Swimming with the fishes

[nh.nugget]

I know what you California guy's are talking about cooling pools. The river that I go dredging in too is very low fairly warm water. Well anyway got todo some dredging this weekend found a nice spot. Fired up the dredge started goin' for it. After a couple of hours I notice a small trout, accually it kinda startled me it was in my face. So I kept going after a while I saw more of them. Before I knew it the deeper the hole the more fish I had. So eventually I had to give up the hole at about 3 feet deep. Didn't want to suck any up the hose. The fish took over, by the time I was done dredging I had about a dozen fish swimming about and one came in around 6 inches long. Anyway it was a good day got some gold and swam with the fishes!

 

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[russau]

yep when I used to go to Douglas Creek Wyoming and dredge when I came back to my location after lunch , the hole ALWAYS had fish in it! Once I found a "Hoser" in it! And if the fire hadn't run me out 3 years ago I would have found a "Lukens" in it!

 

[arizau]

Dredging or digging in stream gravel causes some of the buried larvae, etc. to become dislodged and that becomes feeding time for the fish. Have fun and good luck.

PS: Fly fishermen take advantage of this effect by shuffling their feet in stream sediment or gravel and fishing their nymph flies in the plume. Pretty effective and it is outlawed in some places particularly in the blue ribbon waters of the San Juan River, NM below Navajo dam. Huge trout nudge your waders there while you are fishing waiting for food to be dislodged. Average trout there are 15 to 18".

 

[brianc053]

Thanks for posting and for brining up this subject!
I had this same experience in (a secret spot in) New England yesterday. I was using a new Goldsnare SGS1 on some bedrock cracks (I will post a review of my new toy separately when I get some good underwater video, but the executive summary: the thing was awesome!) and at one point I took a break and headed downstream, below a small waterfall and a boulder the size of a golf cart (picture below). Down there a pool had formed, with a jumble of other large boulders filling the pool, and I wanted to see if the bedrock continued in this downstream area.
The pool was waste deep but I could sit on a nice round boulder (it was the size of a 55 gallon drum) and use my mask and snorkel to watch as I used the Goldsnare to clean out around the base of some of the larger boulders. I never found bedrock - just more round boulders and rocks - but I did find this little fish, or maybe he/she found me. It was larger than a minnow but smaller than a full-grown trout - maybe it was a baby trout? Anyway, three of its buddies joined the party while I worked under the boulders. I didn't stay too long because it was obvious after 10 minutes that I wasn't going to find the bottom of that pool, and I returned to the bedrock cracks with the Goldsnare. Those fish probably dined on the sediment I stirred up; they seemed very happy to see me and curious about what I was doing.

The boulder I referred to is in the background, just under those two trees that form a "V". You can see the pool near it beyond that downed branch:


- Brian

 

[Bonaro]

Creating a cold water refuge

 

[mytimetoshine]

I was just thinking about this today. Whenever I dig a hole in the river the fish are attracted to the hole. Obviously they love it.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thanks for posting and for brining up this subject!
I had this same experience in (a secret spot in) New England yesterday. I was using a new Goldsnare SGS1 on some bedrock cracks (I will post a review of my new toy separately when I get some good underwater video, but the executive summary: the thing was awesome!) and at one point I took a break and headed downstream, below a small waterfall and a boulder the size of a golf cart (picture below). Down there a pool had formed, with a jumble of other large boulders filling the pool, and I wanted to see if the bedrock continued in this downstream area.
The pool was waste deep but I could sit on a nice round boulder (it was the size of a 55 gallon drum) and use my mask and snorkel to watch as I used the Goldsnare to clean out around the base of some of the larger boulders. I never found bedrock - just more round boulders and rocks - but I did find this little fish, or maybe he/she found me. It was larger than a minnow but smaller than a full-grown trout - maybe it was a baby trout? Anyway, three of its buddies joined the party while I worked under the boulders. I didn't stay too long because it was obvious after 10 minutes that I wasn't going to find the bottom of that pool, and I returned to the bedrock cracks with the Goldsnare. Those fish probably dined on the sediment I stirred up; they seemed very happy to see me and curious about what I was doing.

The boulder I referred to is in the background, just under those two trees that form a "V". You can see the pool near it beyond that downed branch:
View attachment 1200185

- Brian

Hey, I think I recognize that spot! Hoping to get back there one more time this season...

 

[Jimmydolittle]

I don't have a dredge, but when I'm highbanking, the fish have a feeding frenzy. So I know that dredging doesn't harm fish, it helps them.

I know what you California guy's are talking about cooling pools. The river that I go dredging in too is very low fairly warm water. Well anyway got todo some dredging this weekend found a nice spot. Fired up the dredge started goin' for it. After a couple of hours I notice a small trout, accually it kinda startled me it was in my face. So I kept going after a while I saw more of them. Before I knew it the deeper the hole the more fish I had. So eventually I had to give up the hole at about 3 feet deep. Didn't want to suck any up the hose. The fish took over, by the time I was done dredging I had about a dozen fish swimming about and one came in around 6 inches long. Anyway it was a good day got some gold and swam with the fishes!

 

[Hoser John]

Right now on the Klamath in a huge pool is appx. 16,000 salmon cooking to death and being eaten alive by ICK a horrendous disease. With no cool deep dredge holes to run to as they go down the river they are trapped and the water is too warm for them to live. Sic sic mess...John

 

[Duckwalk]

Right now on the Klamath in a huge pool is appx. 16,000 salmon cooking to death and being eaten alive by ICK a horrendous disease. With no cool deep dredge holes to run to as they go down the river they are trapped and the water is too warm for them to live. Sic sic mess...John

Sounds like its going to get REALLY smelly REALLY fast....

 

[Capt Nemo]

I shot video of a stream near me. Had a ton of shiners, trout, crawfish, and even bluegill in it. The fish loved me as I created a current break and stirred up food. A handful of fishfood tossed on the stream would cause an explosion of fish. Found one fish in the rocks I couldn't identify on any of the state fish guides.

Then the DNR came.....They took out the dam! Now very little fish life remains!

 

[spaghettigold]

yes. I had a light-bulb moment myself in my last dredging trip.
We had very low water too and i heared the river allmost dryed up in the following weeks after my trip.
While going deeper in the dredge hole i noticed that the water coming from the dredgehole-face was significantly cooler because it was running thru the deeper gravels that are not heated up from the sunshine.The fishes normally can,t reach that cool water layer,until a dredger punches a hole and creates a pool.I guess these pools sometimes can be the livesaving factor to bridge the time till the next rainfall, which happened a few days ago.

Another beneficial aspect about dredging /sluicing they will have to ignore, and lie about.

 

[nh.nugget]

Yeah' it was sort of a surprise to me the fish all hanging out having a party, getting kinda' rowdy and all. So my back said time to go the fish said get out so I left it was a good day and had some fun, let the natives be.