Esrd Response To The Flood Of 2013

[DonAndersen]

Folks,

 

This arrived today.

 

Note:

 

1] the areas

2] voluntary.

 

 

[Muffin]

Thank you for sharing, very good information to have.

[murray]

Don, thanks for posting. Very good info.

 

Murray

[DaveJensen]

Just for clarification, the email pdf was a DRAFT, not an official release as yet, looking for input from the RT members & their members before being released to the public.

[Taco]

Maybe, maybe not. In fisheries highly dependent on introduced species it could be worrisome.

 

I spent yesterday afternoon on a highly flood impacted stewardship creek. On this ck last yr I averaged almost 30 brook trout per trip, yesterday I caught 9. If I punt the rainbows caught, last yr I averaged 3-4 cutthroat per trip. Yesterday I caught 7 cutthroat and zero r'bows. It's all conjecture based on one 4 hr trip on one ck by a loudmouthed redneck but it appears the introduced species may have taken a *hit kicking.

 

If anyone thinks this flood is an unusual occurrence for Southern Alberta, y'all better think again. Yesterday I looked at a 15 foot fresh cut creek bank that was 2' of silt over 2' of gravel over 2' of silt over and over down to where I was standing. Only one thing does that, repeated bigassed floods.

[slingshotz]

Maybe, maybe not. In fisheries highly dependent on introduced species it could be worrisome.

 

I spent yesterday afternoon on a highly flood impacted stewardship creek. On this ck last yr I averaged almost 30 brook trout per trip, yesterday I caught 9. If I punt the rainbows caught, last yr I averaged 3-4 cutthroat per trip. Yesterday I caught 7 cutthroat and zero r'bows. It's all conjecture based on one 4 hr trip on one ck by a loudmouthed redneck but it appears the introduced species may have taken a *hit kicking.

 

If anyone thinks this flood is an unusual occurrence for Southern Alberta, y'all better think again. Yesterday I looked at a 15 foot fresh cut creek bank that was 2' of silt over 2' of gravel over 2' of silt over and over down to where I was standing. Only one thing does that, repeated bigassed floods.

 

I'm guessing this creek was the same one I was at a few days ago. I think that all the fish got affected but the brookies will probably bounce back quicker as they spawn much younger. When I was cleaning my brookies, quite a few had roe already and they were only 10cm long.

 

I did manage only 17 brookies and three cutties compared to my 30+ days too like yourself but I also found a bunch of brookies stranded in pools in the fields. I tried to catch all of them in case any were cutties but luckily none were. I'm sure there were thousands of fish stranded in the field that got picked off by predators. But to see the extent of the high water and still see fish in the main creek proves that fish will survive just fine.

 

The creek is sure amazingly different and there are some pretty awesome new pools (not to mention tons of new potential snags :$*%&: ), these floods are so awesome in cleaning up waterways, thinning out weak fish, redistributing nutrients and materials around.

[RBW123]

Good information, what a chance however to impact the brookies and get them out of the system and keep the waters for cutthroat and bulls.

Keeping the native fish should always be the priority.

If you are picking up that many brookies it may be time to get the stewardship license and see if you can impact things from that perspective.

[ÜberFly]

They both already have them! Hence the numbers!

[Vagabond]

Interesting observation Taco,I wonder if brookies are less tolerant of siltation?

I worked on a stream rehab project back east years ago,and the major concern was heavy siltation caused by intense clearcutting in the this particular watershed.I was under the understanding that trout,in this case native eastern brook trout,suffer from a fatal gill infection when they are exposed to excessive silty runoff.At the time,in fact,until just now I assumed that applied to all trout,but now im wondering perhaps if brookies are in fact more susceptible to this infection and generally less tolerant of heavy runoff for extended periods,whereas the native cutts may have evolved to tolerate these conditions?

[slingshotz]

Yeah I do have the stewardship licence, I put in my best effort last year and removed almost 400. I think only Taco edged me out for the slaughter but I'm gonna give it a better effort this year

 

The brookies and cutties were in fine shape and pretty aggressive. However, a different creek we fished at two weeks ago had pretty lethargic cutties and brookies that looked in much worse shape. However, that creek was running through a narrow valley with little overflow ability so it is understandable that the fish had to fight much tougher currents.

[Taco]

Gonna be tough to repeat last yrs numbers but I think now's is a opportune time harvest them. I do most of my harvesting above the the old beaver meadows and that's where I was the other day.

[midgetwaiter]

I spent a few hours on a non-stewardship elbow trib last night that had some serious water move through it during the flooding. It's sobering to stand at the edge of the water and see significant bank erosion 8 feet above your head. The brookies were on last night, my buddy and I were not making an effort to keep track but we had at least 20 to hand in a few hours but only one cutt. The fish looked healthy.

 

Fishing some of the new sections of the stream that had cut though willow stands was pretty neat, long slow pools with willow islands, they bring the swamps of the southeast US to mind but with crystal clear water. Good fishing now but there was a lot of silt settled out, makes me wonder if this will lead to problems with temperature swings and insect life in the future.

 

All things considered it was an encouraging outing. I don't know how a fingerling brookie survives an event like that but they did.

[slingshotz]

Gonna be tough to repeat last yrs numbers but I think now's is a opportune time harvest them. I do most of my harvesting above the the old beaver meadows and that's where I was the other day.

 

Isn't amazing how the large beaver pond is drained completely, those beavers have a lot of work in front of them lol. Do you go much further up, and does it change much? I haven't been much past it as the hike back gets long and it seems to get much thicker with trees. One of these days I'm gonna bring my bike and ride up further upstream,

 

I agree, it seems like a good time to harvest them while they are a bit weaker, it's still gonna be tough to tip the balance over to the natives. One of these days we'll have to tag team a stream and crush the brookies

[Taco]

No farther up

 

Isn't amazing how the large beaver pond is drained completely, those beavers have a lot of work in front of them lol. Do you go much further up, and does it change much? I haven't been much past it as the hike back gets long and it seems to get much thicker with trees. One of these days I'm gonna bring my bike and ride up further upstream,

 

I agree, it seems like a good time to harvest them while they are a bit weaker, it's still gonna be tough to tip the balance over to the natives. One of these days we'll have to tag team a stream and crush the brookies

No, much farther up. I fish mostly above Iron Ck, usually walk in at least 4k on the old rd and fish back. Swingin' small muddlers on a floatin' line been working well for me.