Fishing a Stream After Dam Removal: Did the Trout Return?
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- Опубліковано 19 вер 2024
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Dam removal has been a hot topic in the past decade as many dams reach the end of their lives or fall out of hydropower production. In this video Sidra and I visit and fish a restored stream after dam removal and riparian restoration.
Products featured in this video:
- Santiam Fishing Tenkara Rod: www.santiamfis...
- Ranger Nets Portable Net: store.carpcoas...
Thanks for watching!
I loved the Mill Pond, and surrounding area. Haven't been up there since both the concrete, and the wooden dams were removed. I must have hundreds of pictures of the old water wheel power plant. Time to get back up there, and explore! I remember, the local community was up in arms about this. They wanted the "historical pond," saved. They started fights at PUD meetings, even after PUD gave up their license, turning it over to Seattle City Lights. A few years prior, I worked on a similar, though much smaller project, at Boundary Dam. The project was huge, but a small part of it was to somewhat restore the natural flow of the small stream that flowed through the Visitor area, right at the dam.
I was involved in some stream restoration projects in the SE of England. Fish moved into the restored areas within a day or two.
The present and future generations have their work cut out for them. Dam removal is an important part of that restoration. It will take years to repair the damage caused by the ignorance of the past. Great to see!
well, just wait until the 100 year floods come? We will wish they were never removed! These dams were built for FLOOD CONTROL~
Those sedimented log jams and crystal clear watets are gorgeous. Such great fish habitat.
Very nice, I love seeing restorations like this.
Love seeing the Tenkara fishing!
It’s not the size of the fish in the net, that makes the day the size of the heart and the fisherman!
Man that super clear water
Pretty little stream. Grew up fishing mountain streams like this in eastern Oregon. The best. Love your videos. I am hooked on trying to catch kokanee now.
I fished the Mill pond when I was a kid in the early 60's. I remember being told there were "German Browns" in it. I also remember it being crystal clear. We didn't catch any fish in two days of fishing, which was unusual for us. I would have to wait 10 more years to catch a Washington brown trout. Looks like the fishing is way better know!
Come fish the Klamath!! 😉
Isn’t that the Elwha River? Very nice to see fish returning.
Hehe that is not the Elwha
I love dam removals.
Very interesting! 😀
Oh man, that bridge is not long for this world. It would have been really cool to see a Dolly up in that stream.
Dolly Varden don’t live in this part of Washington. We do have some Bull Trout though
Tyler, did you see there is a push for removing the Enloe Dam on the Similkameen? Have you heard any updates on it? Would be super cool to see salmon and steelhead on the Similkameen, although I'm not sure where sockeye might spawn (Lightening Lake in Manning Park, BC?). Anyways, cool video and thanks for sharing!
I know that the PUD that owns the dam opposes dam removal so I don't see it happening. The dam sits at the historic site for Coyote Falls that was apparently a barrier to all salmon movement although there is evidence to suggest that Steelhead could make it up the falls during high flows in the spring.
@@spiltmiltThe falls, now underwater and silt, just upstream of the dam. Some upstream Canadian bands (tribes) claim spring chinook and summer steelhead managed it. Other bands claim falls were complete barrier. Library of Congress files.
The falls. 1920?
www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.wa0183.photos/?sp=18
The dam.
www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.wa0183.photos/?sp=3
Just think how beautiful Nevada would be without the lake mead and Powell dams!!!!! The Colorado river flow should reach Mexico and the ocean!!
Hayduke lives!
Did all these trout migrate up from down stream after the dam was removed? Looks like a beautiful area!
They could have colonized from either direction.
Possibly re-stocked, as well, as some states do that.
Cool video. Love seeing you out enjoying with your wife. What is the pole you’re using called? It’s just a pole with no reel?
Its a tenkara rod. Fixed line flying on a telescoping rod.
Rainbow trout give Dorado some competition on pretty fish you can eat
Cool video! Great to see riparian projects where possible. What would the native trout be there? I love fishing for big Brookies in isolated waters out West here, however I occasionally crave fishing wild places like this for native species without Brookies and Browns involved. (Admittedly my favorite spots are all about big brookies, tigers and browns so my comment is schizophrenic I know lol)
The native trout are Westslope Cutthroat everything else is non-native unfortunately
Coolz...
