08-26-2010, 04:24 PM
Kali and I took a road trip yesterday, going from Lowman to Bear Valley, Deadwood, Warm Lake, and back via Cascade. Deadwood proved interesting. We went to the dam and observed some Bureau of Reclamation fish biologists working below the dam. They were netting bull trout, taking advantage of the fact that they have closed the outlets to provide maintenance to the dam. They were implanting locating devices in the stomachs of the trout. They said they have done genetic research and discovered that the bull trout in the Deadwood River below the dam had gotten there by travelling through the outlet. They would then take the trout up to the inlet and release them to monitor their activity in the future. There were several other teams working farther down the river. Very interesting. The bull trout were quite small. They had just netted a 24" rainbow before we got there. We then hiked in to the weir at the inlet of the reservoir. The F & G moved the weir from Anderson Ranch to Deadwood two years ago, because, according to the F & G iologist who was nice enough to wade across the river and answer our questions, told us the numbers were better at Deadwood. The river was a sight to behold. He told us 2500-3000 fish were arriving daily. Nice sized fish, averaging 13".They had not started to collect, because their daily testing showed they were still quite "tight" and they couldn't retrieve the eggs. As we were watching, an osprey flew overhead (quite high up) and when he passed over them, they went into a panic. Not sure if it was his shadow on the water or the sight of the bird itself, but it was amazing to see. We stopped at North Shore Lodge at Warm Lake to get a beer and wash some of the dust down, and the bartender at the lodge told us he had been doing well fly fishing on the lake. Using grasshopper patterns. Saw some beautiful country, and managed to slip between lots of active fires in the area. Mike
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