New River???

I saw James’ comments in the General Discussion piece about the Wardens where he mentioned that the scour hole below the dam in Red Wing has changed. It brought to mind a number of the changes I have seen in the river this year because of the high water. There is a new Island that has formed below the (Pool 3) Hastings dam that Gilligan himself would be proud of! One of my favorite catfish beaches has been picked up and moved a few hundred yards down river. Many, MANY trees have been re-deposited down river along wing dams making perfect hideouts for flatheads. (Right Dirk W.?) It is amazing how a river such as this has so many different faces. Lakes don’t go through near as many phases that a river does. We are really lucky to have this resource here. It is a never ending learning experience. When you fish a river, it is never the same. I love it!

I had a great hole for walleyes right above stillwater (16′ hole down from 8-10′ shoreline). Tried to find it this year-GONE!

Oh well.

I can’t say I agree that all the bottom movement is good. There are many side abnd back channels that got dumped on big time with the latest flood. Many of these channels will never regain the water flow and depth they once had. Top it off with many backwater areas with low flow that are simply filling up and we are losing ground on the ol’ Miss.

These changes in the rivers have been going on since their very beginnings…………….some help, some hurt…………..but the river will always be there in one form or another. I wouldn’t worry about things disappearing, they’re just going to change from time to time and sometimes you’ll win, sometimes you’ll lose and we’ll all just have to adjust. Can’t tame the ‘Sipp.

My point in the previous post was that all the silting and gouging is not all good.

Yep, the river will always be there but at the rate we are losing backwater areas from silting it will eventaully be a straight shot right down the main channel. No, it probably won’t happen in our lifetime, but it looks like it might in our children’s time and is almost certain in our grandchildren’s (~100 years).

I know that there has been some work done down in Hougies area of Pools 7&8 to try to regain some of the backwaters. I think some of it had to do with raising the water levels to allow aquatic plants to regain a foothold. A mention of this backwater silting to the DNR or the Corps of Engineers may help. I think the Corp is more concerned with actual river navigation, but it would be nice to hear their take on it. I agree, we are seeing a lot of silting over the last 10 or so years. North Lake has lost about 2 feet in the last 10.

I’m not an expert on the pool 8 drawdown by any means, but I believe they lowered the water to increase the aquatic vegetation in the backwater areas.

You are correct that the COE is most concerned about navigation. At the same time they are also concerned with the backwater silting. There was one project done on Lake Peterson (just above the Alma dam) about three years ago where some rip rap was placed along the islands on the main channel in order to prevent their erosion. The islands act to divert high water from entering the backwater. By their calculations if they did nothing this particular backwater would have filled in 50-75 years. They are hoping for 100-150 now.

I am also aware that Big Lake just below the Nelson dike road is filling in fast. There are huge areas that have also filled about 2 feet in the last ten years. Big Lake used to be a fantastic spring northern fishery where 20lb+ fish were not uncommon at all. I can’t get a snake anymore…only carp.

Right, the drawdown is the lowering of the water in pool 8 to reclaim some aquatic vegetation growth which benefits the system. At the same time, there are alot of dredge projects going on because with the water drawn down so low its the best time to do dredging. I think they are going back to normal levels later this month. Cant wait getting tired of hitting things and sliding around in the mud and sand.

Steve Hougom – FTR Webstaff

I stand corrected, thanks!

Tuck

I hate to sound like an old-timer, but I guess I am. Somebody once said…”The only thing constant is change.” I`ve seen wing-dams come and go. Islands appear and disappear. Sand bars show up from out of nowhere. Clean, rocky wingdams turn to silt beds….etc. Like the kid said, this has been going on since the day that the Mississippi was formed. It changes every year, all dependent on the floods or high water and low water periods. One other thing that I`ve found constant is that the fish adapt to their new surroundings and so must we. We`ll all sacrifice some tackle on “new” snags. Some of us will be in need of lower unit repair. And along the way, some of us will find new places to catch fish. Structure is created and destroyed on a yearly basis. Like the old saying goes—“When God closes a door, He opens a window.” That`s the way it is on the river during the years following floods. It`ll take some looking, but we`ll find new places to fish. And at the same time, some of our “honey holes” will cease to exist and we`ll have to chalk `em up as places where we used to catch fish.

The fish can`t get up and leave the river, they`ll follow their instincts and push on and survive. Now`s when we have to turn to our instincts too and figure out the river all over again.

