HEBER SPRINGS — With thousands of brown trout swimming in Arkansas tailwaters, it’s hard to single out one as special, so the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission picked 150. That’s the number of brown trout swimming in the Little Red River below Greers Ferry Dam being followed throughout the year by the AGFC and researchers from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Radio transmitters implanted in the trout send a signal that “pings'' off a series of receivers up and down the river to record movements on a daily basis. This new location data can then be used to investigate how outside influences affect their routines.
According to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Trout Program Coordinator Christy Graham, the research is the latest in the series of studies scheduled with public input from the 2017 Greers Ferry Tailwater Management Plan.
“Researching the brown trout population to better manage this fishery was a major priority in the plan, and we’ve already had some great projects,” Graham said. “All our previous studies on the tailwater focused on seasonal movements. Now technology lets us track on a daily basis and build on the knowledge we’ve already gained. We have the opportunity to really dive into how flow rates and water temperature affect movement, trout movement rates and locations between day and night, and get a little more of a glimpse at why the trout are using different resources throughout the year. These are all vital components to ensure we’re providing enough protection to the fishery and may reveal areas where we could improve it further.”
Researchers began the project in December by collecting brown trout from pools of the river along various locations from Greers Ferry Dam to Searcy.
“Although the traditional trout waters end at Monaghan Womack Access where Highway 305 crosses the river, the researchers tagged fish from Highway 305 to Searcy to determine if there is a resident population in that portion of the river and if those fish are moving into the managed portion of the river during certain times of the year,” Graham said.
Previous research played a big part in the effort as well, according to Graham.
“Spawning research conducted by UAPB from 2020-2021 pointed out the shallow riffles and shoals that contain high numbers of spawning fish, and we avoided all of those areas to prevent disturbing the spawn as much as possible,” Graham said.
Researchers surgically implanted radio transmitters into the undersides of the fish, taking care to place the units where they would cause no harm and not interfere with the fish’s ability to swim or feed. Rather than using chemicals or drugs to anesthetize the fish during surgery, the team used specialized gloves that used low rates of electric current to immobilize the fish. This allowed them to complete the surgery quickly without long recovery times or side effects. Fish were able to swim away within minutes of the procedure, and very little, if any, mortality has been noticed thus far.