Tuesday 12 May 2009

Today was a good day for the fish, we went up to the box thinking we would get at most a couple of dozen smolts after the 25 we got on Saturday. Were we surprised, oh yes, 79 Wild Coho smolts were netted and released back into the creek, all in the 125mm range, big and fat . It is heartening to see fish this size, this is a good indicator of the amount of food available in the Beaver pond for our salvaged fry.
Draining down from the upper watershed which contains many small ponds and wetlands the creek carries many nutrients which benefit all wildlife and fish throughout the system. With the wildlife and especielly the Beaver creating fish habitat that man cannot equal we are confident that if nature is allowed to flourish without too much interference our Wild Coho, Trout , Chum. Steelhead, Stickleback, Sculpins and all other aquatic life will continue to survive for future generations to see.
After the excitment of all the smolts we went up to the pond to check on the Beavers activity. No Geese to greet us today but the whole area was a symphony of Tree Frogs, nature at its finest.
I tried to get a pic of one of the frogs who was sitting in the grass at the ponds edge while it was singing, every time I was about to snap the camera it would stop and de-flate its body. I took a couple of snaps then I thought I would tell the frog to sing, as daft as it sounds every time I said the word frog it puffed up and sang, I re set the camera and prepared to snap a pic when murphys law kicked in - flat battery- I said frog a few more times just to prove to myself it was not a fluke and yes the frog sang every time, must be the vibration from my voice ?. We checked the top of the dam for activity and observed lots of droppings in the water near to the overflow and lots of fresh plant material around the top indicating they had been busy. Thier was still lots of flow over the top for the fish to leave so no rush to re-rig our outlet pipe which had been pulled up out of the water by I assumed the Bear or Couger as I had seen a partial track in the mud along the top of the dam. This was the only exlanation for the pipe being pulled out of the pond we could come up with and coupled with the rips in the plastic which looked like teeth marks we thought that this may have been why the pond was so low last week. We speculated that mayby the animal resposible had been hunting the Beaver and our worst fear was we had lost the Beaver. If all the streams on Vancouver Island were inhabited by Beaver and they were allowed to build thier dams without the trapper takeing them out of the system or humans thinking they are a detrement to the watershed for whatever reason we would have more habitat for fish naturally as nature intended. I heard recently that along the Englishman River thier was a call for the removal of the Beaver because they are seen as a detrement to the fish being reeard at a small Pink hatchery along its banks. All they have to do is clear the debris as it bolcks thier pipe or what ever they percieve as the problem while allowing the Beaver to flourish to the benifit of all the flora and fauna within the watershed. Check out the fish count behind any Beaver dam and it tells its own story.

Saturday May 9 2009

Today was a good day both weather wise and fish wise, we all met at Lussiers pit then went up to the lake. On the way up a mother black bear and cub ran ahead of the truck, good to see they are in the area. Also their are signs on the mail boxes down on the road warning of a young Cougar wandering around the area. We walked down to the lake and lo and behold it was full with water pouring over the top , bonus , fresh sign of the Beaver as evidenced by his or her droppings and some fresh branches. Two Geese , we think the residents, were squawking though not too disturbed as they leisurely swam to the other side of the lake. A quick inspection of the dam showed some fresh work with sticks and vegatation along the top where it was flowing over. Next we went down to the box to check for fish, the kids were very excited as we netted 24 Wild Coho smolts and 1 Trout from the box back into the creek, also 1 stickelback and 2 big water beetles. The Wild coho were two year olds with a average size of 125 to 135 mm. The Trout was very badly crippled with what looked like a broken back, this looked like it must have happened when it was a younger as it was well developed with no sign of recent injury. (see pic)

Tuesday May 7 2009

Today I recieved a donation of 3 Fir and 3 Cedar trees from Green Thumb Nursery of Nanaimo in 1 gallon pots. We met at the campsite where we had done the Willow wattleing and planted the trees in behind the wall, hopefully they will become well rooted before the hot summer ( hopefully we will get a summer this year). After we took a run up to the box to check for fish, no luck. The Beaver dam at Swan Lake was now filling again so lets hope we still have a Beaver family.

Saturday 2 May 2009

Today was a sad day as we came to the shores of Swan Lake. The water levels were down over a meter and no sign of the Beaver. Trapper ??? we cant figure it out as the pond is usually full with fresh sign of Beaver work every time we come. We walked the dam to check and there was a considerable amount flowing from the base of the dam, no Beaver sign anywhere, What to do ? we launched the boat and rowed over to the dam, Roy jumped in with chest waders and found the outlet under a log embedded in the base of the dam. As Gordon and myself went over to the far side to collect dry grass Ed and Errol rowed over with the boat to collect what we had picked. Al remained with Roy as safety man while Roy stuffed the grass into the hole. After about a hour of this work we were able to stem the flow down to a trickle. After we checked the box for fish, one lonely Wild Coho and a Stickleback.