Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It was awesome to see so many Kiap-TU-Wish members at the Holiday banquet, last year we had 64 people attending and this year we topped 100! It reminded me of an Olson family Christmas, where I would see some faces that I hadn’t since the previous year. It was the only day all my uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandmother were together in the same house and what a full house it was, with my father being one of ten kids! The only downside was that the house reeked of lutefisk. The swedish meatballs, lefse, rommegrot, krumkake, and rosettes made up for the smell though. If you have any feedback about what you liked about the banquet and ideas to improve it, please let me know. No worries, we will never be offering lutefisk at Juniors!
I’m looking forward to the Wisconsin early trout fishing season opening up on Saturday, January 6th. If the temps get above freezing, winter can be fun to scratch that itch and get a little fishing in. The way this winter is going, there could be a lot of January and February days above freezing. I supposed I just jinxed that…. I believe I have mentioned it before, but a pair of insulated, boot foot waders has really made winter fishing much more enjoyable for me. I had tried my stocking foot waders with bigger boots, different combinations of wool socks, foot warmers, etc., but regardless it would not take long for my feet to turn to blocks of ice. However, that has all changed with the insulated boot foot waders. I have spent time at the vice, cranking out midge patterns that dominate the winter hatches and I am ready to go! Don’t forget to volunteer for some of Randy’s work days! Those always make the winter go by faster.
I’m really looking forward to our chapter meetings in the new year as well. I can’t wait to see what Sarah Sanford and her friends the Gillespies come up with in January. Then we have the Dick Frantes fly tying meeting where we are thinking of offering some fly tying challenges to those that want to participate. March brings renowned artist and guide Bob White to Juniors. In April, we have the usual chapter business to attend to and then Kent Johnson and Dr. Clarke Gary will present some of their recent aquatic bug sampling findings on the Kinni compared to findings at the same sites decades ago. Carl Nelson will also report on sampling he and his team did on the Rush. In May we will have Kasey and Nate back!
Our on-line auction and 3 x 100 chance drawing will be starting in January. The auction is shaping up to be bigger and better than before. If you have any items to donate, you can bring them to the January chapter meeting or any of the area fly shops: Lunds, Mend, or Bob Mitchells. For the 3 x 100 chance drawing, we again will have a Joshua Cunningham painting, this one titled “May on the Rush”, a Norling bamboo rod, and a Sage 4wt graphite rod. Last year the tickets sold out quickly, so be sure to get yours while they last!
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!
Kasey Yallaly, Nate Anderson, Tom Schnadt, Randy Arnold, Missie Hanson, Scott Wagner
The committee reports that the four-year Maintenance Plan on prior habitat projects are mostly up-to-date with the following exceptions:
A small section on lower Pine Creek has box elders that need to be brushed and cut.
The Red Cabin site needs about a day of buckthorn removal and spraying.
A Pine Creek fishing path is being mowed each year, but really needs to be burned to knock the Reed Canary grass back.
The South Fork of Kinni fishing path was receiving some care from Pheasants Forever Organization, but they have discontinued maintaining the path. Reed Canary grass and willows continue to be a big problem on this site.
The Potton easement on Kinnickinnic and Parker Creek needs brushing.
The Pearson easement on Parker Creek needs brushing.
Gutting easement on Trimbelle will need mowing or brushing if the current new owner doesn’t get livestock to graze it. The new owner might not have a clear understanding of how the DNR easement on his land works. Kasey Yallaly (WDNR) will try to clarify easement rules with the new landowner (Harris).
Summary of other actions
The Prairie Enthusiasts Organization will be contacted to determine if they have any interest in burning projects on Pine Creek and South Fork of Kinni.
Mowing in 2023 was done by Extreme Excavating and they did a great job. The cost of the mowing was $16,800 and it was paid for by a combination of Trout Stamp and Parks Maintenance dollars, and a Gift Fund, which Kiap-TU-Wish has contributed to.
Sites mowed this year were: Cady Creek, Pine Creek and Trimbelle Hwy W walking paths, Gilbert-Throud’s easement, Gilbert Triangle, Trimbelle-Holst, and Kinni-Red Cabin sites.
Parker Creek: started a major project that will be completed in 2024. Everything is prepped and ready for rock hauling this winter. So far, 1,720 feet, 2 spawning riffles, 22 root wads, 4 boulder clusters, 1 rock V-weirs, 2 islands and 1 current deflector have been installed.
