Lander - The Lander Region fisheries crew has been busy this summer. Here are a few of the sampling highlights:

• A recent backcountry trip into the Silas Creek drainage in the Wind River Mountains showed that stocked golden trout are thriving in Thumb Lake, as are wild cutthroat trout in Island Lake. Good numbers of wild brook trout and stocked tiger trout were captured in Upper Silas Lake; however, the tiger trout are not growing as large as expected, with the largest fish only 13 inches. Photo above of Water for Wildlife and Game and Fish Intern Kinsey Greve with a golden trout from this high country sampling.
• Hornyhead Chub nests were found at both the 2020 and 2021 transplant locations.  This means that they are surviving and spawning.  We will electrofish in September to determine if this year's young survived.
• Sauger electrofishing occurred on the Wind River indicated that the population is doing well.
• The Boysen walleye population is booming!  Netting results showed the highest numbers of walleye in the reservoir since 2002. This was primarily caused by an exceptional 2018 hatch.  
• Yellow Perch numbers in Boysen have slightly improved from last year, but are still low. The low yellow perch numbers have likely been caused by walleye and sauger predation. Although yellow perch numbers are low, many of the perch within the reservoir are greater than 10 inches.

Photo at left: Fisheries Technician James Anderson with a yellow perch from Boysen Reservoir.
Photo at right or below: Walleye from Boysen Reservoir, a booming population this year! 

- WGFD -