Don't Fish on the Redds; General Discussion

Lahontan · Senior Member

RE: Don't Fish on the Redds; General Discussion

cole · Senior Member

You all should go STEELHEAD fishing.� Sitting here crying over those poor Putah fish.� I agree with everything and most of the other stuff too.� I drove up to the Lake Sonoma hatchery today to watch some Russian river steelies.� I also put some time in yesterday with the 8 weight and the shooting head.� There are so many places to fish besides the creek.�

brian clemens · Senior Member

i am looking at trying some different spots out tomorrow as well. being in sac not to many great fishing spots around in this area. i wish i lived closer to nicer fisheries, like trinity, the russian, the yuba, its touch having such a great fishery like putah within an hour and notfish it. but hey atleast i am out there tryin to fish new waters.

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

I think I agree with everyone here. From telling people not to fish the redds, to ignoring them and let them do what they want, as long as it's legal. Personally, I think if you handle the spawners carefully and release them quick, then they will survive. They aren't like salmon where they die after spawning.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Lots of fish die due to the stress of spawning, I also believe this is a feasting time for the otters and the birds. Heres an example of a fish I found that had no visible marks on it, must have died from spawning stress or from being caught. Its big to !

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

Oh, ok, thanks for the info captain, if that fish lived in the creek around my house, he'd fit right in, and would probably be in perfect health, what a dump (coyote creek)... by the way, howd you do on sunday?

JT · Senior Member

LilWhippersnapper wrote:

I think if you handle the spawners carefully and release them quick, then they will survive.�

If you handle�ANY fish on the creek carefully and release them quickly, then they MIGHT survive.��The mortality rate increases quite a bit for spawners.��

MikeV · Member

Im knew to fly fishing. what are redds

WT · Senior Member

Mike I am really happy you see people being so careful about things such as the redds, and asking questions to become educated.� So I wanted to affirm you asking the question.� Anyways check out this thread:

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=65954&p=3&topicID=14461724&topicPage=1

Also check out this thread:

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=65954&p=3&topicID=14481102&topicPage=1

Both these thread will give you a good idea about the redds.

Also�since you are new to fly fishing I might recommend you check out some of the previous threads.� There�is a lot of good information in them, and they will only help make your introduction to fly fishing smooth, especially�because Putah is a difficult�creek to learn.� This site has a lot of great information, with some fellas, and ladies, who are very helpful.� Welcome to the forum!

Good luck and tight lines,

Wes�

-- Edited by WT at 06:53, 2007-12-24

Matt R · Senior Member

A redd is like a nest that the fish build to lay their eggs in.��You can see redds all over the creek this time of year with fish actively using them.�Stay away dont be a redd rapist. biggrin

�

-- Edited by kbigelow at 08:41, 2007-12-24

brian clemens · Senior Member

just watch were you walk, 99% of the redds are in 2ft and lower water, there will be about a 3ft x2ft wide oval shaped rock pile that looks like someone took a dry vac and sucked up all the moss and dirt of the rocks. make sure you have polarized sunglasses, sometimes you dont see them until its to late. so where your polarized sunglasses. if you see 3-6 fish in one area there is a redd there. PLEASE DONT FISH THE REDDS, and walk around them, there are a few areas where you will want to walk across, well dont, move down stream just a tad bit more then walk across.

just watch where you step, keep a good eye out for redds and you will be fine. if you have ever seen a salmon spawning on its bed, well its the same thing just smaller in size.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Found some redds this weekend that darn near the size of salmon redds. Big.....And in an unlikely spot. Many large fish to.

brian clemens · Senior Member

where there about 2 or 3, just above the spot that you love to fish and always do well at. if so i saw those same fish, they are freakin huge.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Not that spot brian, But yes i did see a few up from there. Really big fish, maybe 25 inchers ! The fish I have caught this weekend have alll been clean healthy fish and fat, So not all fish are spawning at this time.

brian clemens · Senior Member

nice to hear that you got into some nice fish. cont wait or the yuba trip.

shon42073 · Senior Member

And when you walk over a redd you just might be killing literally hundreds if not thousands of trout ! Your crushing the poor little guys before they even have a chance.

Lahontan · Senior Member

Working too much, fishing too little this holiday season.

Someone posted this diagram on another thread...very descriptive.

Well put Cap. That's exactly why just watching your step can make a difference.

-- Edited by Lahontan at 23:15, 2007-12-26

AC22 · Senior Member

I had a guy on sunday tell me that the fish were through spawning down by the bridge...
and then a guy on teusday tell em that they were still spawning

im confused.....
are they still spawning?

brian clemens · Senior Member

YES, they are still spawning, they will be spawning well into late jan to early feb, dont let them tell you they are done, they are not and wotn be for a while. let me guess the guy that told you they are done was fishing the redds.

