Teach a Scientist to Fish and She Can Put it on Her Resume for Life.

As things move to coasting speed in the world of the suckers, I have gotten a chance to branch out and help with other projects around the office. Namely bull trout research. The last five years of CLM interns have spent several weeks every summer electrofishing and tagging bull trout as well as red bands and browns. Fellow intern, Casey, and I joined in the tradition and raided the office’s communal supplies of camping gear for a great week of trout work. Electrofishing is like high speed treasure hunting for science. You walk up a stream and turn on the circular cathode of the electroshocker in areas that look like good trout habitat to create a current strong enough to temporarily knock out the fish. Ideally these are deeper sections with slower moving water. It took me a while to realize this. At first one area that the team leaders would say looked good, would look identical to another that they would pass by. But then it gets exciting. The stream can be totally clear and you won’t see any fish until you turn on the electroshocker. Instantly there will be trout everywhere and you will need to move fast to catch them before they get away or wake up from the stun. It doesn’t matter how many fish you catch, every one elicits cheering with bonus points for more than one fish at a time or stylistic grabs. It may be my new favorite thing.

Casey and I also got the opportunity to learn to tag the bull trout. Sticking a sharp needle with a tag into the back of a small fish is very intimidating for someone who has never even really handled fish before, but I got the hang of it. It helped that the other guys we were with caught and killed an invasive brown trout for us to practice on. It felt a little like a cat bringing home a dead mouse for their helpless kittens to learn how to hunt, but I appreciated the help.

Only a few days after electroshocking, we were given another chance to get out of Klamath Falls, Oregon for a few days. To check on our sucker rearing pens in the middle of the lake, we need to be able to drive the office’s two boats. The Department of the Interior requires that you have passed a Motorboat Operator Certification Course to do this, so off to Orofino, Idaho we went to spend three days playing with fast boats on a reservoir… I mean “working with”…yeah. Now Casey and I are free to go out in the field and deal with our ornery boats all by ourselves. This is a freeing feeling but also a little scary since our mud boat spontaneously decides to stop behaving sometimes. I’m sure we can handle it though. And if not, that’s why we pack extra oars.

Never a dull moment with Fish and Wildlife!

Until next time,
Alanna