redd flags

Neil B · Newbie

redd flags

mx19 · Senior Member

Over the years I have seen red ribbon ,red cloth ,red rope, red floats,painted red gal jugs, red wooden stakes,and caution tape...none seen to stop the fish from redding up....I dont think were going to spoke any fish...

Neil B · Newbie

Thanks for the information! I'm glad this is a tried and true technique. It just had me a little worried, cause as I'm sure we all agree, there's alot at stake.

Neil

Black Cloud · Senior Member

The only problem I see on Putah with the flags, is that it will advertise to the �all of those �who don't know �where they are. A better method I have seen on other rivers are ribbons �tied to a tree close to the water location. Certainly less obvious .

drifter · Senior Member

Agreed, there is that potential. �However, I think there's an overbearing neggative connotation (stigma) at play that will keep most away from the redds. �If your fishing a red (although its legal), you will certainly get frowned upon by a fellow angler, and its kind of hard to play the "dumb" card with a big red flag in the middle of the water.�

also would like to make clear for the newbies, keep in mind we are talking about spawning trout. �When it comes to steelhead fishing, fishing behind the salmon reds is an effective (and i my mind, an ethical approach). �As long as you can keep away from walking on salmon reds, and snagging salmon, by either starting your drift to early, or to late, you dont have the associated concerns about catching fish around reds that are already stressed (the steelhead are not the ones spawning, they are hungry, and eager to be caught!). �I hope you all get out to chase some grey gohsts (steelhead for the newbie) this winter, the fight is unlike any other. �This of course does not apply to Putah, where such a natural phenomenon does not occur. �No salmon reds there, only trout, who are spawning, and would be stressed out to the max from such a taking.

-- Edited by drifter at 15:24, 2008-11-12

SK60 · Senior Member

SCWA is following a standard technique to mark the redds. Some members of this forum last year provided info to SCWA about known spawning sites which I assume is helping them to�locate redds this year. This marking�is part of a formal scientific study aimed at determining effects of low flows on spawning success. Many have commented about low winter flows every year�and the possibility that they affect spawning. This study may be a partial answer to the question. Our job is to be on the look out for those that are not marked and that may get trampled accidently.

In talking to some forum members and creek fishermen�recently, there have been comments that this year there were more young fish caught late summer-early fall than in 2007. This is supported by the online survey forms you've submitted and I would expect the survey box forms collected by DFG to say the same. That is good news and lets hope it continues.

Please continue to complete the survey forms-written ones dropped in the boxes are preferred by DFG, but PCT is also forwarding the onlines to DFG. In January 2009 we will have completed a full year of surveys. At least 400 have been submitted online, I would guess a similar number has been collected by DFG from the boxes. Keep up the good work-the more data collected the better the story that will come out of it.

WT · Senior Member

It is also nice with the flags to help those who might be new to fishing, how to identify potentional redds. I know when I first started fishing I had no idea what they were or how to identify them. My dad never taught me how to fish, so I was kind of own my own. I was lucky enough to meet some nice fellas who showed me things like that, other wise I might has misinverently fished one.

Neil B · Newbie

I wouldn't worry too much about the flags telling people who want to fish the redds where they are. Anybody who knows what a redd is and goes out with the intent to fish them will recognize them by the 30 big ass trout cruizing around, not the red tape. I think it will really help for those of us who might be new to fishing who see 30 huge trout in 1 foot of water and think "HOT DAMN! this is where I should have been fishing all along". Like someone said it helps reduce the "sorry I didn't know" excuse.

shon42073 · Senior Member

I've spent quit a bit of time the last 2 winters just watching the activities of spawning trout on putah creek, I personally highly doubt red flags will have any affect on the fish, I have stood within a few feet of spawning trout and they show no fear of me what so ever when engaged in spawning activity, This in itself could be a problem, I have heard storys of people trying to actually net these fish. Another observation I have made is that all fish are not there to spawn, I call em the egg robbers, They tend to be smaller fish maybe 10 to 12 inchers that will hold off in the deeper water near redds, then they dart in and try to snatch eggs, sometimes they are chased off, sometimes they just dart off on there own and then come back, they do this over and over. Would it be ethical to fish for these egg snatchers ? Probably not a good idea to fish around the redds at all. Personally I find it entertaining enough just watching the whole scene and how nature works. These are just some of my own observations, And my own interpratation of what I see. Not posted to start a debate. Probably the spawning trouts biggest enemy are the large fish eating birds that live on the creek.