Habitat Projects scheduled for 2024 are:
Parker Creek: remaining 3,500 feet of project west of Pleasant Ave bridge.
Plum Creek-Martin easement: 3,600 feet on both banks, upstream from Von Holtum easement.
Kinni-Moody easement: 2,700 feet on one bank.
ERO Structures on South Fork of Kinni:
Loren Haas submitted a report that additional ERO structures are needed to continue flushing sand that has been clogging the South Fork of Kinni. There isn’t any cost-effective way to prevent the sand from entering the South Fork that comes from two large degraded ravines on the SE side of the South Fork headwaters. Loren is proposing 18 additional ERO Structures. Nate Anderson (WDNR) has reviewed Loren’s report and has walked the South Fork project site with Loren. Cost for rock would be approximately $15,000. The Kiap-TU-Wish board will be asked to consider using funds dedicated to the project to purchase rock this winter, so that project can move forward in late 2024 or early 2025.
Kasey Yallay and Nate Anderson noted that the State of Wisconsin is instituting 7% across the board budget cuts and that the DNR’s budget is going to get hit hard. This will make funding difficult for new habitat projects and maintaining existing habitat projects for the next couple of years. The State Council of TU will be contacted to make sure Trout Stamp funds will be used appropriately.
Maintenance Committee Meeting with Pierce County Soil Conservation 12/07/23
Rod Webb, Rhetta Isakson (both from Pierce County), Kasey Yallaly, Nate Anderson, Randy Arnold, Missie Hanson, Tom Schnadt, Scott Wagner
Rod mentioned what a great job Jeff Jackson, DNR CAFO representative for the area, has been doing educating farmers about what they can do to improve their water quality and in gaining their cooperation in implementing additional conservation practices to their operations. Tom suggested inviting Jeff Jackson to speak about his work with farmers at an upcoming Kiap-Tu-Wish meeting. Missie Hansen will bring this suggestion to the board. Note: Jeff Jackson has been a frequent volunteer with Kiap-TU-Wish volunteer workdays and Rush River clean up days.
Rod and Rhetta went over WAV data sampling of phosphate levels from many different locations in Pierce County. WAV workers and volunteers are also collecting temperature data on the streams they are monitoring. Rod is very interested in the data that Kiap-TU-Wish volunteers under Kent Johnson’s direction have been collecting over the years. Tom Schnadt asked if this data had been moved to a public server, yet, and if so, if Kiap-TU-Wish partners had been notified of its location. Tom asked that this be given a high priority if it hasn’t happened yet. This will bring this to the attention of the Kiap-TU-Wish Board and Communications Committee.
Rod went over a number of erosion mitigation projects that his office worked on during 2023. Besides projects that his office continues to work on in the uplands above the South Fork of the Kinni, Rod mentioned that there isn’t funding for the huge projects that would be needed to trap sand below the two eroded ravines on SE side of South Fork headwaters.
Rod also talked about 4 counties (St. Croix, Pierce, Dunn and one other county) getting together to apply for federal dollars to fund some large streambank stabilization projects administered through the NRCS in the future.
Tom suggested bringing the St. Croix County Soil and Water Conservation office into this meeting and collaborator discussion group. Scottwill contact Tim Schreiber from St. Croix County to invite him into this discussion group.
Maintaining Habitat Projects For Years Of Enjoyment.
Nate Anderson WDNR
After a trout habitat project is complete, Trout Unlimited and the DNR plant desirable native trees in select spots. Kasey Yallaly’s (WDNR) current plan is to plant larger seedling trees (over 6ft tall and at least 3 years old) along the stream every 50 feet, a distance that will allow continued maintenance after a project is completed. This spacing allows mowers enough room to get around and in between the trees and the stream. Once mature, the trees will provide some necessary shade to help maintain beneficial thermals. Kasey feels that this is a good compromise between (a) reforestation, which could result in a return to unfishable streams or (b) simply planting nothing.
