North Fork issue

[BilletHead]

28 minutes ago, laker67 said:

I don't know if they are special or were just the choice at the time. I will tell you this, they are the midgets of the rainbow breed.

              Well if the midgets of the rainbow world are the McCloud then the Inland Redband rainbows Pat and I caught  in Nevada during our 2019 trip should be considered the micros of the rainbow breed. We also on that trip caught them in Idaho and Oregon.  

Manual (westernnativetrout.org)

 

[tjm]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

What was/is so special about the McCloud river and its fish ?   

Is the McCloud river still a great fishery?

Rail access would have been a major factor. Actually they were sent out to obtain and ship to the east coast Pacific salmon eggs to replace the devastated Atlantic salmon stocks. The trout just happened to there too.

I found this that tells at least a part of the story and has some pictures of the river now and then, scroll way down past all the adverts. http://www.mtshasta.com/history-of-the-mccloud-river-rainbow/

[jdmidwest]

Eleven Point was trashed by 2017 and trout fishing there has suffered.  A few floods away, there will be massive log jambs and brush piles in the river.

Trout fishing has to be supplemented to support the harvest unless you make it "No Kill".  Too many predators.

I don't have a dog in the hunt, North Fork has been elusive to me most of the times I have ventured that way. 

Personally, I would like to see some of the Kenai Strain Rainbows introduced here.  Might have to swim a while to find salt water, but they fight better than any here.

[tjm]

is it the salt that makes them fight more? or the ice?  would they be just like what we have if they had to live here and adapt? It seems that all animals are more lethargic nearer to the equator and more active farther from it. When I lived in the northern tier of states I was more active than I am here in the subtropics.

[MoCarp]

One question is why is there natural reproduction there? If that can’t be answered the fishery could be doomed, unfortunately in many areas fish depend on a very small area for reproduction...a flood might have destroyed the very gravel beds responsible for great natural spawning

 

[Al Agnew]

12 hours ago, Phil Lilley said:

What MDC has to be careful of is over stocking the fishery.  Sounds like the food base isn't good - then why put more fish in just to starve?  They've reduced stocking numbers on Taney and we've seen good results - bigger fish. 

I think money should be spent on planting trees for shade and bank retention, looking at replacing gravel if needed and getting creative and adding structure to the river to accommodate FOOD for the trout rather than a quick fix of adding fish.

We selfishly want to fix things in our lifetime what would naturally take decades to fix after an event like this.  We can help a little... but we can also screw it up in the name of speeding things up.

And the dam- they took it out because people were getting hurt/killed by going over it - right?  What's changed?

No, as I understand it, people were getting killed swept into and under the dam because it was in a state of disrepair.

[Al Agnew]

23 hours ago, tjm said:

What to know something? It doesn't do a thing for me to have any trout in that watershed. Trout are sorta invasive there and if they die out, there is a fair chance of that river becoming a premium Kentucky fishery. Might even get full of sandies, but the chances that I'll ever fish there are slim and slimmer.

I do believe that the way to saving any fragile resource is to leave it alone and not trample it or sell tags to kill it.

I am opposed to all dams and any that fall down or get torn down are the best of kind. The only  good dam is a broken dam. Let MDC spend their money killin hogs and harassing boat mechanics, fcol. 

I disagree on the Kentucky fishery.  Every stream section in the Ozarks that is heavily enough springfed to support trout has never had a spotted bass fishery.  I do not think spots are willing or able to colonize such cold waters.  

But that brings up something else that I alluded to originally.  There have been few, if any spotted bass, either in the trout section or upstream from it.  Whether that was because the dam formed a barrier, or whether it was the cold water, it could be possible that the removal of the barrier, allowing an unlimited number of spotted bass to work their way upstream PAST the trout water, could make the smallmouth fishing up there deteriorate.  Maybe it wouldn't.  Upper North Fork is not typical spotted bass habitat--too fast and too clear.  But I hate to take that chance.  I'm not in love with Missouri trout, but I DO care deeply about Ozark smallmouth.

[Johnsfolly]

On 12/31/2020 at 1:44 PM, fishinwrench said:

No kidding 🙄 

Everybody wants to praise trout, while the native Smallmouth are left to deal with.....whatever.   That really pisses me off.

Put in a $10 smallmouth tag and you'll  have the money you need to boost that fishery. 

[Ham]

25 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Put in a $10 smallmouth tag and you'll  have the money you need to boost that fishery. 

Careful John! I expect there will be an Invasive Carp tag to raise money to deal with them. 

[jdmidwest]

1 minute ago, Ham said:

Careful John! I expect there will be an Invasive Carp tag to raise money to deal with them. 

That is a Federal problem that came from out of state.