Bushkill dams

[troutpera]

This is about the Bushkill Creek in Easton. Noticed the dam in front of the old Binney and Smith factory (start of the CR section) has been gone for about a month. Assume this is a good thing. Are there any immediate plans to remove other dams on the Bushkill?

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I know there are plans to remove a number of the lower Bushill dams. I am not certain on if funding is secured or exact timelines. I would think their removal will help tremendously with trout movement in and out of the Lehigh.

 

[Vaughn]

There are plans to remove the 3 lowest dams. I believe the funding is there, but I’m not sure what the timeline is.

 

[troutbert]

Does anyone have links to information and photos of these projects?

 

[Vaughn]

We have some pics/videos of the process on the Forks of the Delaware TU Facebook page. Here are some direct links to posts :

https://www.facebook.com/forksofthedelawaretu/posts/10162707750399988

https://www.facebook.com/forksofthedelawaretu/posts/10162707776544988

https://www.facebook.com/forksofthedelawaretu/posts/10162713069959988

https://www.facebook.com/forksofthedelawaretu/posts/10162749326774988

 

[afishinado]

Here is a recent article concerning the quarry and the dewatering problem on the Bushkill.


https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/pa-department-of-environmental-protection-holds-public-hearing-on-stockertown-quarry/article_0435158a-c407-11eb-8c24-af6db79d60dd.html

 

[troutbert]

Here is some video of the dam removal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRiLPffHiW0&t=3s

I hope they have some money and good planning for fish habitat.

In many cases (not all) when dams are removed, you end up with flat, shallow habitat with little holding water for fish, unless some type of habitat remediation is done.

In the comments, it says that boulder placement is planned. But has no further detail.

 

[Mike]

If that long pool remains, and it looks like it will from the video, there’s not much you can do with that from a habitat perspective. If the boulders you mentioned are what are referred to as randomly placed boulders, they are pretty poor habitat unless grouped rather than randomly placed. Few fish utilize the individual boulders around which I have electrofished….Tully DH, Fishing Ck @ Mill Hall, Wyomissing Ck. It’s a lot of expense for relatively little return.

 

[troutbert]

Here is a second video, taken a while after the first, from the same guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIm9OHI_C7o

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Mike, perhaps when electrofishing around random boulders in large pools you were chasing the fish upstream to the next riffle or outsixe the electrical current before you could clearly see them or capture them. This is relatively common.

From actual fishing experience, I have had great experiences fishing around the largest boulders in a given stream. Whether fishing for brook trout or for smb in the west branch susquehanna. I will say that large boulders in deep slow pools may be the exception.

You mentioned fishing creek in mill hall. In the general area of the axe factory dam removal there are some very large boulders. One in particular was hiding 10 different wild browns that I caught on a black caddis during a fun afternoon hatch on openong day a few years back. I had a great time picking fish off from all 4 sides of the rock while the action lasted.

 

[Mike]

Deleted duplicate. See next response.

 

[Mike]

First, if the boulders were such great habitat the fish would have moved up TO the boulders to hide from electrofishers. Second, what you describe depends on the actions/skills of the crew and how the electrical field meets the boulders…gradually or suddenly. Our technique was to break the electrical field and reach to the boulders as a form of “sneak attack,” plus it was DC electricity in those cases, which attracted the fish. In the Mill Hall case, the crew had the added advantage of being in an electrofishing boat. Finally, few fish are pushed out of truly good structure; that’s where they are often captured by electrofishing…either that or as they pile up at the next riffle upstream.

As for the boulders that I was discussing, those were machine placed boulders, not naturally occurring ones and similar to your description one boulder in the sites I mentioned may have produced a few fish, usually zero or one however, and at what expense. Many random boulders were placed, but few were utilized, which was my point. The cost/benefit ratio of these individual devices is low in my experience, but better when they are grouped in groups of three, for example.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Mike,

Thanks for the insight on your survey techniques, I was not implying that your surveys were flawed and I hope it wasn't interpretted in that way.

