Washington PBS video

[Goldwasher]

Notice the Enviros in the side channel trying to make it like the prospectors are 'Damming" and preventing the fish from moving.

You can tell by how fired up the one is how made up her mind already is.

Sorry for those I upset this early in the morning.

 

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[Goldfleks]

I always find it ironic in these videos that the fisherman, the ones actually killing fish, don't talk about how their activities impact the fish. And how much overfishing which is a problem everywhere impacts the amount of fish in streams.

Mining is just more visible. And it's been amplified due to the water shortages and lack of flooding cleaning up the summer holes. Leaving snowflakes to freak out when they see a hole and exclaim a bomb went off. Most of them probably don't understand that when we get proper rain (like now) all the holes go away. That hole away from the main river channel really made my head explode. Here you have mining activity that didn't even signifigantly impact the river. They probably diverted a trickle to fill their dig and sent their tailings to a settling pond causing zero disturbance to the river channel. That's the type of dredging those activists should be applauding. Instead it's panic because their is a small hole next to the river that will likely be completely gone and filled in after the winter rains.

 

[Tuolumne]

there is no fish in that stream, what are they talking about? If they were real environmentalist they would be taking out all the non native stocked trout! steel head go up stream during big rain events where its most turbid, not in the summer. If i was a smolt in that crappy low flow stream Id be in a dredge hole for refuge!

 

[et1955]

What a laugh, thanks GW I needed that and even the WDFW are laughing too. I know that creek very well, Steelhead in that area, no way, they need access to the ocean and there is none. Anyone can check the WDFW fishing guide and see what fish are available in that area, apparently the pseudo enviro's didn't. Toulumne Todd there are fish in that creek, small trout, I have caught them and released of course. As for the holes left by dredgers, I know personally that the FS has asked dredgers not to fill in there holes because it creates a deep cool place for fish to survive during the hot days and low water flow.

 

[Duckshot]

I been to WA.

The fishing regulations are as draconian as the gold panning regulations. About the only things legal in WA are smoking pot and shouting down those one disagrees with.

 

[Bonaro]

I always find it ironic in these videos that the fisherman, the ones actually killing fish, don't talk about how their activities impact the fish. And how much overfishing which is a problem everywhere impacts the amount of fish in streams.

Mining is just more visible. And it's been amplified due to the water shortages and lack of flooding cleaning up the summer holes. Leaving snowflakes to freak out when they see a hole and exclaim a bomb went off. Most of them probably don't understand that when we get proper rain (like now) all the holes go away. That hole away from the main river channel really made my head explode. Here you have mining activity that didn't even signifigantly impact the river. They probably diverted a trickle to fill their dig and sent their tailings to a settling pond causing zero disturbance to the river channel. That's the type of dredging those activists should be applauding. Instead it's panic because their is a small hole next to the river that will likely be completely gone and filled in after the winter rains.

If you look on the vid you will see a stick with a bucket on it indicating it was an active dig and the miner planned to return, not an abandoned hole. The day after this was shot that hole was completely filled back in.

Summer of '15 we had drought and a bad fire year. They put hoot owl restriction on us so we had to shut off our dredges at 2pm. One of the other restrictions was that we must leave our dredge holes UNFILLED. Under normal rules we have to backfill the dredge hole. This suggests that backfilling is for aesthetic reasons and leaving the hole open is helpful for fish when the water temp is high and the level low.

 

[russau]

Not to many years back ,Washington had a fire and all the soot was washed down into the streams adding a layer of crud in the stream bed. When the small fish started to "hatch " out ,most of them couldn't get out from under all this sludge and were dying. That's when the WDFW asked dredgers to come and help remove this top layer of sludge so the small fish could emerge. The good ole boys came to help and dredged and was thanked by the WDFW. Now all of a sudden we dredgers are bad for the environment and fish?? It sounds like they do a LOT od flip - flopping on FACTS.