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by Jim Sauter "Those trout are tough, but..." - Jim Sauter, a slight variation of a quote from Andrew Forbes, Wildlife Biologist for USFWS, discussing Winter Bird Ecology at the Minnetonka Bird Club on 1/3/25. His quote was, "Those birds are tough, but..." INTRODUCTION Greetings from the TCTU Streamkeepers. Welcome to 2025! As we remember the life of former President Jimmy Carter, I was surprised to learn that he was an avid trout fisherman. He would frequently sneak out from Camp David to check area trout streams. I found this quote about his passion: "Suddenly, there was an explosive rise not ten feet away and an eight inch trout came up out of the water to take one of the airborne mayflies. In all my life it was the most memorable rise of a wild fish." Jimmy Carter Do you have a "most memorable" rise of a wild trout. I distinctly remember catching one on a dry when spot fishing a rising brown trout on the Rush. Hopefully, many of us can experience the wonder of it all as remember the life and times of Jimmy Carter.  BIRDS OF A FEATHER Andy Forbes (i.e., Wildlife Biologist for USFWS in Bloomington), in his recent discussion of Winter Bird Ecology and Migration at the Minnetonka Bird Club meeting, stated, "Those birds are tough, but..." The three main factors in their survival in the winter are temperature, snow cover, and food. Those factors are key to their success and failure. Andy shared a story from colleague Tom Wells about a Green Heron's incredible journey. "The bird left a stopover site about 30 miles north of Jackson, MS the night of Sept. 25th. At the time, Hurricane Helene had passed to the east, and the bird was getting a good tailwind from the back side of the storm. It crossed the Gulf of Mexico, 821 miles nonstop to make landfall on a lagoon just west of Progreso in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. After pausing for a short period, likely less than an hour, the bird continued south another 283 miles into Guatemala. Overall, the bird covered 1,104 miles in 36 hours." The Motus Wildlife Tracking System tracking device (i.e., https://motus.org/about/) that is attached to the bird and monitors their movements are getting smaller and are lasting longer as the technology continues to improve. Perhaps this type of monitoring will be possible in the future for trout to complement the creel studies, electroshocking, fin clipping, and DNA analysis methods used today on fish and trout. Those trout are also tough, but... After listening to Andy's message about the extraordinary travels of birds and their ability to survive harsh winters, I could not help but think about the similarities to trout during the winter season. They too depend largely on temperature, snow cover, and food. This could be revised for trout to temperature, stream flow and depth, and food. Their movements and behaviors determine their success and failure, and even slight changes in the habitat and weather can have profound impacts on the chances for their survival. Our work in stream monitoring and data collection will hopefully provide valuable insights that may help trout success in the future. REDD SURVEY (Sources: MN Trout Unlimited, MN DNR) TCTU conducted our first REDD SURVEY on Monday, December 16, 2024. Team members included: Mark Nemeth from the MN DNR, Todd Christenson, Tony Nelson, Mark Peerenboom, Jim Sauter, and Tom Walkington. A "REDD" is called that because the term originates from a Scottish word meaning "to clear an area" or "to tidy up." This is exactly what female fish like trout and salmon do when they prepare a gravel nest (i.e., called a redd) to lay their eggs. By cleaning out debris and creating a suitable space for spawning, they are "tidying" the area to lay their eggs. Soon after, male trout will swim over the redd and fertilize the eggs. We were fortunate to have wonderful 40 degree weather on the day of our REDD survey. This day in December provided a small window of opportunity between deer hunting seasons, but we still wore yellow and orange colors just to be safe. There were no encounters with hunters or anyone else as we conducted the survey. When organizing our teams, we broke up our group into three teams of 2 members each. Mark Nemeth was very helpful in providing materials for data collection and mapping our three stretches of about a half mile each on the 1.5 mile segment of the South Branch of the Vermillion AMA. We had redd monitors on each side of the creek, and this allowed us to get a variety of angles as we identified redds. I noticed that spotting REDDS was easier when walking the bank with the sun at your back to avoid some reflection on this sunny day as we walked upstream. Our three teams were able to navigate the entire stream within a two hour time frame. Air temperatures were about the same as the water temperatures running at about 35-40 degrees F in the air and a water temperature of 40 degrees F. The gauge reading was 2.36 feet. Flow conditions were normal, and the visibility conditions were moderate due to the bright sunshine. The good news is that there was significant evidence of successful natural brown trout reproduction on the South Branch of the Vermillion. Team A identified nine redds, and there was evidence on the bank of some beaver activity. We also spotted a bald eagle seeking a morning snack. There was a lot of sand and silt on this stretch near the bridge. The best redd we spotted was at the end of our stretch on riffles near the gravel road crossing on the stream. Team B recorded a total of 11 redds. Team C recorded 8 redds. The actual redd count is higher since some of the redds had multiple redd nests in one location. Numerous trout of various sizes were spotted as we made our way up the stream.  BROOK TROUT SPAWNING
