On August 15, we were welcomed with a perfect day to assist WDNR Fisheries Biologists with their annual stream shocking survey at trend sites on the Rush River. We started out at Stonehammer and finished up at Vino in the Valley. The largest brown trout was 21″with a handful over 15″. It’s quite a sight watching tubs of trout being measured and released. We were accompanied by local dairy farmer Tim Colbenson who jumped right in to learn what we do. A big thanks goes out to Kasey and Joe for trusting in us to help them out and witness their dedication to our cold water fisheries.
From left to right on the back row: Jaylen Pavloski (volunteer), Jeff Jackson (WDNR Baldwin), Dave Drewiske (TU volunteer), Joseph Gerbyshak (WDNR Eau Claire Fisheries Biologist), Kasey Yallaly (DNR Baldwin Fisheries Biologist), Sam Jacobson (WDNR Baldwin Fisheries Technician), Nick Kriewald (WDNR Eau Claire Fisheries Technician), Barbara Redmond (TU volunteer), Mary Lilly (TU volunteer) Left to right front row: Parker Verdon (TU intern), Andrew Mehus (Buffalo County/WDNR intern), Ben Belt (TU volunteer), Matt Andre (WDNR Eau Claire Fisheries Technician) Not pictured- Matt Simonson (WDNR Eau Claire Fisheries Technician), Tim Colbenson(Ti-Shi Dairy).
I recently had the pleasure of joining Fisheries Biologist Kasey Yallaly and her crew on a stream survey of a marvelous little Brook Trout stream in Dunn County. Kasey’s crew is made up of three college- and high-school-aged young men—Dustin, Sam, and Parker—who will be assisting her throughout the summer.
Starting out with temperatures in the low nineties and finishing with the mercury hovering around the century mark, survey conditions were clearly less than optimal. Luckily, the stream temperatures were satisfyingly below the air temperature, making conditions a bit more tolerable. Mind you, I was just an observer and perfectly happy bringing up the rear as I watched Kasey and crew swipe their magic wands back and forth beneath the stream’s surface, and under tree roots and logjams, to bring the stunned trout to the surface for capture and measuring.
Being a casual observer allowed me to see just how much work goes into surveys of this type. There is a lot of bull work involved, the hardest of which is towing a small boat loaded with a gasoline generator and a sizable washtub fill with water that serves as a temporary aquarium for the soon-to-be-measured trout.
Once all the equipment is readied, a typical survey starts out with one of the crew members setting the amount of current that will be generated by the electrical control box that sends a current into the water through the hand-held wands. The electricity briefly attracts the fish and temporarily stuns them so they can be easily captured. After additional safety checks are made and the wands are activated, the crew members hook themselves up to the boat in a fashion that reminded me of a team of horses pulling a hay wagon. Each member is armed with a net and a wand as they progress upstream in a well- choreographed display of quick reflexes and hand-eye coordination. The fish dizzyingly come to the surface and are quickly scooped up and transferred to the holding tank. It was quite amazing to observe the number of trout that could be netted from a deeper pool or deep pockets along the shore, often with a tree root thrown in for good measure.
At a predetermined stopping point, the net results (pun intended) are examined for disease and measured for length, then quickly released. I particularly enjoyed this part of the survey—not only seeing these beautifully colored trout up close, but watching Kasey’s quick-handed aides pull each specimen out of the tank to try to get the wiggly creature to hold still long enough to be measured.
Fish surveys of this type are essential for building successful management programs. Each survey provides biologists with insight into how fish populations are responding to current management plans and environmental changes. Collected data enhance knowledge of water quality, riparian habitat, and stream degradation, allowing biologists to craft unique management techniques for each system and to achieve sustainable fisheries now and into the future. Climate change will necessitate continued vigilance and well-conceived planning in order to sustain our quality fisheries. From my perspective, our streams are in very good hands, and we are fortunate to have an abundance of well-managed streams from which to choose when we decide to wet a line.
On June 22nd, Kiap-Tu-Wish provided volunteer support for the Trimbelle Nature Day organized by Ellsworth Public Library. The event included engaging activities for all ages: a storywalk for the littles; printing making with fossilized fish; water cycle and erosion lessons with St Croix County EE Coordinator, Aleisha Miller; and macroinvertebrate exploration with Dr. Dean Hanson. Attendees also had the rare opportunity to observe Kasey Yallaly and the DNR Fisheries team conduct a trout count. The kids had many great questions about electroshocking and the fish that they met. And anglers gained insights on local trout and the restoration and management developments along this stretch of the Trimbelle. Kasey stated that the number and size of brown trout uncovered by the fish count in this restored section of stream was encouraging.
Thanks to Ellsworth Library Programming Coordinator, Caroline Herfindahl, for imagining and organizing this event that brought families together to love and learn about our streams.
