There Has To Be Something We Can Do - Wild Trout Streams

[mic]

A member here sent me a PM with an email on it from a DNC POC for Blue Springs Creek. She went on to say that there wasn't much the state could do to improve habitat there because they would have to remove trees to make improvements...and...those improvements are wiped out during flash floods. The point was they made a decision not to kill 10 to 20 year old trees (that keep the creek cold) to install something that might make it a couple of years. It sucks, but I agree with that logic.

However, there has to be something that I, we, OAF, TU, etc can do. Surely there has to be some sort of short term, inexpensive projects the can be done every six to eighteen months. Yes the maintenance "bill" sucks, but if we can only improve three or four unused holes or runs, I think it could really improve the fishing.

Anyway... just venting, but please add if you have any thoughts.

[Phil Lilley]

Mid MO TU is the lead conservation group on Blue Springs I believe. They've done a lot of work on the stream and have had a prominent part of it's management. Mike Kruse, a fisheries biologist for MDC, is a long time member of that TU chapter and is a good advocate for that stream along with Spence Turner.

We have a regional meeting coming up soon. I'll inquire as to any plans for Blue Springs.

[mic]

Thank you Lilley. I assume those meeting are in the Columbia area somewhere.

[Phil Lilley]

Yes.

[Gavin]

You can toss all the time, effort, & money that you want at it but it will always be a boom, bust fishery. I've fished it off and on for over 20 years. The habitat is fine but flows are inconsistent. Good water for a couple years and it gets good. Low water for a year or two and it's not worth the trip.

[ozark trout fisher]

I just don't know......

I'm under the impression they're supposed to be wild, self-sustaining trout. If they aren't doing well due to natural reasons (drought, low flow, etc) and the population dips, that's just kind of how it goes, right? It's different if we were talking about erosion issues from grazing or gravel mining, or something along those lines (don't get me started on Little Piney and how far under its potential it currently sits due to that.) Those are things we can (and should) actually do something about.

I don't believe those things are a major issue on Blue Springs, but I'm more than willing to be told I'm wrong if that's the case. But it seems it's just too small and not deep enough to be ideal trout habitat (though in the grand scheme of things, it isn't bad.) I don't know if that's something we need to mess with for the sake of a non-native species.

Ultimately, any "stream improvement" on a (non-troutpark) MO trout stream probably should be because habitat for native species (fish, insects, crayfish, whatever) is currently degraded, and the trout fishery would have to be a secondary consideration. Again, that might be the case at Blue Spring, but considering the land ownership around it, I find it unlikely. But you just don't want to come to the realization that you messed with "the way things should be" for the sake of something that doesn't even belong here.

[mic]

You know what... I think you all are right. Sucks, but I think you're right.

[ness]

It's a pretty well protected little stream that's more impacted by mother nature than anything we do to it. Not sure how long those trout have been in there, but I think they've seen good times and bad for at least a couple decades and seem to do pretty well in there. Sure, I'd love to take a chainsaw in there and open it up a little. I'd also love to put a fence around it and limit access to me, and well, maybe you, mic.