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Welcome to November! Tis the season of spawning trout and REDDS, gales and gusty winds, cooler temperatures, icing of lakes, bird migrations, and lots of leaves. We extend a thank you to our 37 Streamkeeper volunteers for their efforts during this past monitoring season! We had a record total of 119 chemical water readings during the season on nine streams. The streams were: Belle, Brown, Eagle, Hay, Ike’s/ MOA, Little Cannon, South Branch Vermillion, South Branch Whitewater, and Trout Brook Creek. We also conducted "Repeater" Macro invertebrate testing on some sites on the South Branch of the Whitewater River last spring. Our stream water temperatures are cooling down, water levels are dropping, and spawning Redds are beginning to be seen. During this time of year, I also enjoy watching the videos and pictures from the North Shore. The waves are both beautiful, awe inspiring, and treacherous. There was even a recent report in the Minnesota Star Tribune on November 2 about a woman walking out to the Grand Marais Lighthouse and being swept into Lake Superior. Water temperatures in the area were about 39 degrees F. To put that in perspective, that is about equal to the coldest stream temperature reading we had this year from last April. Luckily, an angler was in the area. Below is a snippet of the article from the Tribune: "An angler is getting the hero’s treatment for rescuing a woman who was overwhelmed by a wave and swept 50 feet from a North Shore breakwater into the frigid waters of a Lake Superior harbor. The brief but harrowing scenario played out late Sunday afternoon as the woman and three fellow campers made their way toward the lighthouse in Grand Marais, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said. The 21-year-old woman was in the water for three to four minutes before she was back on shore, enduring a headache and weakness that required others to get her to an ambulance for a trip to a nearby hospital, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The woman struggled toward shore but had a way to go before a 29-year-old fisherman from Duluth called 911 and used his 20-foot-long pole net to pull the woman the rest of the way, the Sheriff’s Office said." The lesson learned is to always respect the water. Also, we may need to get a longer net. Some of my highlights on the water this past summer included doing a macro study on the Whitewater, fishing with my grandchildren on Gull Lake, fishing with one of my daughter's and catching my first bone fish in Belize, fishing with friends where one member caught a Tiger trout, adding a couple of dozen new bird species to my life list, watching a Trumpeter Swan fly directly overhead on Winnebago Creek during the fall migration in October, and catching and releasing an Northern water snake on the Rush. The Tiger trout was caught by Scott Wagner on a wet, dark, weighted nymph on October 13 in a driftless Wisconsin stream. See the attached photo. I hope many of your 2025 fishing experiences were also memorable. II. SEASON SUMMARY The 2025 TCTU Streamkeeper chemical monitoring season is officially over. Here is a quick overview of our monitoring season. This year we became Nitrate and Salt "organizational partners" with the Izaak Walton League and continued posting our data on the Clean Water Hub. We hope to make this data more accessible to our members in the future, but for now, you can follow these steps to o access our readings: 1. Go to the SOS Clean Water Hub at: https://www.cleanwaterhub.org 2. Sign up for an account or log in 3. Click "My Organizations" on the tool bar at the top of the page 4. Type in TCTU in the search area 5. Our two organizations can be found by scrolling down the page. These are TCTU Target Waters and Non Target Waters (TCTU) 6. Scroll down and click on a river or stream All our data readings from 2024 and 2025 can be found at that site. Please note that many other streams from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and across the country can be also accessed at this Save Our Stream (i.e., SOS) Clean Water site. This year our streams benefited from some nice summer rains to help replenish water levels. The air temperatures continued to be warmer than normal with over a dozen 90 degree days. Below are some results that you might find to be interesting. Water Clarity: Many of our streams had very clear conditions with readings over 100 cm. Our lowest reading was on the South Branch of the Vermillion with a murky 70 cm reading following heavy rains. Water Temperature: Our coldest water temperature reading was a brisk 3.9 degrees C (i.e., 39.02 degrees F) on April 3rd on the South Branch of the Vermillion. Our warmest water temperature was a sizzling 22.5 degrees C (i.e., 72.5 degrees F) on June 24th at Little Cannon. Some of our streams were a bit cooler and others were warmer than last year. Nitrate: Several of our streams had excellent readings of 0 ppm of nitrate. The highest nitrate reading of the season was again Trout Brook with a reading of 40 ppm. This is extremely high but a bit lower than last year. High nitrate levels continue to be a problem on some of our area streams, and TCTU and MN TU are committed to efforts in addressing this issue. Nitrite: High nitrite levels usually appear after high nitrate levels. We recorded a high of .5 ppm of nitrite in April on the Little Cannon. pH: These levels overall were good. Our pH range this season was from a low of 6.0 on Trout Brook to a high of 9.0 on Little Cannon. Phosphates: Most phosphate levels were good