I was just over camping at blue lake and checked out the dry falls area. I wish I had my tackle vest with me over there! Have you done any videos on the lakes inside that park area? So beautiful right there.
Several:
- ua-cam.com/video/dyqPL30B_Ac/v-deo.html
- ua-cam.com/video/sVJjewydhfo/v-deo.html
- ua-cam.com/video/Xs4yX2BCQmA/v-deo.html
@@spiltmilt great, thanks! I was trying to get the search figured out on my phone, really appreciate the fast response!
Look forwards to seeing Steelhead & Salmon spawn in that same creek
Unfortunately there will never again be salmon and steelhead in this stream as there are 4 major dams without fish passage downstream.
There will never be salmon & steelhead in that stream IF my GreatGrandchildren do nothing….and I will give them the benefit of doubt to be able to fix the mess they inherited.
Perhaps we could return fish from New Zealand or at least fertilised eggs , your rivers are very clean and healthy we have a world class fishery..built on the back of donated fish ova from around the world …
Anyone heading for NZ let me know, I have a spare double bed and if time allows I can share our back country trout with you. No crazy folks need apply ..just good honest folks thanks
Are cottonwoods and willows native to the riparian zone of the river?
Yes
What type of fish were in the lake when it was a lake?
It was planted with hatchery Rainbow Trout
@@spiltmilt is the fishing opportunities better now that it's a stream then? The video kind of made it sound like there weren't trout before with the whole colonizing the stream thing. The only thing that was new was the brook trout, and brown trout if the rainbows were there before.
I just want to say I am not trying to be combative, or anything. I am not from the western states. I don't know all the arguments for, or against any of the river stuff.
Either way it was a nice video.
Planted Rainbow trout are just that planted. They are not self-sustaining whereas many of the other trout featured in this video are. There have been significant declines in our native Westslope Cutthroat Trout and Bull Trout populations because of dam construction preventing these species from moving naturally from larger river systems into smaller systems and vice versa. The dam was an earthen log dam and needed to be removed at some point and nothing man made lasts forever. In 50 years, in part due to the restoration efforts made here, you will hardly even know a lake ever existed here before.
Did you fish Sullivan Lake too? Would be interested in your assessment on health of stocks there.
No I didn’t fish it for trout
What are you using for bait/lure?
Flies
Only one decent size trout caught.
Browns and Brookies in washington????
Yup
The Dam Scam
The environmentalists are always plugging away for dam removal. I guess if it’s in an area where that’s feasible it’s fine. In Utah they still push for it unfortunately without realizing that train left the station a long long time ago with 3 going on 4 million people living in the second driest state in the nation. I’m sure in western Washington and Oregon it’s much more realistic
Based on my experience in Utah over the past decade there is ample room for water conservation improvement in that state.
Anyone who likes to breath fresh air and drink clean water is an environmentalist
We get an above average level of snowfall (though I don’t know what’s average anymore because,well, if damn near every year is below average then what’s average?) about once every five to ten years. All those reservoirs are there to take advantage of those once in a blue moon winters to carry through the dry times. Yes there is a lot of green grass in lawns and golf courses etc but nothing compared to the swimming pools of Southern California with four to five times the population. And yeah the wasatch and uintas get a decent amount of snowfall, keyword snowfall, that’s what the dams are for is so the three months of snowfall can be retained for the remainder of the year when it scarcely rains a drop and the little it does rain soaks into the ground where it lands and never makes it to any watershed.
@@johnperic6860 it is enough to sustain Utah because of dams otherwise you’d have blown out mud flows for a month out of the year and nearly dry creek beds the rest
I think what is happening to the Great Salt Lake and the associated ecosystem is a pretty shiny example of Utah's mismanagement of water resources. Stream diversions, unsustainable irrigation and agricultural practices, and unrestrained residential development are going to render dead what was once a wholly unique and biodiverse ecosystem. The American southwest is littered with the remains of fallen civilizations and societies many of which relied on reservoirs and canals. To think we are "too big too fail" is naive but I guess we are determined to find out.