Don Andersen Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 Folks, Did part of my annual redd walk where I pick a section of Stauffer Creek and walk it during early November to determine the number of redds and therefore the possibility of increased brown trout populations.I divide the stream into four sections and today I walked the section from the Lazy M upstream to the bridge.I am pleased to report that someone removed the beaver dams along this section thereby allowing browns to utilize the traditional spawning habitat. From a low two years ago of only 12 redds, the beaver dam removal resulted in an increase to 36 redds in this section. Only nine below the removed dam shown bellow and the rest above it. There were some sections where the redds are so close together that counting was difficult. In this case, I error on the low side. No point in being too optimistic.This redd located along where the dam was located humored me. A fishery screw you. Regards, Don 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterSL Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Thanks for posting the information, Don. Neat photo! Would be interested in hearing the results of your survey on the other three sections to see if an increase has occurred in them too. ACA's redd count on the Porter and Drake properties was also positive. Think an education campaign about redds would be a good project for ACA or AEP as I believe some stream users are not too familiar with what they are and why they should avoid disturbing them. Whenever I type 'redd' in Word or a Google doc it identifies it as a spelling error! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Andersen Posted November 26, 2018 Author Share Posted November 26, 2018 Peter, Perhaps this week i’ll Walk another stretch, And just add Redd to the dictionary in word. Keep you all posted. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Don Thanks for the up-date and please keep us posted...we appreciate it. Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Andersen Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 An update. Took another walk today looking for redds in the Buck for Wildlife area. Starting <> 600 yards east of the parking lot I wandered upstream checking out the usual spots. Well, it took a while to find the first one. From year to year, the browns will often use the same locations. Such wasn’t the case for the first several hundred yards. Then I found a possible. Occasionally, browns will try a spot and find it not to their liking. These trials redds often do not contain the large rocks at the upstream end indicating a rejected location. Then I found a real one and within a short distance another. In one stretch of 50 years there was four. The walk ended with eight redds found which is far better than the two I found two years ago and certainly down from sixteeen found about ten years ago. Whether this indicates normal is unclear. I never check upstream of the Buck for Wildlife parking lot to the Lazy M any longer as there has never all been more than two redds in this location. Upstream of the Lazy M is a far more important spawning area. I then checked two short previously used spawning areas. Just below the culverts on the west property line of Stainbrookes site yielded four redds which is typical. Further upstream, downstream of the culvert on the Leavitt site often has redds but there were none. So ended today’s redd check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Don Once again thank you for the up-date. Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.