Brown trout seasonal movement patterns and habitat use in an urbanized South Dakota stream

Fifty-six brown trout (Salmo trutta) were implanted with transmitters in an urbanizedportion of Rapid Creek within the city limits of Rapid City, South Dakota, to determine habitat useand seasonal movement behavior by radiotelemetry. Fish locations were determined twiceweekly during daylight hours from September 2000 to September 2001 by triangulating the signalfrom shore. During the year-long tracking period, 1,153 individual fish locations were recorded. Gross movement distance averaged 506 m and ranged from 22 to 2,554 m. The net movementaveraged 49.4 m downstream and ranged from 774 m downstream to 188 m upstream. Themovement for individual fish averaged 23 m and ranged from 2 to 150 m. Gross movement wasgreatest in fall and then spring, whereas the greatest net movement (downstream) occurred inspring. Fish moved a greater distance during the fall spawning period than they did duringsummer, spring, or winter. Runs and pools were used more frequently than riffles in fall andwinter, but runs were used much more than either pools or riffles in spring. No difference inhabitat use was evident during the summer. Fish occurrence in riffles was greater in the fall thanin all other seasons. Overall, brown trout in this highly urbanized section of stream had similarmovement patterns and general habitat distribution during daylight hours as their counterparts innonurbanized streams described previously in published literature