This Spring, three schools, Amery Intermediate, Malone Elementary (Prescott), and Greenwood Elementary (River Falls), participated in Kiap-TU-Wish’s Trout in the Classroom Program. Trout eggs obtained from the Saint Croix Trout Hatchery were provided to each class and raised to the “fry” stage and then released into the Willow River at a site located in Willow River State Park. Release dates were; Amery Intermediate May 12th, Malone Elementary (Prescott) May18th, and GreenWood Elementary (River Falls) May 27th. Kiap-TU-Wish volunteers helped Dean Hansen with bug collection and identification. Fly casting lessons were also provided.
Last year, the community of River Falls and supporters of the Kinnickinnic River came together to help the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust acquire a 40 acre parcel connecting City of River Falls park land to the River Falls School Forest. This parcel is now known as the Community Forest and is well-frequented by curious children, dog walkers and anglers alike. This land acquisition also opened up a potential roadway for River Falls students to access the School Forest from highway FF, just south of River Falls. After an uneventful ½ mile walk from highway FF, the easement trail branches off to the Community Forest and the confluence of the Kinni and Rocky Branch to the east, a highland field slated for prairie restoration to the north, and a ravine decent to a lovely bend of the Kinni on the western edge of the property. Currently, a diverse committee of school district staff, community stakeholders and resource professionals are volunteering their time and vision to develop trails, a land management plan, a nature center facility, and curriculum for RFSD teachers to get K-12 students out into the School Forest and down to the Kinni. Development on the property is stewarded through a conservation easement with KRLT. The School Forest will continue to offer public access to hikers and anglers and limited biking routes.
There will be a tour of the School Forest trails on Saturday, May 7th at 10:00 am. Please register at this link if you’re interested: School Forest walking tour
Organizational partnerships
Walk-and-talk participants from left to right: Ben Toppel, Marty Engel, Scot Stewart, Kent Johnson, Greg Olson, Randy Arnold , Judie Babcock Foster, Matt Janquart, Rainbow Barry. Thanks to Julie Smith for taking the photo.Stream bank restoration done in the 1990s provides excellent river access to the public and good habitat for fish.
Recently, a few Kiap-TU-Wish members met with Marty Engel and Julie Smith, land manager and executive director for the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust, as well as Judie Foster Babcock, president of the Kinnickinnic Corridor Collaborative to walk-and-talk along the the river trails connecting the Community Forest to the School Forest. Marty Engel shared his expertise and experience with us as both a land manager and a biologist. After appreciating the stream bank work done below trailhead 12 in the 1990s, we briefly discussed the potential need for river bank restoration below the Powell Falls dam after its removal. Moving downstream, Marty assured us that despite the messy appearance of log jams and high banks below the mouth of the Rocky Branch tributary, recent fish surveys confirm that the large woody debris provided by fallen trees (though we curse it for stealing our flies) provides excellent cover for our beloved trout. Plans are underway to move some trail segments away from the floodplain to avoid trail damage during floods and erosion at the river’s edge. We will also be working toward invasive species control and eventually getting students out to plant long-standing tree species. If you are interested in participating in restoration work parties next fall, contact Kiap board member Rainbow Barry at rainbowabarry@gmail.com.
2021 Stream Sampling Trends: A Banner Year for Trout
Despite the drought conditions and warm summer, 2021 was a banner year for trout in this part of Wisconsin in terms of overall trout abundance and natural reproduction. Numbers of all size classes were higher than the average over the last 10 years on most streams. However, the numbers of age-0 (young-of-year, fish hatched this spring) and age-1 fish (fish hatched the previous spring, spring 2020 in this case) were through the roof in many streams! This was encouraging to see during the course of our summer sampling as many anglers expressed concerns about the trout population in the Rush River and others following the major flood event in late June 2020. The Rush, in particular, was impressive as always producing higher than average numbers of all size classes of fish from young-of-year fish up to adults with abundances of over 7,000 fish per mile. We completed a comprehensive survey of the Rush River this summer and I will wait to give away those details at the spring KiapTUWish meeting. Brook trout abundances were also higher than average in most streams as well including in the Rush River which was great to see. We also captured a record number of tiger trout within our surveys this year as well. The stream with the highest densities of trout this year was Pine Creek with over 10,000 brown trout per mile! Most of the fish here were either part of the age-0 (2-5 inches) or age-1 year class which is made up of fish in the 5-8 inch range. This was the theme for many streams, meaning that fishing will be very good in the next 1-3 years as these fish mature. Many factors may influence the survival of eggs/fry to the juvenile stage but one of the more influential factors is the timing of spring flood events. Flood events at the late egg stage or soon after fry have emerged will likely result in a very poor year class of trout. For example on the Kinnickinnic River, the graphs below show the large flood events in the early spring of 2019 and the steady low flows of 2021 which resulted in very poor year classes of trout in 2019 and very strong year classes of trout in 2021 according to our sampling (keep an eye on the vertical y-axis and the difference of the cfs between the graphs). The timing of these flood events can be a predictor of the strength of the year class of trout and how good the fishing may be in years to come.
