by Kasey Yallaly The Baldwin area DNR fisheries crew completed a watershed survey of the Isabelle Creek watershed in 2023. Watershed surveys are basically a comprehensive look at the fishery within the entire watershed and valuable information can be gained from these types of surveys including interactions between the mainstem of Isabelle Creek and its tributaries, areas of importance for natural reproduction, trout species composition throughout the watershed and size structure and densities of trout and non-game species. I have received many inquiries about Isabelle Creek after the large fish kill occurred in 2022 so hopefully this article will give folks a good update on how the stream is recovering. Isabelle Creek is little gem of a stream with its watershed sandwiched in between the Trimbelle and Rush River watersheds. The stream flows south from Ellsworth and enters Lake Pepin in the town of Bay City, WI. Most of the stream features high gradient limestone riffles and pools with the stream flowing through a picturesque valley like its neighboring streams in Pierce County. Access to the stream is mostly limited to bridge crossings, of which there are many, other than 2 DNR easements. The northernmost easement on Isabelle is located upstream of the Esdaile town park at the intersections of CTH EE and 620th Street. This easement is only on the east side of the stream from the town park up for a few hundred yards at which point it becomes easement on both banks. There is some nice water and trout within this reach of stream. The lowermost easement is located just outside of Bay City, and it can be accessed from STH 35. There is a distance between the highway and the easement that is not public access on the banks. Otherwise, there are many stream crossings off 620th Street and at CTH EE that provide great access.
During the survey, brown trout were found at all stations that were sampled one year post fish kill. The 2 upstream-most stations were located within the area directly impacted by the fish kill and brown trout were found in low densities within this area, but evidence of limited natural reproduction was found. The uppermost station at CTH V revealed mostly yearling brown trout that were likely the result of the restoration stocking that occurred in the fall of 2022 after the kill. The fish kill did not impact the area downstream of the 4th bridge crossing (as you are moving downstream or south) off 620th Street and this was apparent in our surveys based on the status of the trout population. Brown trout densities within this reach of stream were high and fish were found up to 18 inches and natural reproduction was strong. Our trend site, which is located along CTH EE downstream of Esdaile, has documented a steady increase in brown trout densities for almost a decade. Stocking was also previously needed to supplement the fishery in the Class II section, but stocking ceased in 2018 in order to evaluate the fishery. Because of this increase in densities and natural reproduction within the mid and lower reaches of the stream, the current Class II portion of stream will be reclassified to Class I and the Current Class III section will become Class II during the next reclassification cycle. We will continue to monitor the recovery of the fishery within the impacted area in 2025 but barring no future fish kills, the fishery should continue to recover nicely. See you on the stream!
The Baldwin DNR area fisheries crew completed a watershed survey of the Plum Creek watershed in 2023. Watershed surveys are basically a comprehensive look at the fishery within the entire watershed and valuable information can be gained from these types of surveys including interactions between the mainstem of Plum Creek and its tributaries, areas of importance for natural reproduction, trout species composition throughout the watershed and size structure and densities of trout and non-game species.
For those that aren’t familiar, Plum Creek is in the northern Driftless Area in southeastern Pierce County. Plum Creek in Pierce County is a Class I stream that transitions to a Class II stream in Pepin County where it enters the Chippewa River. The watershed contains excellent cold-water resources due to high connectivity of spring and groundwater sources. To date, the WDNR has completed 11,500 feet of trout habitat improvement work on Plum Creek in Pierce County.
During the watershed survey, we found that the fishery upstream of the Nugget Lake impoundment features a cool water to warm water fish community and no trout were detected. However, downstream of Nugget Lake to the Pierce and Pepin County line, trout were detected at all stations. Brown trout were the dominant trout species throughout most of the mainstem of Plum Creek and were found in moderate to high densities. The highest densities of adult brown trout were found in and around the town of Plum City as well as within the 2020 trout habitat improvement project downstream of CTH U. The best fishing for larger brown trout is around the town of Plum City and downstream along CTH U. Many streambank easements that provide angler access are located downstream of town; watch for signs posted at bridge crossings or check out the new version of the TROUT tool on the WDNR’s website to locate these easements.
