Streamkeepers Update

by Jim Sauter
The fall equinox is fast approaching and will be here at 1:19 pm on September 22.  In Victoria, Minnesota, we are losing about two minutes of daylight per day.  The water temperatures are cooling, over 360 million birds in the USA have already started their migration journey, and the trout are beginning to fatten up and take on their fall colors in preparation for the spawning season. 
 
During my last fishing outing at the end of August in a western Wisconsin stream, the trout were very active.  Tom Rosenbauer, in one of his Orvis podcasts, refers to this as, "...aggressive feeding behavior."  The brown trout were aggressively attacking my nymphs and dry flies in riffle windows.  I landed just about every fish.  Every bite was a hookup.  This was by far my best fishing day of the season in Wisconsin.  I just love those days!

I started the day with a dry caddis and the Primrose and PearI (i.e., P & P) midge and started catching fish.  I waded upstream and double rigged with a red zebra nymph.  This fly caught fire, and the brown trout destroyed it.  Inexplicitly, even after dismantling the fly, the trout just kept taking it.  See my photo of the nymph at the end of the article.  I caught ten trout that day on that one fly.  Foolishly, I decided to switch to a nicer looking fly, and I never had another bite.  Did they just not like the new fly, or did the trout stop actively feeding.  I will never know for sure.  Then a sporadic torrential rain ensued, and my fishing day was over.  

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Photos by Jim Sauter

Zebra Red Midge, Size 18, Used on 8/27/25 in a Wisconsin Stream Caught 10 Brown Trout. Lesson: Don't always judge a fly by the appearance.

New Red Zebra Midge, Used on 8/27/25 in a Wisconsin Stream Caught 0 trout

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STREAMKEEPER READINGS
The 2025 stream monitoring season is about 2/3 complete.  Currently, we have 96 chemical readings for the year and hope to set a new Streamkeeper record of over 100 chemical readings this year.  

• Water Temperatures.  The latest readings from our Streamkeepers report cooler water temperatures with most streams now in the 50 and low 60 degree range as we approach the fall season.  We had one stream, the South Branch Vermillion, with a low temperature of 53 degrees, and the Little Cannon with ahigh temperature of 68 degrees. 
• Nitrate Levels.  One stream, Eagle Creek had very high nitrate levels.
• Salt/ Chloride Levels.  One stream, the Mall of America Creek, continues to have very high salt readings.
• Phosphate.  Hay Creek and the South Branch of the Whitewater had high phosphate levels.

 
BROWNS CREEK
Observer:  Gunnar Carlson, 8/23/25
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity= Clear, 80 cm
·      Water Temperature=  17.7 degrees C, 64 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  0 ppm
·      Nitrite=  0 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  120 ppm
·      Hardness=  120 ppm
·      pH=  7.5
·      Phosphate=  0 ppm
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= Pipe/ Drain Outflow
·      Notes=  None
 
EAGLE CREEK
Observer:  Paul Frank, 8/20/25
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity= Clear
·      Water Temperature=  16 degrees C,  61 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  20 ppm
·      Nitrite=  0.5 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  120 ppm
·      Hardness=  30 ppm
·      pH=  8.0
·      Phosphate=  0 ppm
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  None
 
HAY CREEK- 305th St
Observer:  John Kohler, 9/2/25
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity= Clear
·      Water Temperature=  16 degrees C, 61 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  0 ppm
·      Nitrite=  0 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  120 ppm
·      Hardness=  180 ppm
·      pH=  7.5
·      Phosphate=  0 ppb
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  None
 
HAY CREEK- 320th St
Observer:  John Kohler, 9/2/25
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity= Clear
·      Water Temperature=  14 degrees C, 57 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  0 ppm
·      Nitrite=  0.15 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  180 ppm
·      Hardness=  180 ppm
·      pH=  7.5
·      Phosphate=  100 ppb
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  None
 
HAY CREEK- 325th St
Observer:  John Kohler, 9/2/25
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity= Clear
·      Water Temperature=  12.5 degrees C, 54 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  5 ppm
·      Nitrite=  0 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  180 ppm
·      Hardness=  180 ppm
·      pH=  7.5
·      Phosphate=  200 ppb
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  Still Beaver Dam upstream of road.  One person said the stream is very muddy above the dam
 
LITTLE CANNON RIVER
Observer:  Mike Stinson, 8/29/25
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity= Clear
·      Water Temperature= 20.1 degrees C, 68 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  0 ppm, Improved over last month
·      Nitrite=  .3 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  240 ppm
·      Hardness=  Not recorded
·      pH=  Not recorded
·      Phosphate=  0 ppb
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  Clearest water so far this season. No rises, but hundreds very small minnows
 
MALL OF AMERICA/ IKE'S CREEK
Observer:  Harold Slawik, 9/6/25
·      Weather=  Overcast
·      Water Clarity=  Clear
·      Water Temperature=  12.9 degrees C, 54 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  0 ppm
·      Nitrite=  0 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  240 ppm
·      Hardness=  180 ppm
·      pH=  8.0
·      Phosphate=  0 ppb
·      Chloride=  304 ppm
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  Saw two nice brookies holding in a pool in the recently improved section of the stream
 
VERMILLION RIVER, SOUTH BRANCH
Observer:  Rowe Winecoff, 9/6/25 
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity=  Clear, Secchi Tube = 97cm
·      Water Temperature=  11.6 degrees C, 53 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  5 ppm, improved over last month
·      Nitrite=  0 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  240 ppm
·      Hardness=  180 ppm
·      pH=  7.5
·      Phosphate=  0 ppb
·      Chloride=  25 ppm
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None
·      Notes=  Stream is at normal level and free flowing
 
WHITEWATER, SOUTH BRANCH
Observer:  Mike Tanguay, 8/19/25 
·      Weather=  Sunny
·      Water Clarity=  Murky
·      Water Temperature=  20.4 degrees C, 68 degrees F
·      Nitrate=  5 ppm, improved over last month
·      Nitrite=  0 ppm
·      Alkalinity=  120 ppm
·      Hardness=  120 ppm
·      pH=  7
·      Phosphate=  300 ppb
·      Chloride=  Not recorded
·      Dissolved Oxygen=  Not recorded
·      Stream Disturbances= None

• Notes=  4" of rain in gauge from past three days

 
That's all for now.  Tight lines.
 
Jim Sauter
TCTU Streamkeeper Coordinator