meadow creek reservoir - colorado parks and wildlife survey summaries... · sportfishing notes...
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Sportfishing Notes Meadow Creek Reservoir offers
an opportunity to hone your skills in
a beautiful setting at the base of the
Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. Dur-
ing summer mornings and evenings
the lake becomes very active with
surface-feeding brook trout. Most of
the fish are small, but there are
plenty of them. Casting a dry fly
from a float tube or canoe can be
productive during these times. Be-
cause the brook trout population is
so prolific it is also somewhat
stunted (see following page). CPW
has stocked tiger trout twice to serve
as a predator to reduce the density of
these stunted brook trout and pro-
duce a higher-quality fishery. There
is currently no special regulation on
the harvest of tiger trout, but we
would prefer for anglers to release
these fish so that they can fulfill that
function and grow to trophy sizes. If
it appears that a large amount of har-
vest of tiger trout is occurring, we
may consider a more restrictive
regulation on this species in the fu-
ture.
Regulations
Standard harvest regulations
for trout (4 fish daily bag/8
fish in possession) . Anglers
are encouraged to take ad-
vantage of the additional
bag limit for small brook
trout, which allows for an
additional limit of 10 fish, 8
inches or less in length.
Meadow Creek Reservoir
FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT REPORT
Jon Ewert - Aquatic Biologist (Hot Sulphur Springs)
Amenities and General Info
There are several primitive
campsites in the vicinity of
Meadow Creek Reservoir.
These are undeveloped in
nature. Running water is
not available. There is a
single pit toilet.
Previous Stocking
2017
Species Size Number
Rainbow 10” 3,722
2016
Species Size Number
Rainbow 10” 3,000
Tiger trout 3.8” 3,000
2015
Species Size Number
Rainbow 10” 3,400
General Information: Meadow Creek Reservoir is a small (104 acres) impoundment at an elevation of
9,947 feet approximately ten miles east of Tabernash, CO. The reservoir provides municipal water supply to
Front Range cities, and is connected to the Moffat Tunnel Collection system operated by the Denver Water
Board.
Recreational Management: Arapaho National Recreation Area, Arapaho National Forest. The Forest Ser-
vice charges a use fee for recreation on this water body. There is a permit kiosk on the road immediately be-
low the reservoir. By Forest Service regulation, motorized boating is not allowed.
2014
Species Size Number
Rainbow 10” 5,000
Tiger trout 3.7” 2,000
Meadow Creek Reservoir Jon Ewert - aquatic biologist
We set four 150’ gillnets overnight (locations at left) on
four occasions since 2011 to assess the fish population in
Meadow Creek Reservoir.
This lake has hosted an overabundance of stunted brook
trout for many years. CPW has stocked tiger trout on two
occasions (2014 and 2016) to attempt to improve the qual-
ity of the fishery. Tiger trout are a sterile hybrid of brown
trout and brook trout, and become highly predatory at large
sizes. They are an ideal fish for this situation because they
do not reproduce. Therefore, they pose no risk of overpopu-
lating and outstripping their prey base. As tiger trout begin
preying on the brook trout, they will grow to sizes larger
than the brook trout do, and the brook trout themselves
should exhibit higher quality due to reduced competition
for limited food.
CPW stocks catchable rainbow trout in this reservoir
(see previous page), however in the case of all four of these
surveys stocking took place after the survey. Therefore, any
rainbow trout appearing in the surveys would have been
stocked the previous year. The low catch rates of these fish
suggest that there is either poor overwinter survival, or har-
vest by public anglers consumes most or all of the annual
catchable stocking. This is acceptable, because the catch-
able rainbows are not the principal management focus of
the fishery in this lake, and we do not necessarily have any
expectation that they will survive over multiple years.
Date of Survey 7/6
2011
7/7
2015
6/29
2016
6/18
2017
Brook Trout 100% 86% 85% 64%
Rainbow Trout 1 2
Tiger Trout 13 13 36
Gillnet locations
Species composition of gillnet catch by percent
The largest tiger trout from 2017, 17.6”, 1.8 lbs.
A typical stunted brook trout from the 2017 survey. Note the
large head and thin body.
Typical tiger trout coloration
This tiger trout, which
had died in the net,
had a stomach full of
flying ants.
Brook trout body condition by size
Brook trout size distribution The size distribution of brook trout and tiger trout cap-
tured in each of the four surveys is shown at right. There
are no tiger trout in the 2011 sample because the first time
they were stocked in the lake was 2014.
In all years, brook trout greater than 11” were rare or
nonexistent, and we have never captured a brook trout
measuring 12” or larger in this lake.
The first batch of tiger trout, which were stocked in
2014, averaged 3.7” when stocked. The 2015 gillnet sur-
vey revealed that they had survived, and their average
length after one year in the reservoir was 8.0”, with some
individuals nearly 10”.
In 2016, the 2014 tiger trout averaged 10.8”. This sug-
gested a slower growth rate (2.8” on average) than their
first year in the lake, but this is common among all trout
species. The largest individual captured in 2016 was
12.4”. We did not yet observe any evidence that the tiger
trout were preying on brook trout, but we did not expect to
see these fish become predatory until they were larger than
12”.
The 2017 survey was the first to document two year
classes of tiger trout in the lake — the ones stocked in
2014 and the second group stocked in 2016. For the first
time we observed small brook trout in the stomach of one
of the larger tiger trout, and we captured a 17” tiger trout
(pictured on previous page). This fish had clearly switched
to piscivory and had accomplished an exceptional growth
rate for a 3-year-old fish. This was also the largest fish of
any species that we have captured to date at Meadow
Creek Reservoir. The growth rate of the fish stocked in
2016 appeared very similar to the 2014 year class, averag-
ing 7-8” after one year in the lake.
The relationship of body condition (“plumpness”) and
size of the brook trout from all four years is displayed be-
low. The steep downward decline in body condition as fish
get larger is strongly indicative of stunting and lack of
adequate food for larger fish. One measure of success of
the tiger trout management strategy is if future surveys
reveal that these trend lines become level, or even reverse
their slope upward, indicating that the density of larger
fish is in better balance with the prey that is available for
them.
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