Most of the tributaries did not contain any brown trout and these streams were dominated by brook trout. Brook trout were present in all stations on the mainstem of Plum Creek except for 1 station and they were found in low to moderate densities throughout the remainder of stations. The highest densities of adult brook trout were found upstream of Plum City as well as within the small tributaries. Natural reproduction of trout was also documented at all stations surveyed. Brown trout up to 21.5 inches and brook trout up to 12.3 inches were found within Plum Creek.
Overall, the Plum Creek watershed contains a robust, mixed trout fishery. Much has changed, however, within the watershed in the past several decades. In what once was a brood trout dominated fishery, brown trout have increased in densities and are now the dominant trout species throughout much of the mainstem of Plum Creek. Brook trout densities declined in all stations surveyed when compared to previous surveys in 2013 and 1999. This has become a common theme in trout streams throughout the Driftless Area. On another note, some interesting fish species that were captured during the 2023 watershed survey include burbot (which we do capture every year in Plum Creek within our trend sites), walleye (near Plum City) and yellow perch. We also captured 4 tiger trout throughout the stations. A report is available for this survey in addition to Isabelle Creek and Pine Creek watershed surveys that were also completed in 2023. Contact me for copies of that report. The trout habitat crew will also be completing a trout habitat improvement project this summer which is located upstream of CTH U downstream of Plum City. See you on the stream!
Restoring Cady Creek’s Brook Trout Population by Managing the Eau Galle River Watershed – PART 2
Kasey Yallaly
Back in 2020, I wrote an article about our brook trout restoration efforts in Cady Creek. If you dig this article up from the archives, you will see that we have come a long way since 2018. To refresh everyone’s memories-the brook trout population in Cady Creek was in extreme decline following the invasion of brown trout in 2006. Brown trout densities continued to increase to the point that they surpassed brook trout densities up until our removal efforts began in 2018. We have documented the exclusion of brook trout by brown trout in several other streams, to the point where brook trout are almost completely gone. In order to prevent this from occurring in Cady Creek, we began with removing brown trout from Cady in 2018 and have continued every fall since then.
I have good news to share if you are a brook trout fan- we have documented a strong positive response of brook trout to our brown trout removal efforts. Brook trout densities and natural reproduction continue to increase. Brown trout have continued to decline, and we removed the fewest brown trout to date in 2023. Brown trout densities have dropped from a high in 2021 of 1,891/mile to 439/mile in 2023 (see graph).
Catch rates of brook and brown trout in Cady Creek at the Station 2 trend site.
Each fall, we use electrofishing gear to remove brown trout in about 4.5 miles of Cady Creek. This year, we removed a total of 1,582 brown trout with 66% of those fish being young-of-year brown trout or trout that hatched this past spring. From this data, we know that adult brown trout from the Eau Galle River are utilizing Cady Creek as a spawning and nursery stream. Unfortunately, there is no barrier that prevents brown trout from moving into Cady Creek in the fall to spawn and it would be impossible to create a permanent barrier because of the relatively low gradient of lower Cady Creek, meaning that a barrier would cause water to back up for a long length of stream which would severely degrade habitat and water quality. Therefore, to create a temporary barrier, we were able to acquire part of a weir from another fisheries team in Peshtigo, that will help us create a temporary barrier.
Weir installed in lower Cady Creek in 2022
This type of weir is designed to allow water to pass through while directing trout that are moving upstream into a trap. Any fish caught in the trap can then be moved upstream or downstream or removed. We placed the weir in lower Cady in early fall of 2022. No fish were trapped but the weir did act as a barrier to upstream passage. Leaf debris was an issue, which meant that the weir needed to be cleaned twice a day.
In order to narrow down an appropriate timeframe to operate the weir, we needed to know more about seasonal trout movement. Therefore, we teamed up with Matt Mitro’s (DNR Research Scientist) research crew to devise a trout movement project. Matt is also interested in brook and brown trout passage through beaver dams and with several new beaver dams popping up on Cady Creek, a project fell into place that could help to answer both of our questions. We installed 2 PIT tag arrays in Cady Creek upstream and downstream of a beaver dam. PIT tag arrays are basically a series of wires that are installed within the stream that will detect fish that are tagged with PIT tags. These are passive arrays, meaning that no active tracking of fish is needed. Each time a fish that is tagged passes through the array, the array detects that specific tag number and records that information along with the date and time that the fish passed by. We PIT tagged a total of 862 brown and brook trout within the Eau Galle and Cady Creek to track seasonal movements of fish and gain additional data on growth rates. PIT tags are the same thing that dogs and cats are “microchipped” with, and each animal’s tag is a unique number.
