Bulkley River Steelhead Trout: A Report on Angler Use, Tagging, and Life History Studies Conducted in 1982 and 1983

The Bulkley River and its major tributary, Morice River, support one of the most intense steelhead trout fisheries in British Columbia. Although on—river creel surveys have been conducted in recent years on the Morice River, very little creel data had been collected in the main Bulkley River, where approximately two-thirds of the total steelhead angler effort in the system is directed. Consequently, in 1982, the Fish and Wildlife Branch initiated a creel census on the Bulkley River which, following refinement of technique, was continued in 1983. The objectives of the project were to determine angler effort, catch and success rate as well as angler origin, distribution of effort by time and space, and tackle preference. In conjunction with the creel census, a steelhead tagging exercise was also carried out, with the objective being to further refine run timing and in-stream movement information. This report presents the data collected during the fall of 1983. Analysis will include manipulation of some of the data collected in 1982. Some attempt will be made to compare results with the annual Branch publication “Steelhead Harvest Analysis.”