Hay Creek Fall 2009 Electroshock Results

MAPS TO GUIDE YOU TO THIS EXCELLENT FISHERY, A MERE 30-45 MINUTES FROM THE TWIN CITIES:


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Hay Creek - habitat improvement and easement map
http://markdahlquist.blogspot.com/2009/11/hay-creek-fall-2009-electroshock.html

Two good points of entry:

1. Looking at the Google map above, park at 325th, top right corner where the road is closest to the river. This is easement. Further down towards the farmer's house with the infamous Al Farmes bull sign that says "Do not cross pasture unless you can do it in 3.7. The bull can do in 3.8." Actually there is no bull, this is just local humor. Anyway, this point of entry is ideal because you can fish upstream all the way to the 325th bridge which is all easement.

2. Access at the 325th bridge. You can park here and then walk to the south side of the bridge, and follow Hay Creek going downstream going northeast. You will need to "circle back" to the pools as you always want to be fishing upstream. Some of the best habitat improvement begins shortly after the downstream bridge.

DEEPEST HOLE: In the pasture section downstream of 325th bridge there is a farmer' house. Right out in front the pool is easily 12' deep. If one is looking for a big trout, that is a good place to find one. However you likely want to do this at low light.

The MN DNR did a fall electroshock and here are the results:
~ 5000 TROUT PER MILE!!!

• Adult Brown Trout 2,600+ per mile
• Trout over 12 inches per mile 452
• Trout over 14 inches per mile 62
• Younger Brown Trout 2,300+ per mile
  

HAY CREEK FISHING RULES (standard season): Protected slot limit for trout 12" to 16" (artificial* lures or flies only), bag limit of 5 trout, no more than 1 over 16".

HAY CREEK FISHING RULES (pre-season - STARTS JANUARY 1): Catch and release, barbless hooks, artificial* lures or flies only

PRE-SEASON PHOTOS:


I encourage all of you to get out and enjoy this incredible stream. Don't let winter slow you down. This stream stays open all winter because it has plenty of current. Dress in layers and pick a warm day if possible.

Palm Trees and Trout

This week I was on a business trip Monday - Wednesday in San Diego visiting key pharma and biotech customers. San Diego is always such a wonderful place to visit. Weather is almost always predictably in the mid-70s. Some even complain it could be toastier for those poolside days. Customer visits were a success. Three action packed days.

My trip was topped off by a personal day on Thursday trout fishing. Yes, you heard me correctly, trout fishing in San Diego. Well, actually Laguna Niguel, just one hour north of San Diego. My wife's second cousin Cal is an avid trout angler by float tube and has always wanted me to join him. I admit, I have had the trout fishing itch for a while. Our season in MN and WI had closed end of September, so I was going through a month and a half of withdrawal.

The excitement really hit me when I woke up Thursday morning in Cal and his wife Bobbie's guest bedroom. My alarm was for 6 AM.

A quick knock on the door. "Mark, are you awake?"

"Yep Cal, sort of, I'm working on it." I replied followed by a big yawn.

Cal was reading the paper and greeted me with a big paper cup of coffee and a plastic lid for on the go. We had planned our attack the night before and had a handle on the pertinent details. Today was opening day! We were both very excited to get going. Neither of us a fan of breakfast, I followed behind Cal closely in my PT Cruiser rental.

Laguna Niguel was not terribly crowded at our 7 AM arrival. Cal thought there would be folks lining up at 3am for opening day. The tackle shop guys, who obviously know Cal quite well, happily greeted Cal and me. I was impressed with the many beautiful mounts of gigantic rainbows caught at Laguna Niguel. Some of these mounted rainbows were pushing 15 pounds with incredible kyped jaws. This got me more excited. We were paid for and ready to roll.

Approaching the boat and tube landing, lines crisscrossed from both sides.

"Excuse me gentlemen," Cal announced to the shore fishermen. Just then a fish was on the line and the fight was on. A momentary pause before the fish was landed.

"Thank you for waiting," the fisherman replied.

"No problem, congratulations on the nice fish!"

It was a sign of the morning. Fishing was red hot. I was suited up, snorkel flippers on, and grabbed my two poles. Cal had taken care of all of the details. Both poles were locked and loaded. I had a plastic worm on one and a live crawler on the other.