The data collected from this project will help inform us as to when the weir should be installed within Cady Creek to prevent brown trout moving upstream into Cady from the Eau Galle River to spawn. This will reduce the amount of effort needed to remove brown trout each year and will reduce the number of brown trout removed overall. Brown trout removals will also continue each fall. Trout fishing regulations were also recently changed and a new regulation for Cady and Pine Creeks will go into effect on fishing opener of 2024. The new regulation is a daily bag limit of 5 fish with no length limit for brown trout and all brook trout shall be immediately released. Anglers are highly encouraged to harvest brown trout in these streams! PIT tags were inserted into the body cavities of the trout, so no need to worry about crunching into a PIT tag when you eat a filet!
The Baldwin DNR Fisheries crew surveyed a total of 64 trout stream sites this year on streams in Pierce, St. Croix and western Dunn counties. The surveys went well with the weather cooperating and very few large runoff events.
Overall, trout densities in most streams are very stable compared to long term averages. Total trout densities were lower relative to last year, due in large part to the high natural reproduction in 2020 and 2021 making total trout numbers extremely high in 2021.
In most streams, natural reproduction was low this year compared to long term averages but adult trout numbers were high in part due to the 2 large year classes of trout from the large hatches in 2020 and 2021.
The drop in trout densities experienced this year is likely a good thing and nothing to be concerned about as trout densities in 2021 were likely higher than carrying capacity for most of these streams and competition for resources was high. With relatively lower trout densities and low natural reproduction this year, we should likely see a jump in size structure in the near future.
Some additional trends resulting from our survey work this year were drops in brook trout densities in streams where both brook and brown trout occur. In many brook trout dominant streams, however, densities and natural reproduction are up from previous years. There is also promising news from the Cady Creek brook trout restoration project which shows brook trout densities higher than in previous years and densities that are finally higher than brown trout densities.
The Willow River Race Branch looked better than ever with good numbers of adult brown and rainbow trout. This year seemed to be the year of large brook trout in our surveys with a few fish larger than 13 inches captured in several streams.
We surveyed 11 trout habitat improvement projects for post-habitat evaluations and all of them look great as far as trout densities and natural reproduction with densities higher than prior to project completion in all projects. Overall, the trout populations are in great shape with many aspects to look forward to in the near future.
2021 Stream Sampling Trends: A Banner Year for Trout
Despite the drought conditions and warm summer, 2021 was a banner year for trout in this part of Wisconsin in terms of overall trout abundance and natural reproduction. Numbers of all size classes were higher than the average over the last 10 years on most streams. However, the numbers of age-0 (young-of-year, fish hatched this spring) and age-1 fish (fish hatched the previous spring, spring 2020 in this case) were through the roof in many streams! This was encouraging to see during the course of our summer sampling as many anglers expressed concerns about the trout population in the Rush River and others following the major flood event in late June 2020. The Rush, in particular, was impressive as always producing higher than average numbers of all size classes of fish from young-of-year fish up to adults with abundances of over 7,000 fish per mile. We completed a comprehensive survey of the Rush River this summer and I will wait to give away those details at the spring KiapTUWish meeting. Brook trout abundances were also higher than average in most streams as well including in the Rush River which was great to see. We also captured a record number of tiger trout within our surveys this year as well. The stream with the highest densities of trout this year was Pine Creek with over 10,000 brown trout per mile! Most of the fish here were either part of the age-0 (2-5 inches) or age-1 year class which is made up of fish in the 5-8 inch range. This was the theme for many streams, meaning that fishing will be very good in the next 1-3 years as these fish mature. Many factors may influence the survival of eggs/fry to the juvenile stage but one of the more influential factors is the timing of spring flood events. Flood events at the late egg stage or soon after fry have emerged will likely result in a very poor year class of trout. For example on the Kinnickinnic River, the graphs below show the large flood events in the early spring of 2019 and the steady low flows of 2021 which resulted in very poor year classes of trout in 2019 and very strong year classes of trout in 2021 according to our sampling (keep an eye on the vertical y-axis and the difference of the cfs between the graphs). The timing of these flood events can be a predictor of the strength of the year class of trout and how good the fishing may be in years to come.