I just figure that for every spot that was ruined, a new one was created someplace else. And just when you find another hot spot, along comes another year of high water to change everything all over again. Beav

Some food for thought. Yes – the river has been changing for 100’s of years, that’s what “natural” rivers do, they scour one area and deposit (sediment) in another area. But…….we no longer have a “natural” river, the placement of the lock and dam system changed all that. Now the main chennel is held in one place by a system of wing and closing dams and lateral rock. And the loser are our backwaters who are gathering sediments at the rate of 1/2 to 2/3 inch/year. That may not affect your favorite fishing hole – but consider this. The backwaters are the life blood of this river. It is the most productive part where all the zooplankton and phytoplankton is produced which is the basis of the food web. It is the nursery area for most fish species that inhaibt the river – they may not be there as adults, but they spend time there as just hatched larvae and as juveniles. Also – those fish (crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, other sunfish species, etc) that need winter habitat that consists of no current, slightly warmer water than the main channel, and enough water depth to get through the winter are losing places to spend the winter because of the loss of depth in backwater lakes. Some studies have projected that the life expectancey of some of those backwater areas are 50-75 years at the present rate of sedimentation. Consider that the locks and dams were mostly built in the 1930’s – we are getting awful close to that timeline. If all this does not concern you – take a look at the Missouri River which is nothing but a rock-lined barge canal from its mouth to Sioux City, IA. This is not meant to be derogitory to the Mighty MO, I just would hate to see our Miss. River turn into that type of river.

Ahhh………once again the sad reminder of the power of money! Do you think the DNR will step in and create, if necessary, some “sanctuary holes” for the continuation and health of the fishery? In conjunction with “off limits” enforcement, would it be worth while?

They have already started in some of the pools to the south of Lansing. One area around Guttenburg I think and a couple farther down river. A lot more of this reclamation is needed very badly tho. Time is running out as John said.

lets all hope that action can and will be taken to increase the life span of the backwaters….. they provide the kind of habitat that cant be duplicated in the channel…… I forget the limnological term for it, but basically the shallow flats and shore line acreage provides a huge boost to the biomass producing capability of an aquatic ecosystem…… normally this factor is used to give some idea how productive a lake system can be…. but…. it can also be used on a river system………

fishsqzr,

Couldn’t agree with you more. Your explanation of the condition of the Mo is what I meant by the Miss becoming a straight shot main channel.

Another factor that has contributed to the sedimentation rate is the loss of wetlands. They used to suck up a lot of ag and city runnoff. Now that sediment going down the storm sewers and off the pasture is eventually ending up in the river.

There is a Program in place now called the Environmental Management Program (EMP) and it is used to rehabilitate backwaters (dredging), island creation (to reduce wind fetch and resuspension of sediments), create moist soil units (food for migrating waterfowl) and a host of other projects to increase the longevity of habitat that is being lost. All state DNR agencies are heavily involved with these. I’m really only familiar with the ones in the IA part of the river, but to name a few – Bussey Lake near Gutteberg, McCartney Lake near Cassville, WI, Island creation and Mud Lake in Pool 11 north of Dubuque, Brown’s Lake and Potters Marsh in Pool 13. These are but a few – I’m sure there are numerous ones in Pools 3-8 – just call your local DNR Biologist for a list of them.

Approximately 10 years ago (maybe more) the backwaters around Bertam Lake (pool 11) were dredged. They took a backwater of approximately 2 to 4 feet deep and dredged it to 8 to 10 feet deep. I’ve scanned the bottom with an underwater camera in the winter and it will be teeming with panfish. As well as alot of bass.By contrast Spring Lake farther south, which was not dredged, is now almost forgotten as an ice fishing hotspot. I hope the Corp or the Fish and Wildlife Service can come up with the funds to do other projects like them on the river. I think without those type of projects its just a matter of time before we become another Missouri River.

I have some very limited hope for a slowing of the backwater loss. Ihave theorized that the fall plowing that farmers have been doing the last 20 years or so had accelerated the silting process on the river by exposing the fields to so much more erosion. Fall plowing and plowing of any sort has greatly decreased in my area. Farmers have gone to no-till planting in many areas prone to erosion. I don’t know what practices are farther north, but hope that this is a new, widespread trend. It also saves the farmers a considerable amount of money.

I live at the mouth of an excellant fishing slough, but it will soon be an isolated lake. Access from the river was dredged in the late 70’s to build a dyke, and the upper reaches of the dead end slough maintain 12-20′ depths, but the lower end has silted in to the point where, with the low water we have now, there is no more than 2-3 feet of water anywhere near the channel. Much of the slough that was not dredged is mud flat now. Held 5-6′ of water all summer just 25 years ago. It is hard to see it slowly fade away!

Am I way off base with this farming theory? I’m sure it is at most a contributing factor, but could be a large factor I think.

What about projects that actually return backwaters to near normal condition and keep them that way? With phrases like “projected life span” I’m left with a sick feeling in my stomache here. Fishsqzr, is it possible to find a balance between navigation and fishery that would allow things to be at least maintained at their current condition indefinitely or will the barges eventually be the literal death of the river I love so much?