Following Cal's instructions, I kicked backwards towards the island straight out from the landing. I cast my worm and placed my pole in the pole rest. Not less than 30 seconds later, my pole was twitching and I'm hauling in my first nice sized Rainbow of the day.



Here is a shot of the lake at 7 AM. Lots of fog rising. This is when the trout really start biting.



Fish number two before Cal has even stepped foot in his own float tube.



This was my very first time on the float tube and I had a blast. It was fun getting to learn how to maneuver with my flippers and learn how to slowly troll around backwards, ever so often looking over my shoulder watching not to bounce into another float tube angler or boat. It was not too crowded. Everyone was incredibly friendly. Right away out at the island where I caught the two right off the bat, others were hooking up.

"I've caught six trout here in the past twenty minutes trolling back and forth aside this island" a fisherman next to me mentioned. He had a grin on his face and was quite happy with opening day.

Cal finally made his way out to join me and instantly hooked into one.



Fish number three, caught on a crawler. This one was lip hooked and released.



Fish number four, thrown in my mesh fish bag "stringer" neatly clipped to the left side of my float tube. Cal had me set up with two rods rigged on ultralights on four-pound line and these fish screamed. It was quite the battle. I did not realize how wet I'd gotten landing these fish.



Fish number five.



Fish number 12. Likely my largest of the day. This was a beauty. I asked another float tuber to take a photo of me.



At that point I watched other seasoned trout fishermen in the lake and realized there they were catching more than me. This is to be expected. It was my first time at this.

Floating up to the guy with all the constant hook ups, including double hook ups, I asked "Hey what are you using?"

"Plastic worms. One pure white, and one bright red," the gentlemen replied.

I had white, white/orange, green, and green orange. One pole rigged with a worm, the other I had set up with white/orange. Instantly I caught this guy, fish number 17.



Cal was beside me. Another hook up. Right after this he had a double. Hard problem to deal with, I know. Fishing was red hot. People were hooking left and right.



Second to the last beauty of the day, fish number 22 caught on sparkly orange Power Bait embedded in a tiny treble hook. This was another fish for the frying pan.



Final fish of the day, I let her go. Another beautiful typical ~18" Rainbow caught today.



"Cal, it is that time, I best be going and head in and pack up," I shouted out.

"Thanks for coming Mark. I'm glad it we caught so many nice sized trout as we did and had a great day on the water," Cal replied.

"I am too, Cal," I shouted. "Less crowded than I imagined and the trout fishing was phenomenal!" I shouted. "We will have to do this again next time I am out."

"Hey, tell your friends back in Minnesota how great the trout fishing is in southern California, OK?" said the local with constant hookups.

"Will do!" I shouted.

Float tubing amongst the palm trees for two to four pound trout, what a great way to unwind from a successful business trip. I look forward to fishing with Cal many times in the future.

Let Kids Worm Dunk

"Socially speaking, mandated catch and release with artificial only bait regulations effectively establishes a State sponsored and supported recreational playground for a select group of fisherman while excluding others."

"Never set a regulation into WI law that says and old man and his grandchild cannot float a worm, crawler, spawn bag, salmon egg, or bug in pursuit of the simple art of angling for a trout. This may seem foolish and reactionary, but I can only hope that one day in the near future a smart old fisherman and his lawyer friend will show up on the courthouse steps with a grandchild or a neighbor kid in hand. A lawsuit that will put these totally unfair, and I might add "unconstitutional" fishing regulations to rest would be poetic justice. I cannot imagine reasonable judges or The Supreme Court supporting our present exclusionary fishing regulations of "absolute" or no harvest and no use of bait to catch trout."

Both quotes are from Jim Waletzko, former Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) Trout Committee member. In case you were not aware, the WCC is the only "advisory board" which consult the DNR. Guess who dominates the WCC Trout Committee? Trout Unlimited members who continue to push for barbless, catch and release, artificial only, no live bait. Trout Unlimited comes in and does habitat improvement and the next thing you know they persuade the DNR to change the regulations to artificial only, no live bait. All of these areas have ABOVE AVERAGE populations of trout. Classic MN examples include Trout Run and Hay Creek. Classic WI examples include Coon Creek and West Fork Kickapoo. Any knowledgeable fisherman or fisheries manager can see the real motive. Trout Unlimited fly fishing zealots are simply guilty of WANTING THE CRICK TO THEMSELVES.

