I put some miles on the truck (and some on the ground) this week as I [traveled to] Paul Smith’s VIC three times, went brook trout fishing a couple times, and watched Loons on Lake Clear. [I also] photographed fall leaves, did some leaf blowing for several days, caught songbirds when the wind didn’t blow, and caught saw whet owls for four nights. Everyone asks [me] when I get the time to sleep and do all these things. I say, “I nap a lot.” I don’t know if I will get into all these [items in my column] as I must add a few politics this week, which I know you all like to hear just before Election Day.
Posts Tagged ‘Brook Trout’
Trout tails: In search of native strains
When the volunteers of Trout Power get together for a fishing weekend, they are more interested in a small clip of fish fin than a trophy specimen. They aren’t looking for the biggest or most beautiful trout.
They are looking for genetic information, and they have found it. The nonprofit organization is working with genetics researchers to expand our understanding of native trout strains scattered throughout the park. The strains show minimal mixing with stocked trout and have survived centuries of threats like acid rain and game fishing. The genetic diversity the anglers and researchers are finding, more robust than previously understood, may be a key weapon against the growing threat of climate change, which could warm water temperatures to level uninhabitable for cold-water fish like brook trout.
Tracing the brook trout family tree
No fish tells the story of the Adirondacks like brook trout. This native fish is a prime indicator of water quality and have suffered from habitat, degradation, overfishing and acid rain.
Despite their declines, there is little that’s more Adirondack than wading into a stream flanked by towering spruce and pine trees, casting a fly rod in the area of downed logs. It takes a quick response to hook a brookie as it stabs at a fly on the surface of the water.
All about Brook Trout
The state fish of New York (and 9 other states). Perhaps the most sought after fish in the Adirondacks due to its elusiveness and beauty. If you have ever caught one, they are a thrill and an absolute gem to the eye. In my experience, no other fish that you try to catch feels like you are hunting with a fishing rod and line. They are tricky, and thus a true challenge. It sure is a splendid feeling catching one.
With that said, the majestic Brook Trout is the appropriate species to kick off the first species account in what will become a series for the Adirondack Almanack.
Cornell Brook Trout Conservation Field Day
A Brook Trout Conservation Field day presented by Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Hamilton and Herkimer Associations will be held on June 4-5 in collaboration with Trout Power and Great Camp Sagamore. The Field Day invites all to come to learn about the tremendous strides in research and conservation practices that are helping to restore the heritage strains of brook trout that were once abundant throughout the Adirondacks.
ADKX Announces 2020 Cabin Fever Sundays Series
Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX), has announced its 2020 Cabin Fever Sunday Series, set to begin on Sunday, January 12 at 1:30 pm. Programs are free for museum members and $5 for the general public.
Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Programs are held in the ADKX Auditorium and are subject to change due to weather. » Continue Reading.
Brook Trout Found In ‘Fishless’ Lake Colden
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation (ALSC) have announced the confirmation of brook trout in Lake Colden in the Adirondack High Peaks.
Considered fishless for decades due to the negative effects of acid rain, the discovery of the brook trout population in Lake Colden is being attributed to improved water quality directly resulting from state and national standards to prevent the airborne pollutants that cause acid rain, notably sulfur dioxide. » Continue Reading.
2,122 Acres Adjacent to Whitney Wilderness Privately Protected
The Adirondack Land Trust and a private landowner have partnered to protect an intact forest and a unique strain of brook trout on 2,122 acres in the town of Long Lake.
The Little Charley Pond tract contains Snell, Bear and Little Charley ponds and five miles of undeveloped shoreline. A new owner, Charley Pond Preserve, has donated to the Adirondack Land Trust a perpetual conservation easement to keep the forest whole and safeguard a rare fish community. » Continue Reading.
Cat Ponds: A Brook Trout Story
In July 1950, I had my first fishing experience on a cold, spring-fed brook that meandered down from the hills near Great Barrington, Massachusetts. My parents and I had planned a break from the heat and crowding of our small Brooklyn apartment and would be staying for a week with their friends.