Mark Nemeth also shared some very interesting information about the life cycle of Brook trout. These eggs typically develop for about 50 days and then hatch. Trout on the North Shore may hatch quicker depending on the temperatures. Shown above is a model that Mark shared with us for Brook Trout. Most brook trout can achieve sexual maturity in their first year of life; typically living for 3 to 4 years. Spawning season is approximately October and November. In streams, brook trout spawn in gravelly riffles that are spring-fed. The female thrashes above the gravel bottom to hollow out a concave nest (i.e., called a “redd”). The male defends the area while the female creates the nest. Once the nest is complete, the male and female simultaneously release eggs and sperm into the nest, and then cover the fertilized eggs with the surrounding gravel. The nest location must be carefully chosen so the water flow from the spring seeps through the gravel keeping the eggs clean and oxygenated. Eggs hatch 2 to 5 months later (depending on water temperatures – cooler water makes for slower development). Brook trout continue to live after spawning and spawn each year of their adult life. Brook trout are the native stream trout species to Minnesota. While their population has declined over the decades, the DNR recently stocked new brookies in Vermillion trout stream reaches, with the goal of building a self-sustaining population once again. Future electro shocking in the river will help provide evidence about the success of this stocking. BROWN TROUT SPAWNING The vast majority of redds on the South Branch of the Vermillion will be brown trout. Most will spawn multiple years and often near the same place. Spawning habits and seasons are like the brook trout, except that Brown trout take 3-4 years to mature. Their spawning season begins in October and goes into December. If there are no barriers as there are in many North Shore streams, brown trout often swim up into headwater areas to spawn. They usually choose gravel bottoms often where there are spring seeps and good moving water. The fish pair up and them the female makes a saucer-shaped depression in the gravel. The male defends the nest after it is built until the female is ready. Once the female is ready, she drops into the nest and the male follows her. Here the female lays the eggs, and the male fertilizes them at the same time. The female then covers the eggs with the gravel she removed to build the nest. The two will repeat the process until the female is "spent" (i.e., has laid all her eggs). After spawning, the parent fish move back to the water from which they came. A single female can lay 400-2,000 eggs depending on her size. We also took a chloride salt reading and found a very good stream health reading of 32 mg/L. With the snow drought so far this winter, there has been very little salting of roads. This was our first effort in conducting a REDD survey, and our team viewed this as a success and valuable learning experience. We will be continuing our discussions with TCTU, Minnesota TU, and the Minnesota DNR to determine what steps to consider for the future. SALT READINGS IN DECEMBER South Branch of the Vermillion River December 16, 2024 Chloride, Cl, mg/L= <32 Eagle Creek December 28, 2024 Chloride, CL, mg/L= 62 Chloride (Cl), mg/L readings
Are you interested in doing a salt test on a stream or river over the winter season? Free kits are available at: https://www.iwla.org/water/stream-monitoring/salt-watch/salt-watch-faqs WINTER SALT WATCH IS COMING SOON Winter Salt Week is coming on January 27-31, 2025. Join Dakota County, Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District, and local watershed organizations in sampling for chloride in water. Stop by a Dakota County Library branch to pick up sampling materials and learn how you can use less salt and reduce chloride pollution while staying safe this winter. More information can be found about Winter Salt Week at: https://app.betterimpact.com/PublicOrganization/027c1bca-37ac-4dd1-9ade-b6eb99513aab/Activity/39d3e891-3666-42e3-98fc-9491b5dc99df/1 BUGS BELOW ZERO PROJECT One of our TCTU Streamkeepers, Tom Walkington, shared some information about the Bugs Below Zero Project that is sponsored by the University of Minnesota. Below is a brief overview of the program. Once the snow flies, the University of Minnesota Bugs Below Zero team would like you to join us in a community science project that expands our understanding of winter active aquatic insects. Participants identify and submit information and photographs of aquatic insects on the snow, often near stream banks. Your help can grow our understanding of how the unique Minnesota climate reveals valuable insights about interactions between weather, water, insects, and food webs for researchers across the globe. bugsbelowzero.com/get-involved-new
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