On July 25, 2014, Gary and I took our first trip to our grayling study stream along with our collaborator at ADF&G. Our goals were 1) to figure out which stretches of the river will be most suitable for our study, 2) to test our methods for pumping the stomach contents of grayling, and 3) get to know the boat we were borrowing.

We were able to catch enough fish to get some diet samples, which we will be sent back to the lab in Georgia to test and practice processing methods.

The extraction of diet samples, technically called “gastric lavage” and less technically called “puking” the fish, went fairly well. We did identify some possible improvements in our methods.

The scenery was outstanding, a reminder of how lucky we are to do part of our jobs outdoors in Alaska.

We accomplished all our objectives for the day.