Life Support

I have known about something for most of my life but I really did not know about it in fact until several years ago. I knew of ground water and what it does to help our lives. The storage of water in underground lakes, for lack of a better word, is natures way of having an adequate supply of needed fresh water. A few years ago is when I really found out about just how valuable these underground water sources are to the survival of wild brook trout. It was at that time when I was asked to fish the streams of Sudbury Valley Trustees. These stream were located in the Memorial Forest which is now protected. The gracious gentleman from SVT's took me to the streams and we fished some really special water. He told me that not many people knew that these streams held fish let alone brook trout. Keep in mind these streams flow just a few miles of downtown Boston. I was told that the streams were fed by underground springs. These springs put cold water, to the point of 50-60 degrees all year long. I was told other things that I found interesting. He stated that brook trout would use these springs when they would surface and move along on top, then they would swim in underground sections also.

Here is a spring that flows into a stream I fish. If I push myself into the thorns I can see where it bubbles up from the ground. It flows a few feet into the stream. This spring flows all year long, sometimes the flow is heavier. I took a water temp where just up from where my rod is and it was 58 degrees. Now this is just one source of cold water that seeps into the stream. I'm sure there are others along the stream and several that filter in below the stream. Cold water is only one part of what's needed to sustain wild brook trout. There are many other needs that must be addressed in order to keep these native char well.