of full storage levels improved habitat conditions with oxygen levels remaining good throughout the reservoir. Gill lice, after first being detected in Blue Mesa Reservoir in 2015, have continued to increase in both incidence and burden in kokanee. Gill lice infection rates were likely higher in 2018 through 2019 due to drought conditions in 2018. Gill lice numbers were significantly higher in 2019 in the fall kokanee spawning run with an average of 37 gill lice counted per fish. Gill lice at this level likely are stressing kokanee but did not appear to cause additional mortality after kokanee reached the Roaring Judy Kokanee Spawntake Facility. Monitoring will continue to assess the impact of gill lice to kokanee within Blue Mesa Reservoir and to trout populations in upstream tributaries. Lake trout suppression work was conducted from 2009 through 2017, with an average of about 1200 lake trout re- moved annually (lake trout over 27 inches in length are released to maintain trophy lake trout opportunities). This work was completed to supplement angler lake trout harvest to reduce predation on kokanee to maintain kokanee angler catch rates and kokanee egg supplies as well as to maintain a forage base for trophy lake trout. 2018 SPIN results estimated reduced numbers of piscivorous lake trout but also indicted that a large number of smaller lake trout will soon shift to eating fish and will be growing to a size that is more catchable by anglers. A lake trout harvest incentive program is being implemented beginning in 2020 to maintain lake trout populations at appropriate levels and allow trophy lake trout and kokanee population objectives to be met in future years. Monitoring of kokanee and lake trout populations will continue to assess the effectiveness of this program and to allow development of recommendations for future management.