Below is a proposal from Dave Ladd, businessman and prominent conservationist. Dave started the Dodgeville TU Chapter (southwestern WI) some 40 odd years a go. Dave tried to get a 16 and under rule to allow young people to use bait and harvest trout in no-kill areas.


This proposal passed easily in local April meetings. There were 433 votes total in seven counties. 71% voted for the proposal, 29% voted against. Yet in September 08, the WCC Trout Committee squashed it. Some say game wardens thought this would be unenforceable. Others say Trout Unlimited killed it. Likely a mixture of both. Yet on any given meeting when it comes to meetings on trout, who do you think shows up the most? Trout Unlimited. TU is the DNR's top constituent that they need to keep happy.

Statistic: 67.9% of 16 and under Minnesota Trout Fisherman fish worms (Table 13 below).

Source: A Roving Creel Survey of Selected Southeast Minnesota Trout Streams - 2005 page 54 Vaughn A. Snook.

Statistic: Only 3% of Wisconsin trout anglers are less than 20 years of age. Bad news for the future, a sign of a dying sport.

Source: The Economic Impact of Recreational Trout Angling in the Driftless Area. April 2008 Trout Unlimited meeting, Madison WI.

Give kids more opportunities to trout fish and they will do it with worms.

"Those kids just starting out on trout fishing have a lot to learn. Give them a break, and let them have fun. And those 'old timers' (that will never accept catch and release), they may not have that many years left on the cricks. Let us not continue getting in the other fishermen's way with these over-cooked, unfair, and inappropriate trout regulations" - Jim Waletzko, former Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) Trout Committee member

Genetically Superior?

Quick question for you.

Hunters want to shoot down a prized buck, one for the wall - huge trophy rack. Hunters pass up on does and small bucks all the time, do they not?

Apply the same logic to trout. Trout fisherman want to catch big trout and lots of them.

Yet so called "conservation minded" fisherman who belong to special interest groups will tell you DO NOT harvest the big trout. Big trout are geneticallly superior. Big trout have the best genes. That trout got large so his offspring will get large, superior because he is a survivor. Genetic superiority actually refers to reproducing the most.

Any of the same train of thought ever been presented for hunting? Trout Unlimited will tell you NEVER kill the biggest or the strongest of ANY species. I say, BULLSHIT. I don't know why that buck got so goddamn big. Maybe he got lucky and lived by a corn field.

Same story with trout. A trophy trout is a survivor for sure. But maybe he got lucky. A living trout is lucky to begin with. Only 1 out of 100 eggs will make it to a fry. Maybe that trout lived a long live and became trophy size because he is territorial and found a nice deep well covered pool. Warm water but warm enough to survive. He grows big because there is a ton of chubs and crayfish to munch on.

Only difference I see is WILD versus hatchery trout. Hatchery trout raised and modified over hundreds of year in aquaculture. The generations that grew the fastest (and consequently the most aggressive) we selected for breeding. A process known as heterosis. Hatchery browns or rainbows rarely live past two years as they are easily caught. In fact, out of 100 hatchery trout, less than 20 would be caught by humans, the other 80 caught by predators. If you catch a rainbow, don't feel bad about keeping it. That is what they are there for - put and take, which also allows wild trout to thrive. Odds are a hatchery trout will make it less than one year. I've caught some dandy holdover rainbows too, but they are rare. Do whatever feels right.

Don't feel bad about keeping trout, even large trout. Genetically superior, maybe. Maybe not. The mileage of trout water has doubled in most of the Driftless Area in the past 30 years and the trout population has increased almost 20-fold in individual streams.

Catching a trophy trout if you decide to keep, don't feel bad. This fish has passed on his genetically superior genes numerous years already.

