This statewide program is designed to put the most and biggest trout in streams for fishermen to enjoy.

The Thursday sampling, the last of three days of work on one of seven Gunpowder stations in its 17 1/2 miles of fishable water, was conducted by Department of Natural Resources central region fisheries manager Charlie Gougeon. He was singing the length numbers, with volunteer Dick Clingan of Millersville chanting the smaller weight numbers of trout. Howard Stinefelt, a former DNR fisheries employee who flunked retirement, carefully jotted down the data for later analysis.

Without getting into Statistical Analysis 101, the data allows analysis of what is happening with trout and how to make it happen better.

The little guys listed above were measured and weighed, along with young-of-the-year (YOY) (measured only).

Other tubs of bigger trout to just under 17 inches indicated the opportunities for excellent trout fishing, despite the fact that there is no stocking ? natural reproduction only.

“We?ve been doing electro-fishing surveys to follow the progress of our fishery management programs,” said Gougeon of the two-decade long program.

So far, the surveys show that the programs are working, with data allowing comparison of different sections of a stream and comparisons of different streams.

Numbers of fish surveyed are up in 2006, although the basic biomass (weight) remains about the same, meaning that some fish are a tad thinner than last year.

All the fish shocked were browns, with a few dace, sculpins and chubs also getting scooped up in the catching method.

Earlier in the day-long study, Gougeon and his team of wader-clad staff and volunteers launched a small float-tube catamaran holding a water-filled cooler for trout and generator-run DC electro-shocker with two probes.

The electric current stunned the fish for a few seconds while the net-equipped crew scooped them up and into the cooler.

The captured fish were anesthetized usingethyl alcohol and oil of cloves to prevent injury.

It also allowed for accurate data before putting the trout into a “recovery room” ? a porous tub in the river.

The trout were then scattered downstream throughout their range.

All except one. The big, almost-17-incher did not like the recovery room and jumped out. He?s still in the same area, just hanging out for the right fisherman. Come to think of it, I think I know where he lives.

C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting, and the outdoors, and he has more than 20 books to his credit. He can be reached at [email protected].