AC22 · Senior Member

ya he pulled 2 pretty sizable rainbows outa there too :( although one didnt look like a spawner looked like a smaller non spawning fish but still....

shon42073 · Senior Member

Ive caught fish all the way into april that were completely spawned out.

ONEWEIGHT · Senior Member

I must say that I got a good laugh yesterday.� In reading the Northern California Flyfishing website conversation about Putah, several posts were made referring to "trashy" Putah Creek.� Now granted, it's not the cleanest place around, but it gets run over with people.� If I didn't know anything about Putah, after the reading the posts on this website about Putah, I would never go near it in my life.

I had to chuckle after I read these posts.� My first inclination was to fire off a post defending�the quality of fish which can be landed at the creek, etc., etc.� After a quick second�thought, I reasoned, let them think what they want and stay away.� We don't need more traffic.� Keep Putah as downplayed as we can.� Those of us who fish here know what's here.� The others can keep going elsewhere as far as I'm concerned.�

brian clemens · Senior Member

ya when i see something like that on one of my other forums that i am on i will just agree with it. let them think it aint fishin good, and trashy, yes it is so not worth the drive. hahaha, if they only knew.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Good, Let all who read that article just stay away. Cuz we all know what putah has to offer once one begins to figure out her secrets.

Psyfisher · Veteran Member

Listen Putah isn't my home creek, but it sounds like that sort of thinking might actually backfire on you people.� I've heard lots of people talking about needing a greater ammount of involvment from DFG, and it sounds like Putah might need special attention.� If thats the case then the more people the better.� As long as they are fly fishermen of course (don't want garden hackle fishermen pulling out all the good fish).� The reasoning is that DFG tends to concentrate conservation efforts on areas of special need, OR areas of high use.� If use becomes excessive enough to disrupt trout populations DFG will designate the creek as C&R or artificial lures only, or even fly fishing only to protect the populations, so in the long run, more people might be better for Putah.� Keep in mind I'm not speaking with specific knowledge of Cali DFG, just general conservation trends.� Of course, I refuse to broadcast the name of my favorite creek, but thats a small spring creek where I know the fish by name, and just plain can't support any angling pressure.� Sounds like Putah is a bit more robust.� Just something to think about.� And in case people didn't know, there is a small write-up about Putah in the book So many fish, so little time, which is where I learned about it,� so want it or not, Putah already has some national recognition.�� Oh, and to be on topic I am strongly against fishing redds. smile

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

Putah already is C & R from november to april. And I don't think Putah is in any danger. If Putah needs special attention, make it during the bait fishing months. One thing I think they should do is make it illegal to fish redds. Everybody knows you're not supposed to fish redds, so why don't they make it a law.

JT · Senior Member

How would it be enforced?

Packrat · Senior Member

People are going to fish where people want to fish. Not everyone will respect our wishes of not fishing spawning fish on redds, it's something we'll all just have to get over. As far as trying to keep Putah a secret and not replying to posts on other boards...who are you trying to kid? Putah is not a secret little gem of a creek that some of you think it is. It's been crowded for years, I won't even bother fishing there on a weekend any more.

And for other boards calling Putah trashy, be real about it, the place is a dump! There are worm containers, beer bottles, plastic soda bottles all over the place. It's unfortunate but a reality. When you take a place Like Putah that's close to urban areas that's what you get, garbage. Just take a look at how much trash is collected when there is a Putah clean up day...tons of it. People don't just go there to fish, they go there to party. Hell, I've even seen underwear and old condoms out there in the bushes.

shon42073 · Senior Member

The trash dosn't seem to be as bad this year. I'm sure that will change come the last saturday in april.

windknots · Senior Member

I'd like to see year round special regs - catch & release or slot limits in the summer months - with artificial single barbless year round. I also think that dumping hatchery trout by the truck load is harmful to the fishery. I don't think it's enforcable to restrict fishing on the redds but education is about the best you can do. What a fishery can't bounce back from is loss of habitat, that includes stream side cover, minimum flows, and in-stream habitat so if there is something in the works for Putah I hope it addresses the need to protect the creek's habitats.

I'm not a big fan of put and take as a broad fisheries management strategy. It's great for urban still waters, the local kids fishing derbies, or spicing up a reservoir here and there, but wherever there is an opportunity for a self sustaining wild fishery that is much preferred even it means you can't keep what you catch. I'd rather catch just one wild fish on a single barbless lure of any sort than 20 hatchery guppies fresh from the pen on lime green sparkly powerbait with a marshmallow float.

Putah is a gem and there's no time like the present to make sure it's managed in a way that will allow it to remain a quality fishery indefinitely, ESPECIALLY because it's so close to an urban area.