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Old 07-15-2013, 10:55 AM
jaydub99 jaydub99 is offline
 
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Default North Raven/Stauffer Report - July 14

I haven't fished this creek for about 8 years and wow, things have really changed. I seem to remember going in near the 761 and being able to wade the stream for a mile or 2 with brookies all the way up and a few browns here and there. But it looks nothing like I remember. At least 5 different spots I was up to my knees in silt and getting deeper, so I had to climb out and hike around. There were some great looking holes, but after getting no strikes I'd approach and realize they were half-filled with silt and weeds. In about 2 miles I found maybe 6 or 7 little stretches with a nice rocky bottom and quick water, I saw maybe 10 brookies in total, got 3 strikes and landed 2. Didn't see a single rise in 10 hours.

I stopped at a few other crossings, but it looked similar and the people I met were having no luck either. One guy said he caught 2 browns on Saturday (19" and 21"). I didn't notice any hatches on Sunday, so I was just trying a lot of random stuff, stimmies, hoppers, adams, wulffs, royal coachman (that's what the brookies were hitting).

I dunno, is my memory bad? Or is this river seriously in decline? I don't see how the fish can survive in all that silt. I assume it comes from runoff of plowed fields? I wish someone could build a few sediment traps to create some long stretches of good fishing/spawning grounds.
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Old 07-15-2013, 12:02 PM
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MK2750 MK2750 is offline
 
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The beavers would make some nice sediment traps but they keep tearing them down to make better trout habitat.
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Old 07-15-2013, 12:52 PM
jaydub99 jaydub99 is offline
 
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Well, they would probably need to be near the roads so you could get a big vacuum truck in there once a year or something. Has this been done on any similar small creeks? Sediment traps and fish stairs every couple of miles?
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Old 07-15-2013, 01:10 PM
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Nait Hadya Nait Hadya is offline
 
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A small scale silt dredge is what's needed. I know there is nice gravel under the silt.
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Old 07-15-2013, 01:41 PM
Don Andersen Don Andersen is offline
 
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Here is a brief rundown of things that have been tried over the past 30+ years of folks working on this creek.

1) a floating dredge back 25+years ago sucked the silt out for a short distance
2) bank side vegetation re-establishment - lots of grasses and trees planted.
3) bank exclusion fencing to keep livestock off te banks
4) stream narrowing in the upstream areas captured <> 6,000 tonnes of silt
5) beaver dam removal and vegetation establishment - this allows silt to be flushed downstream
6) silt removal in brook trout spawning areas
7) land purchase to change land use - all upstream spring areas are now jontly owned by TU, ACA & AFGA.

And to further add to the info, here are two links of my concerns,
http://outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=164216
http://outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=174987

If there are other techniques that you might use to help the situation, I'd be more than pleased in assisting you in finding funds & various Govt. permits required to that you can help with the work.


Regards,


Don
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Old 07-15-2013, 04:29 PM
jaydub99 jaydub99 is offline
 
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Thanks Don! I'm just reading through some of your other posts, you've clearly spent a lot of time thinking about and working on this issue. Thanks for all your efforts so far.

One thing I haven't seen covered is an analysis of the source(s) of the silt. Even though there is some debate around how grim the situation currently is, surely everyone would agree that less silt would be a good thing for brooks and browns, no? More spawning sites, better feeding on the bottom.

Do we know the source(s) of the silt? Is it feasible to monitor turbidity at various locations for a year to see when/where it's being introduced? It seems to me that would go a long way in properly targeting efforts at reduction.
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Old 07-15-2013, 07:19 PM
Don Andersen Don Andersen is offline
 
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Jay...

A failing of Stauffer Creek is the low gradient c/w a small watershed. The result is poor flushing action that freestone streams enjoy.
That means that silt either produced by beavers drowning backside vegetation or silt the result of past agricultural practices take a long time to flow from headwaters to discharge.
Presently there are few sources of silt. Most of the silt was generated years ago and is working it's away through the creek.
What is apparent is the creek is narrowing each year as silt deposited along shorelines. Also, the banks are getting higher. The changes are slow but they are happening.

Regards.

Don
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Old 07-15-2013, 09:51 PM
Chernobyl Ant Chernobyl Ant is offline
 
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What are we gonna do?
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