Fishy Habits and Fish Habitats
River Adventure Trip #2

TRIP FULL

Date/Time:
Sunday, August 23, 2009
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Overview:
Ever wondered how fish use rivers and where to find them?  Ken Kehmeier, Fishery Biologist from the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and his research crew will introduce you to fish communities and fish habitat on the North Fork. First you’ll learn about fish habitats and fish biology as you explore the upper reaches of the river below Halligan Reservoir. After carpooling to near the dam on private land adjacent to the preserve, you will take a short walk down to the river for the demonstration and eat your sack lunch at that time.  You’ll get to see how researchers monitor fish populations using electro-shocking equipment. Afterwards you’ll hike back to the cars, drive in to the Preserve headquarters and after a brief orientation at the Visitor Center hike with your gear into the canyon with the volunteer Trout Unlimited (TU) guides for an afternoon of fishing and exploring along the river through Phantom Canyon Preserve using your newfound knowledge. 

This trip is part of our River Adventure Days (see also River Ecology and Recovery at Phantom). Each day will begin with a 2-3 hour guided natural history program led by a locally renowned expert, and supported by Conservancy staff or volunteers. Each trip will be focused on a theme. The second part of the day will be allocated to catch-and-release fly fishing. River Adventure Days will be dependent on river conditions (flow and temperature) and are therefore subject to cancellation dependent on those conditions as the date approaches.

Bring a sack lunch, water, hiking gear, wading staff, fishing equipment, and spare dry clothing. Long pants and long sleeves are recommended because of stinging nettle and poison ivy.  

Registration:
Enrollment is limited to 6 pairs (total of 12 persons). All individuals must register in pairs; each pair will be allocated one river reach to fish. 

Sign up is by e-mail only. Please send a message to phantomcanyonevents@tnc.org and put RIVER ADVENTURE DAY in the subject line. The following information is needed to complete registration.

• River Adventure Day trip number; that is #1 OR #2. 
• Remember you can only sign up for ONE of the TWO trips.
• Name, phone number, email and street address for EACH individual in your pair
• Each person’s age bracket (13-18, 19-39, 40-59, 60 and over), angling ability (expert, average, novice), and any physical limitations that may restrict their hiking and/or wading abilities.

This information is important as it will assist the Conservancy and TU to pre-assign participants to river guides and fishing reaches based on their skill level and physical ability. The beginning of each day involves hiking down into the canyon and along the river with your fishing gear on a rocky switchback trail; dropping 500 vertical feet in 8/10 of a mile. 

Fishing in the afternoon along the river will involve additional hiking of up to 3 miles one-way, with several river crossings to access assigned fishing reaches, and concluding with a challenging climb back up the trail to the rim of the canyon; gaining 500 feet of elevation in 8/10 of a mile.