Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 16
IN THE FIELD
Kurtis Youse, statewide response specialist, offloads catfish from a distribution truck at Lake Minnehaha in Cheyenne's Holliday Park. (Photo by Chris Martin/WGFD)
Opportunity for growth
Game and Fish expands angler opportunity with
help from the Wyoming Women's Center
By Sara DiRienzo
K
urtis Youse is drenched in water,
standing on the back of a large fish
stocking truck. Youse, fish culturist
at the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department Clark's Fork Fish Hatchery,
has been netting and driving channel catfish
around Wyoming for two consecutive days.
Now, at the hottest part of a July day, a little
sloshing water is welcome as he offloads the
last of the cats into Yesness pond, a community
pond in Casper.
The catfish are being obstinate, but not
all by intention. Youse leans over the open
top of the tank truck with a long-handled
net in hand, trying to coax catfish through
an 8-inch hole, down a tube and through a
plastic slide into the water. Normally, catfish
easily flow out of the tank, carried gracefully
by gravity and water. But, the jumbo-sized
16 | September 2020
14-inch catfish don't slip out as smoothly.
When they finally edge from the truck, the
cats rocket into the water, greeted by the
cheers of kids watching the operation unfold.
"It's extra exciting," Youse said, "because
they are big fish."
Channel cats this size have never been
stocked in Wyoming's waters. Usually Game
and Fish stocks 4-inch catfish, meant to grow
several inches in the fishery before ending
up in the fryer. It's also the first time homegrown catfish have been stocked in the state.
Typically, Game and Fish trades with other
states for warm-water fish species. But these
big fish were raised in Lusk at the Wyoming
Women's Center.
Not many correctional facilities have a fish
hatchery. It's a unique job-training program
for the women who serve time and also a
source of income for the center. For 13 years,
WCC has raised tilapia, a tropical fish, and
sells about 4,000 pounds of fish a month to
distributors in Colorado who supply markets
and restaurants. When the center had the
chance to take a break from tilapia, WCC
leadership suggested an experimental pivot
to a catfish.
"WWC started to think about different
species to raise," said Talon Crowell, senior fish
culturist at the center. "And our distributor
said he could sell catfish."
In an incident of good timing, Game
and Fish was touring the WWC aquaculture
facility during the same time period. Guy
Campbell, Game and Fish fish culture
supervisor, asked Crowell to keep him
informed of how the planned catfish fared
since Game and Fish might be interested in
some of these fish in the future.
The venture was a complicated - but not
insurmountable - task. The center hadn't
raised catfish before, but the growth rates and
Wyoming Wildlife magazine
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wyoming Wildlife magazine
Table of contents
Cover
From the director
A couple pennies
Letters to the editor
Opening shot
News
Project profiles
Ask Game and Fish
Case files
In the Field
The terrestrial extra
Elk and Elke
Earrings with info
Still in Love
Wild country dispatch
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Cover
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - From the director
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Table of contents
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - A couple pennies
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Letters to the editor
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Opening shot
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 7
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - News
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 9
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 10
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 11
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 12
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Project profiles
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Ask Game and Fish
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Case files
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - In the Field
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 17
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - The terrestrial extra
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 19
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 20
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 21
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 22
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 23
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Elk and Elke
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 25
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 26
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 27
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 28
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 29
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Earrings with info
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 31
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 32
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 33
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 34
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 35
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 36
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 37
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Still in Love
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 39
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 40
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 41
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 42
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 43
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 44
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 45
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - Wild country dispatch
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 47
Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 48
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/September2020
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com