Evaluation of Recreational Steelhead Catch in the South Fork Toutle And
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April 2015 STATE OF WASHINGTON by Kale Bentley, Bryce Glaser, Thomas Buehrens, Jim Byrne, and Stacie Kelsey Evaluation of recreational steelhead catch in the South Fork Toutle and Washougal rivers, 2011-2014: creel survey analysis, catch record card expansion, and impacts to wild populations Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 2108 Grand Boulevard, Vancouver, WA 98661 Kale Bentley Fish Science Division Bryce Glaser Region 5 Management Thomas Buehrens Fish Science Division Jim Byrne Region 5 Fish Management Stacie Kelsey Region 5 Fish Management April 2015 Acknowledgements This is a contribution of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fish Management and Fish Science Divisions with funding provided by the Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Endorsement fee (CRSSE) program. We thank the Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Recreational Anglers Board (CRSSRAB) for their support of this project. The success of this project was dependent on numerous WDFW staff and we specifically thank Ron Reeves and Geno Stalter for collecting the creel data used for this analysis, Steve VanderPloeg for GIS assistance, Dan Rawding for study design development, Wolf Dammers for oversight of Region 5 CRSSE project proposals, and Eric Kraig for answering a countless number of questions regarding catch record cards (CRC). Mara Zimmerman, Dan Rawding, and Cindy Le Fleur provided helpful comments that improved this report. Lower Columbia River Recreational Steelhead Catch Evaluation, 2014 i Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................ i List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Study sites ........................................................................................................................................ 4 SOUTH FORK TOUTLE RIVER ...................................................................................... 4 WASHOUGAL RIVER ...................................................................................................... 6 Creel survey data collection ............................................................................................................ 7 Stock categorization ......................................................................................................................... 8 Creel analysis ................................................................................................................................ 10 Catch record cards (CRC) ............................................................................................................. 11 Evaluation of CRC catch expansion .............................................................................................. 14 Impacts to wild populations ........................................................................................................... 15 Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Creel survey analysis: SF Toutle River.......................................................................................... 17 FISHING EFFORT: SOUTH FORK TOUTLE RIVER .................................................. 20 CATCH RATES: SOUTH FORK TOUTLE RIVER ....................................................... 26 CATCH: SOUTH FORK TOUTLE RIVER .................................................................... 27 Creel survey analysis: Washougal River ....................................................................................... 29 FISHING EFFORT: WASHOUGAL RIVER .................................................................. 32 CATCH RATES: WASHOUGAL RIVER ...................................................................... 38 CATCH: WASHOUGAL RIVER .................................................................................... 39 Evaluation of CRC catch expansion .............................................................................................. 41 STEP 1: EVALUATE RELATIONSHIP OF CATCH BETWEEN CREEL AND CRC SURVEYS ........................................................................................................................ 41 STEP 2: CALCULATE WILD:HATCHERY CATCH “EXPANSION” FACTOR ........ 42 STEP 3: ESTIMATE “EXPANDED” WILD CATCH .................................................... 45 Impacts to wild populations ........................................................................................................... 47 ENCOUNTER RATES, MORTALITIES, AND IMPACT RATES ................................ 47 FISHING METHOD, GEAR, AND HOOKING LOCATION ........................................ 50 Lower Columbia River Recreational Steelhead Catch Evaluation, 2014 ii Discussion ................................................................................................................................................... 55 Catch and Effort Estimates ............................................................................................................ 55 CRC vs. Creel Catch Estimates ..................................................................................................... 59 Impacts to Wild Steelhead .............................................................................................................. 61 References ................................................................................................................................................... 65 Supplemental Material ................................................................................................................................ 68 Lower Columbia River Recreational Steelhead Catch Evaluation, 2014 iii List of Tables Table 1. Estimated (SE) total effort (angler-hours), anglers (angler-days), catch per unit effort (fish per hour), and catch for harvested (hatchery origin) and released (wild, hatchery, and unknown origin) steelhead during the summer (May - November) and winter (December - April) on the South Fork Toutle River ............................................................................................................................................................ 21 Table 2. Estimated (SE) total effort (angler-hours), anglers (angler-days), catch per unit effort (fish per hour), and catch for harvested (hatchery origin) and released (wild, hatchery, and unknown origin) steelhead during the summer (May - November) and winter (December - April) on the Washougal River .................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Table 3. Total estimated (SE) catch of hatchery and wild steelhead by season and year group from the Washougal River derived from roving creel surveys and catch record card (CRC) expansions ................ 47 Table 4. Estimated total angler catch, mortalities, escapement, run size, encounter rate, and impact rate for wild steelhead by spawning year group and run-type in the South Fork Toutle River ......................... 48 Table 5. Estimated total angler catch, mortalities, escapement, run size, encounter rate, and impact rate for wild steelhead by spawning year group and run-type in the Washougal River .................................... 49 Lower Columbia River Recreational Steelhead Catch Evaluation, 2014 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Map of the South Fork Toutle River watershed ........................................................................... 5 Figure 2. Map of the Washougal River watershed ....................................................................................... 6 Figure 3. Summary of stock categorization for steelhead in the SF Toutle and Washougal rivers .............. 9 Figure 4. Estimated harvest of steelhead during the summer (May – November) and winter (December – April) in the (A) SF Toutle River and (B) Washougal River from January 1962 – March 2014 from catch record cards (CRC). .................................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 4. Proportion of all days per month a roving creel survey was conducted ...................................... 17 Figure 5. Number of bank (black) and boat (white) anglers interviewed per month on the SF Toutle River .................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 6. County of residence for steelhead anglers that fished the SF Toutle River ................................. 19 Figure 7. Mean (± SE) monthly fishing effort (angler-hours) by bank (black)