Paper to consider reading:

Male dominance linked to size and age, but not to 'good genes' in brown trout (Salmo trutta).
BMC Evol Biol. 2007 Nov 1;7:207.Jacob A, Nusslé S, Britschgi A, Evanno G, Müller R, Wedekind C.
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. alain.jacob@unil.ch

Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Males that are successful in intra-sexual competition are often assumed to be of superior quality. In the mating system of most salmonid species, intensive dominance fights are common and the winners monopolise most mates and sire most offspring. We drew a random sample of mature male brown trout (Salmo trutta) from two wild populations and determined their dominance hierarchy or traits linked to dominance. The fish were then stripped and their sperm was used for in vitro fertilisations in two full-factorial breeding designs. We recorded embryo viability until hatching in both experiments, and juvenile survival during 20 months after release into a natural streamlet in the second experiment. Since offspring of brown trout get only genes from their fathers, we used offspring survival as a quality measure to test (i) whether males differ in their genetic quality, and if so, (ii) whether dominance or traits linked to dominance reveal 'good genes'. RESULTS: We found significant additive genetic variance on embryo survival, i.e. males differed in their genetic quality. Older, heavier and larger males were more successful in intra-sexual selection. However, neither dominance nor dominance indicators like body length, weight or age were significantly linked to genetic quality measured as embryo or juvenile survival. CONCLUSION: We found no evidence that females can improve their offspring's genetic viability by mating with large and dominant males. If there still were advantages of mating with dominant males, they may be linked to non-genetic benefits or to genetic advantages that are context dependent and therefore possibly not revealed under our experimental conditions - even if we found significant additive genetic variation for embryo viability under such conditions.

2009 Trout

Brook Trout Crackle Nicely

Caught a pair of fat 14" brookies mid-August in southwestern Wisconsin. I was actually amazed to catch these guys because I caught them after Lightening struck in the same pool. Lightening refers to an illusive ~32" female brown that stripped ~50' of 10lb braided line and eventually broke me off. Both of these brookies hit on stout crawlers. Great fight for their size too.

Brook Trout #1
Brook Trout #2

Thaw Trout
Batter Trout
Fry Trout
Eat Trout (one trout shown)

Andy's fish and seafood batter is a favorite of mine. I dip the fish in egg and shake in a Tupperware with batter. I finished off both trout tonight. Actually it was the best trout dinner to date. Bright pink/orange meat, cooked just right. I let the fish cool for five minutes on a paper grocery bag, then split the fish in half with a butter knife. Tender and juicy, the fillet did not stick to the bones at all. Nothing wasted. Even the skin was salty and crunchy like a potato chip.

Life is good!

Trout Fishing in San Diego

My wife's second cousin Cal is a trout nut who lives in Mission Viejo, a little over an hour north of San Diego. Cal and I love talking trout and Cal is just crazy about float tube fishing in Laguna Niguel Lake (LNL) just fifteen minutes from his house. Next month I will be in San Diego for business mid-November, just in time to join Cal opening day Thursday November 19. Admission is $20 plus $10 for a float tube fee. The limit is five fish each.

The park officially opens at 6am however for opening day Cal tells me there will be a line of anglers waiting to get on the lake starting at 3am. LNL will pump in 44,000 pounds of trout throughout the winter season. The web site tells me 5000 pounds of rainbow trout will be stocked right before opening day.

This will be a unique experience for me. Opening day with all the crowds. Anglers lining up on shore. Angler etiquette perhaps not it's finest, however it is what it is. Of all places, I never expected trout fishing opportunities in San Diego! The LNL web site tells me this year steelhead trout will be dumped in December - January. Guess I will miss that. Yet I do hope to catch one or more beautiful golden or emerald trout.

Here is Cal with a big rainbow:


More LNL photos here:
http://www.lagunaniguellake.com/photo.html

What is interesting is all of the photos are of stiff as a board trout. Most in the Midwest prefer a photo of the fish alive. Just a different mentality I think. You pay $20-30 (or more for boat or gear rental) for one outing and one wants to get their money's worth. Those golden trout sure are amazing looking. Hope to catch one. Unique beautiful trout. Most of the back tails are really beat up and assume they were raised on concrete runs. Cal says the the trout come from a variety of sources. Trout are tested for whirling disease, amongst other things. Only trout that pass a clean bill of health are stocked on LNL.

Also interesting I learn these hatchery raised fish are engineered to be triploid -three sets of chromosomes (versus the normal two). Triploid and sterile, yet these farm raised fish grow faster than a wild trout.

Looking forward to opening day with Cal. Likely you will find me with two poles in my hand. One dragging a 1/2 crawler and split kicking my tube around waiting for a tug. The other pole will be throwing long distance casts with an all silver #6 Panther Martin. Fish the best I know how. Something tells me Cal and I will do well opening day...