For the Madison River aficionados among us, click here to reach an abstract page that allows you to download the entire 152 page (!!!) Madison River Drainage Westslope Cutthroat Trout Conservation and Restoration Program; 2015 Annual Report to PPL Montana/Northwestern Energy Environmental Division Butte (December 2015).
There’s a pile of data here, though we found this compilation of fish count data (by the Madison River Foundation) particularly interesting…
Of special importance to many of us is the population estimates for rainbow and brown trout. Data collected during the fall in the Pine Butte section of the Madison River showed that for small rainbows (>6″), the trend is down from a high in 2014 of 3600 per mile to about 1800 per mile in 2015. The numbers of large rainbows (>15″) is down from 600 per mile in 2014 to about 400 per mile.
In the Varney section, the numbers were quite different. The small rainbows (>6″) showed an upward trend from 1400 per square mile in 2014 to about 1900 per square mile in 2015. The large rainbow (>16″) numbers also showed a slight increase in 2015 from 2014 in this section of the river.
In the Norris section of the Madison, the numbers of small rainbows went down from 2900 per mile to 2100 per mile. However, larger rainbow (>12″) numbers increased from 1000 to 1100 per mile.
Brown trout numbers showed a similar trend. In the Pine Butte section, small brown trout (>6″) numbers decreased from 2900 per mile in 2014 to 2600 per mile in 2015. Large browns (>15″) showed a slight increase in population from 2014 to 2015.
All sizes of brown trout decreased in number in the Varney section of the Madison. The small browns decreased from 1800 per mile in 2014 to 1100 per mile in 2015. Large (>15″) browns decreased from 500 per mile in 2014 to 300 per mile in 2015.
In the Norris section, small brown trout numbers remained steady in the last year and there was only a slight decrease in the number of larger fish.
Image: Jake reaches to extend the drift between the lakes; from a video run a few years back.
