Project to help brown trout on Arkansas River

CANON CITY, Colo. — A $20,000 project on a one-mile stretch of the Arkansas River will give brown trout better places to feed.

The project, supported by three Trout Unlimited chapters, the Canon City Recreation and Park District and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, involves placing boulders in the river channel to provide protected pockets for feeding.

Division of Wildlife fishery biologist Greg Policky says fish are better able to maintain weight gain when they aren’t fighting the current.

The improved habitat is expected to increase survival rates, which in turn could improve opportunities for fishing.

“There has been a lack of habitat in this stretch of the river because it is a little too fast — at 3 feet per second — for the trout,” said Pete Gallagher of Fin-Up Habitat Consultants of Manitou Springs.

The rocks were carefully placed so they wouldn’t increase flood levels, pose a hazard to rafts or have other undesirable effects.

Logs were placed along the bank where erosion has been a problem. The logs also will create cover where newly hatched fish can hide. Later, willows will be planted to help hold the bank soil in place and eliminate raw deposits of sediment, Gallagher said.