Crater Lake

This past month has been a busy one. We have been focusing on setting trap nets in Upper Klamath and Tule Lake to see if we can recapture any tagged sucker fish. A couple of weeks ago Alia and I went to Tule Lake to set four trap nets. Tule Lake is located in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern California. It is a great spot for birding.

Tule Lake

The water is very shallow, so we had to use the mud boat. Setting the traps was a little difficult since the mud boat does not have reverse. We were about to head back and that is when the engine would not start. After a dozen unsuccessful attempts to start the engine, we decided to row to shore and try again every twenty minutes. After an hour of rowing, we were getting fairly close to the boat ramp. Then the wind picked up and blew us back to where we started. :S We had to just go with the flow (literally) and have the wind blow us to shore. It was quite the experience. We attempted to take the mud boat out the next day, but the engine was not starting.  We retrieved our nets with the Almar instead.

Net Pens

Setting the trap nets in Upper Klamath is a much smoother process. We have been setting nets there for the past two weeks. Perch is the most abundant fish we catch. We also caught Tui Chubs, Bluehead Chubs, Sculpins, Bullhead Catfish, Rainbow Trout, Fathead Minnows, AND… a few Sucker larvae! It was so exciting to catch some suckers. We transported them to our net pens. We have also been monitoring the water quality in the pens. The dissolved oxygen levels are very high due to the AFA. The AFA also makes the water very green. Minnow traps were set to remove other species of fish from our nets. We removed over 700 minnow and chub larvae!

Juvenile Sucker

Saving the Fish

Gerber Reservoir had to shut off the dam, so we helped the Bureau of Reclamation salvage fish. They set trap nets and electrofished to save as many fish as possible. Five juvenile Suckers were caught after the shut off. We collected fin clips for genetic data, inserted PIT tags and released them on the other side of the dam. We also caught Perch, Catfish and a couple Sculpins from the pools.

Crater Lake

Camping along the coast

Along the Coast

My Fourth of July was amazing!!! We drove to the coast and camped in Cape Blanco. The weather was perfect! The upper 60s was a nice get away from the upper 90s. My dog, Finn, loved the beaches. We drove past Redwoods on our way home. They are incredible! Last weekend we went to Crater Lake. It was breathtaking. I could not believe how incredibly clear the water was. I highly suggest going to see it in person. This week we are heading off to Canada for the Compassionate Conservation Conference. I am excited to learn more about various conservation efforts.

Till next time,

Erica