although we had some isolated high readings on Hay and the South Branch of the Whitewater. Chloride: Almost all our streams had low salt levels. Only one of our streams had very high salt levels in the 300 and 400 ppm range- the Mall of America Creek. Since the recent habitat work this summer, the numbers have come slightly down. We will continue to monitor this closely. Special thanks to our stream monitoring volunteers for their efforts this year! Biological Testing. We conducted one macroinvertebrate test this year on the South Branch of the Whitewater. This was a "repeater" study where we looked at the same sites that were tested back in 2004 and 2005 era. At the first location, we documented two taxa that were not there in the previous study. The good news is that we found a great abundance and diversity of macroinvertebrates. We hope to have a more detailed analysis of our findings later this year. We will be updating and coordinating our stream teams again in the new year, so if you have interest in joining our TCTU stream monitoring efforts, please contact me at: [email protected] III. SPLASH CHALLENGE For the 2025 TCTU Splash Water Monitoring Challenge, we had 29 chemical monitoring readings during the last two months of our monitoring season. Our 4 prize winners for the Splash Challenge were:
Here are some stream monitoring reports from October. Enjoy! BROWN'S CREEK, Monitored by Fred Schulze, October 29, 2025 Predominate Weather: Sunny Water Clarity: Secchi= 100 cm, Clear Water Temperature: 8.5 degrees C, 47.3 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 0 ppm, Excellent Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 80 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 8.0 Good Phosphate: 100 ppb, Poor Chloride: Not recorded Stream Disturbances: Pipe/ drain outflow Notes: None EAGLE CREEK, Monitored by Todd Christenson, October 31, 2025 Predominate Weather: Steady rain Water Clarity: Clear, 100 cm w/ Secchi Tube, Excellent Water Temperature: 10.4 degrees C, 50.72 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 0 ppm, Excellent Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 180 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 7.5, Excellent Phosphate: 0 ppb, Excellent Chloride: 60 ppm, Fair Notes: Beaver dam being constructed 30 feet from monitoring site HAY CREEK 305th St, Monitored by Mitch Abbett, October 6, 2025 Predominate Weather: Sunny Water Clarity: Murky Water Temperature: 12.5 degrees C, 54.5 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 5 ppm, Fair Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 240 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 8, Excellent Phosphate: 100 ppb, High Chloride: 25 ppm Stream Disturbances: None Notes: Perfect color. Beautiful shape. Fish abundant and frisky. HAY CREEK 320th St, Monitored by Mitch Abbett, October 6, 2025 Predominate Weather: Sunny Water Clarity: Murky Water Temperature: 12.6 degrees C, 54.68 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 2 ppm, Excellent Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 180 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 7.5, Excellent Phosphate: 100 ppb, High Chloride: 25 ppm Stream Disturbances: None Notes: Perfect color, excellent flow HAY CREEK 325th St, Monitored by John Kohler, October 25, 2025 Predominate Weather: Intermittent Rain Water Clarity: Clear Water Temperature: 8.7 degrees C, 47.66 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 5 ppm, Excellent Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 120 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 8, Excellent Phosphate: 0 ppb Chloride: Not recorded Stream Disturbances: None Notes: None LITTLE CANNON, Monitored by Mike Stinson, October 31, 2025 Predominate Weather: Overcast Water Clarity: Clear, Excellent Water Temperature: 7.44 degrees C, 45.39 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 0 ppm, Excellent Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 180 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 8, Excellent Phosphate: Not recorded Chloride: Not recorded Stream Disturbances: None Notes: Water is crystal clear. Saw several fish and even a lunker... SOUTH BRANCH VERMILLION, Monitored by Rowe Winecoff, October 4, 2025 Predominate Weather: Sunny Water Clarity: Secchi= 100 cm, Clear, Excellent Water Temperature: 14 degrees C, 57.2 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 5 ppm, Fair Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 180 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 7.5, Excellent Phosphate: .5 ppb, Excellent Chloride: 275 ppm, High Stream Disturbances: None Notes: Water level is low but free flowing SOUTH BRANCH WHITEWATER, Monitored by Mike Tanguay , October 3, 2025 Predominate Weather: Sunny Water Clarity: Clear, Excellent Water Temperature: 14.22 degrees C, 45.39 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 10 ppm, Poor Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 180 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 8, Excellent Phosphate: 0 ppb Chloride: 25 ppm Stream Disturbances: None Notes: None WINNEBAGO CREEK, Monitored by Jim Sauter, October 7, 2025 Predominate Weather: Sunny Water Clarity: Secchi= 100 cm, Clear, Excellent Water Temperature: 10.5 degrees C, 45.39 degrees F, Excellent Nitrate: 2 ppm, Excellent Nitrite: 0 ppm, Excellent Alkalinity: 180 ppm, Normal Hardness: 180 ppm, Normal pH: 8, Excellent Phosphate: Not recorded Chloride: 25 ppm Stream Disturbances: None Notes: Beautiful day. Spotted a Trumpeter Swan overhead
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