We currently put each new habitat project on a 4-year rotation for mowing to keep out unwanted woody vegetation in an effort to promote native grasses. There are 2 types of mowing that take place on finished trout habitat projects, fishing access paths and mowing maintenance. Fishing access paths allow anglers to access the stream more easily during summer months when streambank vegetation is extremely high. These paths are at least ten feet wide and run along one side of the stream. We have been mowing at Cady Creek, Trimbelle River CTH W project, and Pine Creek annually. The mowing generally occurs through the width of an easement, commonly 66 feet wide and on both sides of the stream. This year’s mowing locations were located at; Gilbert Creek on Thorud’s easement, the fee title property just east of CTH Q, the Trimbelle River Holst easement and the Red Cabin site on the Kinnickinnic River. All mowing takes place in July to reduce chances of disturbing breeding birds but still get to the vegetation before it gets too high.
This year, mowing was done by Extreme Excavating out of Knapp, WI. The total cost came in at $16,800. Cost breakdowns showed that trout stamp monies paid for $8,500, Kiap-TU- wish contributed $1,500 from a past gift to the DNR designated for this type of work and $6,800 was paid by The DNR Parks and Recreation Department.
There are many sites along the Kinnickinnic River that have been brushed within the past several years that cannot be mowed. In order to prolong the effects of the brushing this year, the DNR hired a contractor, to chemically treat by foliar spraying 4 sites in order to control the invasive seedlings that usually sprout after brushing has been completed. The contractor hired for this project was 4-Control out of Menomonie, WI and the total cost was $3,500 paid for with Trout Stamp money.
Kasey Yallaly and I work closely with the Kiap-TU-wish- Maintenance committee each year to discuss what needs to be done. Please reach out to your chapter committee members if you have any ideas, thoughts, or comments regarding maintenance issues in your area or favorite fishing spot.
Eradicator is a foam caddis pattern that is part of a dry dropper rig and will float beadhead nymphs. It also serves as a strike indicator. This fly’s name pokes a little fun at pattern names that go to the extreme in describing how successful an angler might be when using such a fly. Names like Irresistible, Warden’s Worry, Mickey Finn, Slumpbuster, Shop Vac, Ray Charles, come to mind.
This pattern is as much Ed’s as it is mine. He has provided lots of input to the design. While out fishing one day, Ed asked me if I had any caddis patterns that could float a tungsten bead nymph. I came up with a foam and deer hair wing pattern and over the past few years, we have tweaked it some. Last year I had the opportunity to sit next to Mike Alwin and watch him tie up several Skip Wet flies that utilize a green Krystal Flash rib. Right there I decided the Eradicator needed to have this feature. The most recent change is the use of hot pink yarn as an indicator. It is much more visible for our older eyes than the orange foam I used previously.
Hey! Eradicator rhymes with indicator. Weird!
Ingredients:
Hook – #14 Firehole 633 nymph hook (heavier hook so the fly lands upright)
Thread – Tan Danville 6/0
Body – Natural hares ear
Rib – Green Krystal Flash
Under Wing – Tan 2mm foam strip width of hook gap. Trim off rear corners.
Middle wing – Silver Congo Hair from Fly Tyers Dungeon (substitute EP trigger point?) – I trim this wing a little longer than the foam.
Over Wing – Deer hair – same length as the foam.
Indicator – Hot Pink Yarn
My favorite dry/dropper rig has been a #14 Eradicator dry with a #16 Shop Vac dropper. I like to tie 5x tippet off of a 4X leader and leave about 4” of 4X tag on my surgeon’s knot. The dry gets tied on the tag and the nymph on the 5X point. I use Shop Vacs tied with both tungsten and brass beads so I can choose my sink rates for various water depths. I use other beaded nymphs but the Shop Vac has been a real winner and is my go to nymph pattern.
If you want to know more about my inspiration for this fly name, you can check out this YouTube video from 1989. https://youtu.be/fbC5YQ_oJoA?si=rlCmgT3G7Mica1qA If you watch this video, I ask that you shout out the name every time you hook a fish with one.
If you’d like more information about tying this pattern just shoot me an email. My address is on this website under Contact Us
CHAPTER MEETING: November 7th, Juniors in River Falls. 6:00 pm.Tim Stieber and Josh O’Neil will be speaking to us. Tim is the Land and Water Conservation Administrator and Josh the Conservation Planner for St. Croix County. They will be talking about their stream improvement projects and ways we can help. Watch for an upcoming announcement of the Kiap-TU-Wish annual Christmas event, on December 5th.
