How Has This Years Drought Affected Some Of Our Streams?

[LittleRedFisherman]

I was discussing this with some friends the other day, on how dry it has been in the past year or more now. I know that some streams can handle the droughts better than others due to more springs feeding them. In turn, how has this affected the fish in these streams? I had heard that some of the western AR streams have been affected worse than some, one in particualar that's been mentioned is the Kings river. Time will tell, I'd like to think the fish know how to survive. I was astonished on how low the Eleven Point was a few weeks ago still, and it probably has handled this drought better than most streams. Was curious on some of my fellow OA folks opinons and observations on what your seeing in your area?

[jdmidwest]

Hard to say what will happen, but I am predicting that the next few years will be different. Streams need a good flushing out, they did not go into flood stage this season. It should have meant a good year for spring spawners, as most beds should have reared young. But, without the floods, the young were not displaced and scattered like normal. Most areas of rivers remained pools all season, so there was limited migration in the system.

For turkeys, it was a banner year. No flooding in the bottomlands resulted in more turkey production. The nests did not get wiped out like normal.

Downside, NOAA is predicting the pattern to continue next year also. 2 drought years.

[cwc87]

I live in the meramec headwaters. Our water table was great from the winter/ spring of 2011 until the fall of 2011. Since then our rivers, stream, ponds, and lakes have suffered.

The bad, no new habitat in the water for the fish( cover and food). Water temps stayed at high levels since early spring . With the low flow and quick jump in water temp this year the spawn was totally off. ( I never saw a 15 in or bigger smallmouth on a nest in the upper meramec areas that I normally do). The giggers are out in full force with ultra clear water and with out new downed trees they lack cover to hide.

The good , with record breaking heat fishing pressure was held in check when the fish really needed a break. Vegetation on gravel bars is taking a good foot hold for the next flood. Farmers fertilizer are not getting washed into the stream. Without cover the fish are more easily caught.

I wish the weather would just b normal instead of setting records. Kind of depressing talking to others about how we live in a totally different climate. One thing I tell myself is that I can't change Mother Nature I might as well just deal with it!!

In my opinion our biggest fight is water retention. (How do we slow down every rain drop?)

[Al Agnew]

I agree with cwc, it was a totally screwed up spring. I'm not sure how much that affected the spawn, but the water temps didn't coincide with the photo period very well. Early summer fishing was fairly good. I wasn't around between mid-July and late August.

The low water makes fishing easy. Maybe too easy, because it allows a lot of fish to be caught at a time when the very warm water temps probably stressed even those which weren't kept and killed. The last time we had a multi-year drought, the fishing declined steadily after the first year.

The larger streams will survive these droughts better than the smaller creeks. Larger streams will still have current, and the deep pools will stay deep, giving the fish plenty of sanctuary. Smaller streams that went nearly dry this year meant a lot of very hot water and fairly stagnant water in the pools, with a lot of the smaller, shallower pools that usually still furnish good habitat being too shallow to support the numbers of fish they usually would. The fish had to retreat to the few bigger pools, where they had lots of competition, and on many, lots of fishing pressure. Low water in the smaller streams all summer and fall may also have meant difficulty in fish actually migrating to wintering pools.

If this is a taste of things to come with climate change, there's no doubt that it won't be good for smallmouth fishing in the Ozarks. The fish can survive some pretty adverse conditions for a while, but they don't thrive, and eventually, if the conditions continue, the population declines drastically.

[Smalliebigs]

I agree with cwc, it was a totally screwed up spring. I'm not sure how much that affected the spawn, but the water temps didn't coincide with the photo period very well. Early summer fishing was fairly good. I wasn't around between mid-July and late August.

The low water makes fishing easy. Maybe too easy, because it allows a lot of fish to be caught at a time when the very warm water temps probably stressed even those which weren't kept and killed. The last time we had a multi-year drought, the fishing declined steadily after the first year.

The larger streams will survive these droughts better than the smaller creeks. Larger streams will still have current, and the deep pools will stay deep, giving the fish plenty of sanctuary. Smaller streams that went nearly dry this year meant a lot of very hot water and fairly stagnant water in the pools, with a lot of the smaller, shallower pools that usually still furnish good habitat being too shallow to support the numbers of fish they usually would. The fish had to retreat to the few bigger pools, where they had lots of competition, and on many, lots of fishing pressure. Low water in the smaller streams all summer and fall may also have meant difficulty in fish actually migrating to wintering pools.

If this is a taste of things to come with climate change, there's no doubt that it won't be good for smallmouth fishing in the Ozarks. The fish can survive some pretty adverse conditions for a while, but they don't thrive, and eventually, if the conditions continue, the population declines drastically.

Al, I agree with everything you said, especially about the smaller creeks, we saw some serious damage this year to the smaller waters and it worries me. Your last statement is the main reason why I have held back on a jet purchase, if the river levels stay how they have been, my window of opportunity to fish safely from a jet is shrunk bigtime. I am now considering a smaller jet

[Greasy B]

The Smallie fishing held up pretty good in the streams I fished this year. I did avoid my home water creek due to the super low water. I'm pretty anxious about what I'll find next summer and dread having to deal with a few years of landing dinks and launchers before things rebound, if they rebound.

[Mitch f]

I'm ready for things to get back to normal on all fronts...I need to go fishing

[LittleRedFisherman]

Great respones guys! Since i've posted this we've got about 2 inches of rain here at my place, but we need so much more. Brian Sloss told me the other day we need a 10 inch rain, at first I wasn't so sure about that, but after seeing what little effect even a 2 inch rain has now, I believe he's right.

I have worried about the small creeks myself. On the way to Hardy we cross Martins creek, which is a nice little wade fishing creek, small fish but alot of them usually. I"ve crossed that creek for 30 plus years that I remember, and it's always running. This year it basically was just a trickle through some of the rocks. The places you fish are pools, but they are rarely more than waist deep, hopefully the effects wasn't to devastating.

[Tim Smith]

Great respones guys! Since i've posted this we've got about 2 inches of rain here at my place, but we need so much more. Brian Sloss told me the other day we need a 10 inch rain, at first I wasn't so sure about that, but after seeing what little effect even a 2 inch rain has now, I believe he's right.

I have worried about the small creeks myself. On the way to Hardy we cross Martins creek, which is a nice little wade fishing creek, small fish but alot of them usually. I"ve crossed that creek for 30 plus years that I remember, and it's always running. This year it basically was just a trickle through some of the rocks. The places you fish are pools, but they are rarely more than waist deep, hopefully the effects wasn't to devastating.

One note of comfort, LRF and Al. In 1988, the last major drought in the Midwest, Illinois Natural History Survey scientists did an experiment to find out how long it takes small streams to recover from drought. They went into the last remaining pools in dried out streams and killed the remaining fish populations. Then they measured the recovery of the streams when the rains began the next year. Recovery time was short and within 2 years, there was no measurable difference in pre and post drought fish populations.

If the rains will come back, the streams will bounce back.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Like many things there are plus and minus effects. I think the two short term negative effects are predation and water temps. Our streams are no longer capable of handling these, as in the past, because of the influx of gravel.