Over the past ten days or so I have been visiting some streams that are favorites of mine. I have been checking how they have fared over the summer months. This past August and September have been dry and with low rain falls it might have presented problems for the trout. Two of the streams I checked were doing fine. Water flows now are OK and the fish were active and healthy. Apparently these streams had enough rain, from thunderstorms, that kept the flows good enough during that dry spell.
The other day I fished a third stream, one that I have not fished since late June. The stream was flowing beautifully and the water was strikingly clear. The stream is quite long and many areas are super brookie spots. In the years I have fished this stream I have not seen anybody else fish it. It is a popular hike with folks and I have seen and talked to many people over the years.
This photo is about the mid-way point of this stream. I fish slow so by the time I reached here it was an hour and a half of fishing...ready for this. Not one strike, not a single trout spooked, it was dead. The next two hours of fishing yielded one strike and one fish. I don't know what happened here, maybe this stream had gone dry at some point. Obviously something bad happened. I will revisit the stream come late November and see if anything changes.
The one brookie caught this day. She appears to be in excellent condition. I hope she is not the last.
Perhaps they haven't come down from the headwaters during the dry spell yet. For your (and the trout's) sake I hope that's the case.
ReplyDeleteI see you've posted another beautiful example of Armando's work. I need to try those pencils someday as an adjunct to fly tying.
billp
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Bill I will say that I did not fish the entire length of the stream. I'm hopeful that there is a reasonable explanation for the lack of fish.
Give it a shot. They say drawing is very relaxing.
Hopefully, and I say hopefully you don't have the idiots like we have out here that fish small streams, catch the little 6" natives (Rainbow & Brown) and go "Look trout in the frying pan". Unfortunately nothing you say to these idiots stops them.
ReplyDeleteMark, I hear you on that. Too bad so many just don't get it. Last time fishing one of my friends I ran into told me about a 3# brown along with other trout that a couple proudly displayed to him on a stringer. I am glad I didn't see it.
DeleteBest, Sam
Mark Kautz
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You nailed it with the term idiot. We will never be able to change people like that.
Sam that's terrible. I know things like that happen, I'm just glad I did not see it.
The one specimen you showed looked very healthy. Hopefully she is able to spawn and the flows stay good. I have found brook trout to be very resilient and hopefully their number on that brook will increase. We had a brutal September rain wise but recent rains seem to have the flows at a normal level. I understand your concern and I check the USGS waterflows daily along with the forecasts for precipitation. Nature can be tough but let's keep hopeful.
ReplyDeleteNJpatbee
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Pat normal highs and lows occur on these small streams and I can live with that, but it seems funny that so far this is the only stream I've found to be in this condition. I am hopeful of a good outcome but I'm a realist.
Mother Nature will take care of herself. Trouble arises when we inject ourselves into the mix. Anything new at the Route 84 truckstop?
ReplyDeleteJohn Dornik
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John Mother Nature will take care of herself, it's the brookies in this stream I'm concerned about.
I don't quite understand the 84 truck stop comment.
Truck stop encroachment(blacktop coverage of former wetlands) at Roaring Brook, Willington. Brookies are indeed part of Mother Nature's charge. "Herself" = all life on this planet.
DeleteJohn I have not heard anything on that truck stop. It's been two years I believe since the town was to vote on giving the go ahead.
DeleteMike Carl do you have any info to add.
Indeed troubling, Alan, when a stream we love shows no signs of life, that third one in this case. Maybe the trout were up in the very upper headwaters doing their fall dance. I certainly hope that is the case. I look forward to hearing how this stream is doing when you next visit it.
ReplyDeleteBest, Sam
Sam
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Sam it's possible they were further upstream doing their deeds. I will follow up later in November.
I fished 2 more streams today and they were A-OK.
Alan,
ReplyDeleteHopefully nothing terrible happened here. Even if so, these fish are resilient. If the water is still of good quality and volume they will rebound.
JJ
Beaverdam
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Joe good thoughts on my part. Bounce back not certain but I have faith it will. I checked on a possible fish kill in that stream and it appears that did not happen. So I will check it again later in the year.
Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago you could find 4-10" brookies everywhere in my favorite brook. They were in any area that looked like good holding water - virtually every run, undercut, plunge pool, or riffle. Now fishing nearly a mile of this brook, I'm lucky to find one or two fish. They are hunkered down in a few deep pools, where they are very cautious and easily spooked. I assume this is because of the two straight years of severe summer droughts we've experienced in the Berkshires.
Thankfully the brook remains cold even when it's low, but summer thunderstorms only raise it a few inches for few hours, then it goes right back down. I assume the main problem is depleted ground water?
Thankfully, the brook is a trib of a small river that also contains good cold habitat, so the brookies have someplace to escape to when their brook drops. But in the river, they have to compete with stocked fish. I also worry about whether they will be able to access their regular spawning areas.
I know our brookies have persisted in their challenging habitats for thousands of years. I hope their resilience continues in the face of global warming.
Warmest wishes,
John
John Strucker
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Wow that is one terrible drop in the brookie population in your brook. I fish several streams in the southern Berkshires and I have not noticed such a decline. Low ground water is something that is a problem, also chemicals used in lawns also have to go somewhere and I guess you know where that is. A stream on the Cape which had a robust population of salter brook trout is no more. It's a sad story...The Day The Santuit Died...google it.
We do our part, now we others to do theirs.
John,
DeleteInteresting reading.
https://www.searunbrookie.org/conservation/how-to-kill-a-salter-stream/
https://newenglandboating.com/sea-run-brook-trout-extirpated-from-cape-cods-santuit-river/
Yes, Alan. Sadly, I remember seeing trout (mostly browns) 30 years ago where the Santuit empties into the harbor and upstream. Going back to the same area, you see lots of development. And, like you I support the Sea Run Brook Trout Coalition.
DeleteAs for the stream in the Berkshires I mentioned, it rises in a wildlife management area, so it's unlikely there are any houses that could be introducing extra nutrients or contaminants into the stream.
John I hope whatever it is that's altering that stream soon ends. 4-10" brookies are a real treat.
DeleteSRBTC is a fine organization.