afishinado
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troutbert
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Undercuts are great fish habitat.
Undercuts are caused by bank erosion.
Many people think bank erosion is bad and go to great efforts to "fix" it.
Just some stream nerd stuff to ponder.
Undercuts are caused by bank erosion.
Many people think bank erosion is bad and go to great efforts to "fix" it.
Just some stream nerd stuff to ponder.
wildtrout2
Well-known member
I caught my biggest wild brown from an undercut. It was a washed out hemlock root system he called home.
Swattie87
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A couple weeks ago on one of the wild trifecta discussion streams I hooked into a very large fish on a dry/dropper (fish ate the dropper) in the main current lane just off of a big undercut rootball. The fish immediately ran me into the undercut. I managed to get it out once, and to my surprise the fish was a very large (high teens), football shaped Rainbow. I was assuming it was a Brown, as all of the larger fish I’ve encountered in this stream have been Browns. Anyway, I had it out of the undercut for a few seconds before it made a bolt back under. The second time it predictably wrapped me up and got off. I went over and stuck my rod tip into the undercut, hoping to flush it out and get another look at it. When I did so I could put nearly an entire 7.5 ft rod into the undercut before I hit the end of it.
jifigz
Well-known member
If bank erosion leads to an ever widening stream bed and water that continues to get shallower and shallower, then yeah, it is a pretty big deal. This often happens in streams that are more meadow like without a lot of root systems from trees. I have also seen pretty terrible bank erosion occurring on stream banks that are dominated by knotweed, thankfully I don't see knotweed that much here in Mifflin County.....yet.
Otherwise, undercuts and bank erosion that goes way underneath a root system and provides shelter, shade, and comfort for fish then heck yeah. That makes great habitat for fish but obviously still increases stream shallowing.
But hey, I am not telling you guys anything you don't already know. There is one stream in particular near me with horrible bank erosion that would be such a better stream if it had some work done to it to constrict the stream bed.
