Keep an eye out for redds on Valley Creek

[lestrout]

A good number of redds have been seen on Valley since just before Thanksgiving. Don't wade through them even if you don't see a redding fish. Once the eggs are laid and fertilized, the moms and pops go off to do other business, rather than hanging on the redds to guard them. Once the eggs hatch, the tiny fry hang out in the gravel till they are big enough to wander, so you don't want to tromp the redds for the next several months.

 

[salmo]

I fished way up on Valley just before Thanksgiving. I did not see any redds. The part that I fished looked devastated by Ida. There were trees down all over. The creek had changed course. The stream had large areas of mud and silt. Most concerning was the large accumulation of gravel, which looked like it was scooped from the stream bottom and dumped on the bank as if by a bucket loader. It may take years for all of that gravel to get back into the streambed. Another troubling sign was the number of sun fish and crappies. I have fished this part of Valley for at least 6 years and this is the first time that I caught warm water fish.

 

[afishinado]

salmo wrote:
I fished way up on Valley just before Thanksgiving. I did not see any redds. The part that I fished looked devastated by Ida. There were trees down all over. The creek had changed course. The stream had large areas of mud and silt. Most concerning was the large accumulation of gravel, which looked like it was scooped from the stream bottom and dumped on the bank as if by a bucket loader. It may take years for all of that gravel to get back into the streambed. Another troubling sign was the number of sun fish and crappies. I have fished this part of Valley for at least 6 years and this is the first time that I caught warm water fish.

The Ida storm wreaked havoc on Valley Creek, no doubt. I walked parts of the creek and the deck was certainly shuffled as you described in the areas I checked.

Past storms caused flooding in the last few decades and brought a flow cresting around 4,000 cfs. Ida's crest was near 7,000 cfs. This was the worst storm I can ever recall. Close to 10" of rain fell in a day. The storm was significant enough to wash out some hardtop roads along its banks

I would guess many of the trout are still there for the most part, but the stream habitat will will take time to recover. One can only guess that the macros (bugs) suffered a big hit. It will take until next spring make any judgement on the status their population.

The WW fish you caught likely were flushed from some of the ponds along Valley. I've seen this happen with past storms. They will likely disappear by next season as has happened in the past.

Floods happen, but they seem to happen now more frequently and with greater severity. Valley Creek has suffered many insults in the past by pollution, development, drought and floods. I'm sure it will survive.