Ridley Creek

[GStan]

Does anyone no the current state of Ridley Creek? Is it low, what's the temperature, are there any trout left etc.?

 

[Fredrick]

There is still fish in Ridley but the temps are probally a issue . You would probally be better off fishing Valley

 

[nickforry]

I am at Ridley almost every day. In the fly fishing only section at the entrance to the park. I have been taking one or two daily. With all the rain over the weekend, the water level is back up, but the temp is around 70. I was out late this afternoon, and the trout were rising for midges just like every other day. I still have no idea water this big deal with water temp is. The trout still have to eat.

 

[jayL]

nickforry wrote:
I am at Ridley almost every day. In the fly fishing only section at the entrance to the park. I have been taking one or two daily. With all the rain over the weekend, the water level is back up, but the temp is around 70. I was out late this afternoon, and the trout were rising for midges just like every other day. I still have no idea water this big deal with water temp is. The trout still have to eat.

The big deal is that you are killing most of the trout you catch and release when the water is warm. 70 is about the limit to safely catch and release trout. 72 or higher, and it's almost a sure thing.

To each his own, but you brought it up...

 

[nickforry]

Actually, trout need 3 parts per million of dissolved oxygen in the water. Without any sort of turbulence i.e. a lake, the maximum water temperature in order to sustain that level of dissolved oxygen is 75 degrees fahrenheit. Since there is a dam, as well as many places up stream that provide turbulence, which adds dissolved oxygen into the water, the water temperature may be slightly higher than what most people think in order for the trout to be able to be caught and released.

 

[jayL]

The higher temps impact their metabolisms and ability to prevent infection as well, which is unrelated to oxygen.

If you are fishing for them at 75 degrees, you are almost certainly seriously jeopardizing them.

The area should be dhalo.

 

[nickforry]

So then do you also fish only for trout when the water temperature is 50-55 degrees, which is when their metabolism is at it's peak? I would venture to say that would be about March to the end or middle of April. Also, how would making it DHALO help? I don't understand.

 

[jayL]

Making it dhalo would allow it to get more fish earlier in the year, and would also allow them to be thinned out when temps got too high. The stream cannot support a fishable number of trout in the summer if they are too heavily pressured, as the temps are entirely too high for c&r. I don't care what you do, but you should realize that those fish probably have a pretty high mortality rate.

 

[nickforry]

I understand your point. Unfortunately, the amount of people that I have seen poaching, the "school" has definitely thinned out. I enjoyed our discussion. it is nice to go back and forth with someone else who loves the sport and wants it to be able to be enjoyed by others.

 

[jayL]

Likewise.

 

[Fredrick]

Well Nick since youre into gambling when catching stressed out trout Maybe you can do the people who give the fish a break when there's even a chance of the fish dieing from being caught. A favor and pls start calling the WCO when you see poachers .
THXS FRED

 

[nickforry]

No problem.