Water Works

by Bob Luck
According to my fishing log, I spent 323 days trout fishing in the last three years, with three streams accounting for over half the days: the Kinnickinnic at 87, the Rush at 56, and Hay Creek at 28.  In case you think I have a problem with overfishing, let me clarify that the number would have been higher if I hadn't mistakenly deleted three months of 2024.  My real problem is Driftless Derangement Syndrome.  I am one of those guys that zips right over the Vermillion river on the Highway 52 Bridge en route to the Bluff Country.  I have fished it only five times in the last three years. It is getting tougher to ignore it, though.  

On my last trip there in early October, I pulled in a lovely 14-inch brown from the South Branch, along with some other nice browns and a couple of newly planted Driftless Strain Brook Trout, and I made it home in time for lunch.  I have yet to catch anything huge, but I know they are in there.  And not just in the Main Vermillion.  Ask Mark Nemeth about the Three Amigos in the South Branch.  Or take a look at the photo below of two monsters electrofished out of one hole in South Creek.
Speaking of South Creek, our partners at the Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization collaborated with the City of Lakeville to separate the creek from a large stormwater basin that it flowed through.  The results were terrific:  during storm events the peak water temperature was reduced by up to 17° F and dissolved oxygen increased by up to 2 mg/L  The average reduction in temperature over the summer months was just over 9° F.  You can read about the details of the project here. South Creek is the major coldwater source of the Upper Vermillion--this project will improve the thermal condition of the main river, along with making things more comfortable for those South Creek browns. 
​One more reason to get over DDS and fish close to home.