Fish Telemetry Project underway at Tuttle Creek and Milford Reservoirs

MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) - The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks is partnering with Kansas State University on a long-term telemetry study to examine movement patterns and space use of Kansas’ most recreationally valuable fish.

Data collected during this study will give Fisheries biologists a better understanding of fish movement within reservoirs and fish passage downstream through reservoir dams. Biologists will be implanting 15 acoustic transmitters in Blue catfish, Channel catfish, Walleye, and Saugeye at Tuttle Creek and Milford reservoirs. These transmitters will allow biologists to monitor fish movement over the next several years.

”This project will give us an idea of how fish in the reservoir do contribute to tailwater fisheries, it’s also going to give us a short-term understanding that can be built upon for blue catfish life history there’s not a lot known about blue catfish spawning, there’s also not a lot known about this large population of blue catfish that we have in Tuttle Creek and Milford Reservoir,” said Kade Jackson, KSU master student.

This collaborative effort with KSU complements earlier blue catfish tagging studies conducted by KDWP in Tuttle Creek and Milford reservoirs. Data collected from tagged fish is crucial for biologists to manage fisheries and assist in future angling success.

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