My eighth birthday was coming up in September, but I was presented with an early present before we left, a child’s fishing outfit that contained a stiff little metal rod and miniature reel, a selection of snelled hooks and split-shot sinkers, a pencil bobber, and some “flies,” which should have been used to adorn some lucky woman’s hat. All of it came packed in a metal tube with carrying handle, clearly stamped “Made in Occupied Japan.” I was delighted and couldn’t wait to use my new tackle!
Brown Trout Found In Heritage Brook Trout Pond
While fishing in Black Pond on a rainy mid-April day, Jake Kuryla caught a 13-inch brown trout. The fish surprised the Paul Smith’s College fisheries major because Black Pond is a specially designated brook trout water.
Located on Paul Smith’s College property in Paul Smiths, Black Pond is used to raise Windfall strain brook trout for stocking purposes. Every fall, DEC live trap brook trout in the pond to get eggs from the females and milt (semen) from the males. The DEC then uses the fertilized eggs to raise young trout that are stocked in other ponds. » Continue Reading.
New Rules For Adirondack Fishing Going Into Effect
New fishing regulations go into effect on April 1, the start of the trout season statewide.
Numerous changes will impact Adirondack waters and anglers.
The new regulations include the elimination of special brook trout regulations at Whey Pond in the Saranac Lake Wild Forest. The pond neighbors the Rollins Pond and Fish Creek camping areas. Previous regulations had required anglers to release brook trout under 12 inches and to only allow them to keep three during an outing. Anglers were also required to use artificial lures.
The restrictive regulations were in place to protect brood stock for the Windfall strain of heritage brook trout. Whey Pond had been reclaimed in 1989 for the purpose of eliminating invasive fish, but two invasive fish species living in the pond have hurt the brook trout population there. » Continue Reading.
Research On Native Adirondack Fish Species Continues
Two years ago a research team from Paul Smith’s College published a paper about the possibility that yellow perch could be native to the Adirondacks, after finding its DNA in sediment from Lower St. Regis Lake that dates back more than 2,000 years ago.
Now similar sediment core sampling is being done on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid. In late February Paul Smith’s College students under the tutelage of Paul Smith’s College Professor Curt Stager – who led the original study – teamed up with Ausable River Association Science and Stewardship Director Brendan Wiltse to take sediment samples that will be analyzed for the presence of three fish species: yellow perch, rainbow trout, and lake trout. The group also plans to extract additional samples in the future. The DNA testing will be done by the Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College. » Continue Reading.
Conservancy Acquires 135 Acres At Otis Brook In Jay
Lake Placid Land Conservancy recently acquired a 135-acre habitat and open space conservation easement in the Town of Jay, that was donated by local resident Gregory Claude Fetters. The property includes approximately 44 acres of northern Appalachian-Acadian, conifer- hardwood, acidic wetlands and over 90 acres of Laurentian-Acadian pine forest.
Conservation of the property permanently protects a variety of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and allows the property to remain available for sustainable timber harvesting and eligible for enrollment in New York’s 480-A forest tax law. » Continue Reading.
New Study On DNA Based Detection of Brook Trout Streams
Research conducted by Paul Smith’s College biology professor Dr. Lee Ann Sporn and fisheries and wildlife science graduate Jacob Ball was part of a study published in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society this December.
The study, “Efficacy of Environmental DNA to Detect and Quantify Brook Trout Populations in Headwater Streams of the Adirondack Mountains, New York,” focused on using environmental DNA, or eDNA, to determine if a fish species – in this case, brook trout – are present in a stream by using a single water sample. » Continue Reading.
Recording birds in two counties while away for Grandson Jacob’s wedding
Fall weather has finally hit here in the North Country, with the first frost on Thursday, [September] 21, but it was light enough that my wide leaf plants didn’t get hit. My bed of nasturtiums, which have very big leaves and hundreds of flowers, wasn’t touched. Not too many bees (or other bugs) doing any pollinating this time of the year to make seeds for next year. I did see my last hummingbird on Friday morning [September 22] which gave us a new record for Eight Acre Wood by seven days longer than ever before. We were down Rochester way [on] Saturday and Sunday, [September 23 and 24,] so that record will have to stand for now. Maybe they have adapted to global warming faster than we know, staying this late.
» Continue Reading.