throw net sampling

Had some really nice weather today while sampling the fish in the Back Channel and the Twisp Ponds. For todays sampling we used our brand new throw nets. In the video (if is shows up)i'm doing my best net toss that i have seen so many S.E. Asians do during my travels, don't be fooled by what looks like a crappy throw. We want to sample 100 fish and in my one throw i got 102. I knew i would be good at it. Over at the Twisp Ponds it was a bit harder, the pond is down a slippery slope, we parked the truck up top and sampled from up there. It is a pain to carry buckets of water up to fill the trash can we have to keep the fish in while sampling. We did not want not get enough on the first throw so we threw the net twice, and ended up getting way over 100. Next week we are going to bring a card table or something so that we can sample closer to the water. What we are sampling for is the fishes lifestage. Whether they are still 'Parr' prominent par marks, orange tint on their tales, white tipped fins are some of the things we look at. Then next stage is 'Transitional' This is what most of them are. Transitional means they have lost the orange tint and have a faint black outline around their codal fin (tail fin) they are losing thier par marks and transitioning into 'Smolt' the final stage before they are ready to be released. These are a bright silver with no par marks. We only found one in the two hundred fish we sampled today. Suryia is the gal i am working with and Rick is our boss, who is filming me. This is the first time Suryia and i have done this kind of work, i guess i did similiar stuff last year with the State. I think we did good, and i am sure it will go all smooth next week.