I would agree that clusters of boulders would be better than a single boulder, and in general I think the addition of large random boulder placement is probably better suited when paired with other habitat treatments as opposed to the primary structure when factoring in costs associated with transporting materials and equipment.

Regardless of electrofishing results, I will continue to target "random" boulders whether they were purposely placed there, riprap that washed down from bridge work or bank stabilization or of natural origins. I think we can all agree that long, flat pools with little variation in substrate size or bed topography do not hold many fish outside of specific insect emergence that may prefer those habitats.

 

[Mike]

The single randomly placed boulders (as opposed to groups of 3 or more boulders) are irresistible to an angler, so certainly I would target them too, but I wouldn’t waste a lot of time around them…One or two casts to each. Above I was speaking about trout specifically; I would expect those boulders to possibly produce more warmwater fish because of those species’ ability to lie on their sides in the narrow slots under boulders, especially rock bass.

Riprap? Possibly the best man-made stream, river, and estuary habitat going, but armoring banks is generally no longer in vogue.

As for electrofishing techniques, there are variations among crews…agencies, consultants, university classes, and other organizations, plus there are variations based on equipment types, crew experience/skill, crew athleticism, and crew fitness.

 

[JeffK]

Those are the old haunts from my youth. Below the Binney and Smith dam the gradient was pretty good, not sure what they will do upstream. I'm guessing it is also high gradient (why they built the dam there) and it will eventually find it's old channel.

BTW, the Bushkill comes into the Delaware just below Getter's Island. I doubt fish can move in and out of the Lehigh but some big browns moved in and out of the Delaware, but no real concentration though. The last few 100 yds used to be pretty industrial and poor habitat, but the mouth up to the remains of the dam to Getter's Island was a hot spot of my youth for basically any fish that swims in the Delaware. 50 or 60 years ago there were even a few guys that targeted snapping turtles in that area

In late 19th century attempts were made to introduce Atlantic salmon to the Delaware. Fry were raised in the springs at Hummer's Beach on the NJ side. One large salmon made it into the Bushkill one fall where it was a local attraction. Anglers failed to hook up so someone shot it with a rifle. The old federal fisheries reports cover this but I don't have the reference in front of me.

 

[Bamboozle]

More boulders are on the way, albeit in a different spot and application:

https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/restoration-plan-aims-to-improve-bushkill-creek/article_ade42c00-0062-11ec-a710-57df68a3a75b.html

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Thanks for sharing pics and links, fellas. Got my first look at the Edgewood area yesterday. Even caught a few fish well below, but not that far.

I have fished the creek probably 10-15 times a year for a long time. I will miss some of those winter and summer spots, but I hope the long term effects are worth it.

Are all the dams coming down? There are two more below Binney and Smith at least, right? One on the arts trails seems an easy get with minimal remediation with all that rock and a bit of a natural gorge. That one above 13th street though and the wall pool with an important tributary in there? Interested to see what happens

 

[Vaughn]

There are 4 below Binney and Smith and 2 more further upstream. It is my understanding that there is funding in place for the bottom 3, not sure of the timeline as to when the work will be done. I think the 4th might be in play now as well, but I’m not sure of that.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Vaughn wrote:
There are 4 below Binney and Smith and 2 more further upstream. It is my understanding that there is funding in place for the bottom 3, not sure of the timeline as to when the work will be done. I think the 4th might be in play now as well, but I’m not sure of that.

Thanks, Vaughn.

 

[troutbert]

The best option would probably be partially breaching the dams, rather than total removal.

You could remove a slot in the middle, and leaving the sides in place. And in the slot, leave part of the base. Enough to create a drop. The drop plus the velocity from the water running through the slot would create a pool below the structure. And you could take the slot down far enough that fish could easily move up over it.

And leaving the stub of the dam would also maintain a pool above the structure. You'd get riffle-pool sequences.

I've seen old broken down dams that created this type of habitat.

On highly developed streams (ditches really) often most of the habitat is from man-made structures such as dams, bridge abutments, rip-rap, etc.

I've even seen some nice pools created by sewer lines crossing streams. You can see this at The Trench on Spring Creek, downstream from the park in Bellefonte.