Sad sight on N raven

dekker59 · #1 06-30-2009, 01:32 AM

Found this guy dead this last sunday on the N raven, taped him at 22-23", kinda to bad to see but I did find his 20" friend not far downstream, who was in good health!

And a few more pics from the weekend,

blackpheasant · #2 06-30-2009, 01:41 AM

Great Pics thanks for sharing.....

#3 06-30-2009, 01:47 AM

Hey dekker, did you see alot of green alge in the water? I was up at the headwaters a few weeks ago and was shocked at all the alge. I've never seen it so bad. Just trying to figure out what was causing it.

dekker59 · #4 06-30-2009, 06:55 AM

Didn't see any alge, I was pretty low though. Almost to where it meets the S raven. There where some fresh cow tracks/patties around where I was, and you could tell there were in the river, mabe that could be it?

sheepguide · #5 06-30-2009, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Hey dekker, did you see alot of green alge in the water? I was up at the headwaters a few weeks ago and was shocked at all the alge. I've never seen it so bad. Just trying to figure out what was causing it.

Hey SH where abouts were you at on the N.Raven. I lived right on the banks of it for a while right by Butte hall, not far from the head and it was always fairly free of Alge up there.My Uncle has a few Quarters of land along the creek(between Butte ond the Stauffer Hwy.) and that whloe section is fenced for Buck For Wildlife so cows shouldnt be an issue there, but I do beleive they can get to the creek right at the head. Lots of weeds latter in the year but no Alge. Sucks to see. How much does this Alge affect the fish?

Wood1 · #6 06-30-2009, 08:32 AM

An algae bloom such as this is caused by excessive nutrients, fertilizers, phosphorous, manure, etc. Is this harmfull to fish? The algae is not necessarly harmfull in itself, but the root cause may be harmfull. Nutrient loading causes algae blooms, the algae dies and consumes oxygen when it decomposes, thus causing a D.O. crash. Usually more common in ponds or still/stagnant water.

sheepguide · #7 06-30-2009, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wood1

An algae bloom such as this is caused by excessive nutrients, fertilizers, phosphorous, manure, etc. Is this harmfull to fish? The algae is not necessarly harmfull in itself, but the root cause may be harmfull. Nutrient loading causes algae blooms, the algae dies and consumes oxygen when it decomposes, thus causing a D.O. crash. Usually more common in ponds or still/stagnant water.

Thanx for the info Wood. SG

#8 06-30-2009, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wood1

An algae bloom such as this is caused by excessive nutrients, fertilizers, phosphorous, manure, etc. Is this harmfull to fish? The algae is not necessarly harmfull in itself, but the root cause may be harmfull. Nutrient loading causes algae blooms, the algae dies and consumes oxygen when it decomposes, thus causing a D.O. crash. Usually more common in ponds or still/stagnant water.

Ya that is the typical culprit and could be here as well but this alge is growing right where a spring emerges from the ground and not overly close to any agricultural/industrial activity. I've never seen it there before so it was weird to see it there this year, especially in such abundance. I was just interested to see how wide spread it was.

This was on the Stainbrook Springs Property SG, just north of Caroline of RR 5-5

sheepguide · #9 06-30-2009, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Ya that is the typical culprit and could be here as well but this alge is growing right where a spring emerges from the ground and not overly close to any agricultural/industrial activity. I've never seen it there before so it was weird to see it there this year, especially in such abundance. I was just interested to see how wide spread it was.

This was on the Stainbrook Springs Property SG, just north of Caroline of RR 5-5

I lived in the white house(Stainbrooks) 1/2 mile east and 1/4mile south of the hall. My uncle owns the next land down stream from that quarter. Used to catch some brutes in that streatch of the river. Ever see any pike along there anymore?

Wood1 · #10 06-30-2009, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Ya that is the typical culprit and could be here as well but this alge is growing right where a spring emerges from the ground and not overly close to any agricultural/industrial activity. I've never seen it there before so it was weird to see it there this year, especially in such abundance. I was just interested to see how wide spread it was.

This was on the Stainbrook Springs Property SG, just north of Caroline of RR 5-5

Interesting. I would wonder if this spring is the source of nutrient influx. Is it possible that this spring is in contact with surface water further up or near surface where it can accept and carry nutrients from a distance? Recent land use changes have added nutrient to the spring feeding the river, even from some distance away?

#11 06-30-2009, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wood1

Interesting. I would wonder if this spring is the source of nutrient influx. Is it possible that this spring is in contact with surface water further up or near surface where it can accept and carry nutrients from a distance? Recent land use changes have added nutrient to the spring feeding the river, even from some distance away?

Ya, there is no doubt that the spring could originate from ground water further upstream and I think you are likely on the right track but it just seems weird that it went from no history of alge to this is one year and there are no obvious upstream changes to account for it. Hopefully it is a temporary and localized phenom. This used to be a realy nursery for brook trout but there were no fry at all in the area this year. Just glad to hear that it doesn't appear to wide spread.

#12 06-30-2009, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheepguide

I lived in the white house(Stainbrooks) 1/2 mile east and 1/4mile south of the hall. My uncle owns the next land down stream from that quarter. Used to catch some brutes in that streatch of the river. Ever see any pike along there anymore?

I've never seen any pike in there...just brook trout and browns.

sheepguide · #13 06-30-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheephunter

I've never seen any pike in there...just brook trout and browns.

used to be a few. There is a small creek just south(clear creek) of Stainbrooks that used to have a pike population years ago. It runs into the Raven a mile or so down from Stainbrooks.So the odd one would venture out into the river. We used to catch the odd little torpedo in the river when id stay at the Uncles place. But that was alot of years ago.