James Holst

Moving Waters Guide Service

http://www.movingwaters.net

Rooster, a little bit of bad news. The Grant River here in SW Wisconsin has a monitoring device that measures sediment. I was talking to the County Conservation “Guy” (not sure of his exact title) and he told me that the last few years have shown an increase of sediment. He said for years the water quality had improved but now is declining. It seems that many farms are tilling more soil. I’ve seen some examples even locally where farmers are plowing up what used to be a pasture to make a field. Our best hope is that the conservation programs such as buffer strips and no-till farming become more widespread.

I hear you – and what you are saying is what we in state DNR’s have been trying to advocate for a long time. It cost money to keep the habitat in the condition and shape we want it to be, just like it cost money to keep the channel open for shipping (dredge to keep a 9 foot channel and operate the locks and dams). River biologist believe that the same amount of money should be spent on keeping the river in the envronmental condition as commercial shipping (in other words – both should be at the same level of importance). To that end – river resource managers have been meeting to develop what is know as “pool plans”. These are future looking plans on what the river should look like 50 or 100 yrs from now. Our perception of these plans are that once we decide what a pool needs (like for example – 500 acres of deep overwinter habitat for sunfish), we will keep that amount as a viable habitat and if if gets reduced to 450 acres due to sedimentation, then we go in and dredge to get back to 500 acres. That may sound simple – but its a huge step to take and not one without lots of problems – but it is the best of multiple use concepts. I could go on and on, but I hope you get the idea. Oh by the way …. there will be public hearings on these pool plans in most of the St.Paul District of the COE (Lock and Dam 3-9) sometime in the next month or two – try and attend some of these meetings. IF interested, I can try and find out dates and places for the meetings.

fishsqzr, do you know if they will be holding these meetings for the pools in our area, say 12-16? I would certainly like to attend and bring a few buddies along! It sounds like that may be the only hope of maintaining the fisheries for our children, let alone grandchildren! Do you think the C.O.E. will really spend the money on us non -commercial people?

Rooster – when the pool plans are done for your stretch of the river – I will post the meeting time and places. And yes, the COE will spend the money because it was authorized by Congress to spend a certain amount of money as the Environmental Management Program to rehabilitate backwaters, island creation, water level managment, restore side channels, etc. etc. The more river users that attend these pool plan meetings – the better the long range plans will be and also show support for our efforts.

My parents used to live on Lake Isabel in East Hastings which is a backwater and they have a group trying to have the lake dredged out.It’s original depth is over 20′ deep and right now it’s about 3-4 feet deep!They contacted the Corps of Engineers and they were told that this was not their area.Excuse me but is’nt anything connected to the river considered backwater? Instead the city and whoever keep trying to clean up the @@#$ hole called lake Rebecca.In the last 5 years the floods have been so extensive that it overflows the road and the river washes into the lake Twice,Each time they go in to “clean out” the rough fish and restock it?We can’t even get them to look at the forgotten Lake Isabel!!! Who do we talk to? Thanks for letting me vent!!!

Rooster I think farming practices have an awful lot to do with the backwaters silting in. In general farmers do whatever they can to drain flooded fields quickly by building waterways ditches etc. After a good hard rain the water runs fast enough to keep silt suspended untill it hits the backwaters or anywhere the current slows down enough for the silt to settle out. I would think about the only way to stop things from silting in would be to change farming practices to keep the soil out of the water in the first place. If all the creeks and water ways just had a filter strip of natural vegetation on each side to slow the flow of runoff into the waterway and filter it a bit it should help a lot

Good point Bob, poor farming practices have much to do with siltation of our backwaters. Here’s some other things to ponder:

Heavy, overloaded barges. If anybody ever gets the chance, get up in a plane or get to the top of one of the bluffs overlooking the river sometime and take a look at the mud trail that heavy barge traffic is stirring up! This sediment gets carried with the current and a lot of it ends up in the backwaters as the current slows enough to allow settling of the particles. A little bit over many years adds up to a [censored] of a lot.

Also, and I suppose many don’t even think about this one, is the natural life cycle of the backwater vegitation itself. What do you think happens to all that dying greenery when it finally lays down on the bottom. It does build up the bottom. How much, I don’t have a clue. Maybe Mr. Pitlo can help.

I could go on I suppose but all in all I really think the farming practices, which are getting better eco wise, and the heavy barge traffic which is only getting worse are the biggest reasons for the filling of the backwaters. It’s going to take a very LOUD AND REASONABLE voice to get the corps and the powers that be in Washington to listen and do something in our favor as there is to much money involved when dealing with the farm and barge industries.

WHEW, that was a mouthfull.