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RETURN to Putah Creek Trout -> Putah Creek Fly Fishing Forum -> Putah Creek Fly Fishing -> Winter stoneflies
Post Info TOPIC: Winter stoneflies
SK60


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Winter stoneflies
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Spent some time with Keith B and biologist Ken Davis of Wildlife Survey and Photo Saturday checking out the stoneflies reported in another post in Cold Creek where it runs into Putah. There were dozens of the adults on the rocks and tons of nymphs in the creek. They are black and about a size 18-20, like the adults. Also lots of baetis nymphs and blackflies and one horse hair worm which looks like a minisnake and has a very interesting life cycle-Google it or here's a local link: www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7471.html. We saw a large fish (16-18 inches?) trapped in the pool just below the "fish dam" near the mouth of the creek. Ken had it by the tail, but it slipped away under a rock on the pool bottom. If any of you get a chance, try to rescue it and return it to PC; otherwise it will not survive when the creek dries up.

Re: silting. It appears that part of the hillside above the resort along Thompson Canyon is slipping downhill. Before last fall, I hadn't fished the creek for 4 years. Has the degree of silting ( i.e, enough to create an alluvial fan, as happened this year) been as bad between 2003 and this year, or was this just exceptionally bad after the Jan 4 storm? Any comments appreciated.

Along PC, the poison oak is fully leafed out and growing and snakes are getting active-saw a 4 foot king snake along the trail at #5 earlier in the week-scared the ** out of me until I saw it wasn't a rattler.

-- Edited by SK60 at 17:13, 2008-03-18

-- Edited by SK60 at 17:22, 2008-03-18

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John Schelling


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thx for your comment about siltation from Thompson Canyon. I don't think I've ever seen siltation on Putah like the current alluvial fan at the resort. But the soil in the area must be exceptionally prone to this kind of stuff; there's a similar deep, mucky fan between #4 and #5 on the north side that looks to come from a relatively small streamlet; hard to believe that it could happen in just one storm but that seems to be the case.

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shon42073


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That spot between 4 and 5 is actually a split, it comes off putah up in the slow water a bit up from #4 and rejoins putah around #5, I have seen small trout in there but really not worth the effort, But there are some pomagranite trees in there if you like em.

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Bugger


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Thanks for the report, SK60.

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Otter


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It was nice meeting you out there on Saturday. Two veteran entomolgists explaining the bugs was great. I expected the stoneflies to be much bigger. It is still strange to believe that the stoneflies actually survive in Cold Creek with little to no water and revive when the water comes back in winter. It sounds like science fiction. I did have my doubts about the water quality in the main creek for stoneflies.

The horse hair worm was interesting as well!!



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chris
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Thanks SK60. I read about the life-cycle of the horse hair worm from that link you provided. Now that's science fiction. Maybe you can explain to me how the parasitic larvae impels it's host to seek out water. Interesting stuff.

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Cliff
SK60


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Among other theories is that the parasite sends a chemical message to the insects brain which tells the insect it is thirsty and needs to find water, or that it damages the insects brain mechanically by its size, with the same result. Reminds me of the Alien movie series. Crickets make good hosts, resulting in an occasional appearance of the adult in cabin or rural house toilet bowls, usually generating a scream from the discoverer (male or female)!

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Emerger


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I wouldn't be happy finding one of those in my toilet bowl. Reminds me of the cordyceps fungi that parasitically lives in the ant. You would know more about this than I but as I recall the story goes something like this... spores get in the ant. After it has matured with the ant host it impels the ant to climb as high as it can into the tree canopy overhead. Then the mushroom impels the ant to bite the tree it has climbed and dies. The mushroom then sprouts like a horn from the ants head and sprays more spores onto other ants below. Very creepy.

Here is a youtube video of it:



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LilWhippersnapper


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that was wierd.

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Bugger


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Wow. That's crazy. And awesome.weirdface

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WytEurp


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Is cold creek the creek that runs in to Putah just above the bridge?

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LilWhippersnapper


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I think that is Dry Creek, but I'm not sure.

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JT


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Cold Canyon Creek (or Cold Creek for short) is the creek that flows into Putah above the bridge.

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LilWhippersnapper


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is that the creek on the left or right...cuz there are 2 creeks...The muddy one, and the rocky one.

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JT


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Cold Canyon Creek is just above the bridge, next to the parking lot.  The other one, at the top of the resort, flows out of Thompson Canyon.  I guess it's called Thompson Canyon Creek.

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LilWhippersnapper


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ok, thanks. I always thought it was called dry creek.

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