Bull Trout in British Columbia

For the past week I have been surrounded by the beautiful British Columbia interior. I was on a mission to help a PhD student begin his 3-4 year study on the spatial ecology of bull trout (member of the char family, similar to a lake trout). I may have caught a half dozen rainbow trout and one cutthroat in my entire life, so getting a chance to work with a very cool Salmonid (salmon/trout/char family), and something so different than what I am accustomed to (warm-water species) was a real treat. To read a little more about bull trout, see the following Wikipedia link (perhaps not the most credible source, but you get the idea): Bull Trout

Our objective was to capture as many bull trout as possible (actually, 200 was the goal) and surgically implant them with acoustic transmitters that will last about three years. We hooked up with guide Jamie Tippe of Revelstoke, BC. Not only did Jamie put us on fish under less than ideal conditions, he was a constant source of laughter and awesome stories of the British Columbian wilderness. Jamie was, for all intents and purposes, a class act all around. I have met lots of anglers in my life, but Jamie ranks amongst my top three (a ranking that goes beyond just being able to catch fish).

The most interesting part of the trip, for me, was seeing (and doing a few) surgeries. Lee Gutowsky, the PhD student in charge, became a master fish surgeon in a few short days. First using an appropriate amount of clove oil as anesthetic, then a feather scalpel and absorbable monofilament sutures (the same tools used in human surgeries), Lee tagged almost 100 fish during our stay. To provide the fish with oxygen, flow-through running water was provided via a tube that ran water over the gills. The setup was very cool to see in the field, and something many researchers would not have deemed possible in the field once upon a time!

The experience has proved valuable as I am now confident I have the know-how and capabilities for doing surgeries on muskies this coming week and the following. Beginning Thursday, Project Noble Beast will resume. We will be electrofishing muskies and surgically implanting tiny acoustic transmitters that will give us depth and acceleration (i.e., activity) data. Eight listening stations will be deployed throughout the stretch of river we plan to use. The stations will "listen" for each fish (eight for now) and record data every 60-90 seconds throughout the day. Never before has anyone attempted to obtain such fine-scale daily behavioral data for muskies. Hopefully the fruits of our labor will provide interesting insight into the behavioral ecology of muskies!