The Air Force Reserve is putting on the final touches out at the Growden CCC site.  The dam is gone, the water is flowing freely through the site.  We will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 2 at noon at the site to celebrate the end of Air Force Reserve’s part in the project and the reopening of the site to the public.  They have done an amazing job and the site looks great!  All that will be left to do is revegetation, put up the interpretation signs, and move the bath house closer to the parking area.  

Karen Honeycutt
West Zone Fish Biologist
Three Rivers Ranger District
Colville National Forest
255 West 11th
Kettle Falls, WA 99141
Work (509)738-7738

Here’s an update for Growden and our wonderful Spring that we had!

So we had an eventful Spring – dam overtopped and banks eroded away.  The site looks a lot different.  I will be so relieved when we don’t have the dam in place anymore.  We, of course, had the highest flows since 1998 this Spring, which I am beginning to think large flood events can be predicted and droughts ended by the partial removal of a dam or a major stream restoration project.  Bruce and I have learned a lot and are reconfiguring the designs.  The dam overtopping wasn’t bad and as soon as we pulled the grate the water went down 4 feet.  The bank erosion was significant and basically doubled or more the stream width.  The log structures were mostly buried.  On the other side, the revegetation went great, there was just nothing big enough to hold the banks.  Currently we are looking at a 90% + survival on the plantings and staking.  The wet Spring helped of course.  We realized that we built the channel to withstand this event if the banks were fully vegetated and treed.  Without the vegetation, as soon as the water went around the log jams, it took off.  So now we’ve learned how to build the stream to allow for the capacity of a flood like this until the vegetation takes hold.  Overall it looks fine and we are really happy with what we have out there to work with.    
Here’s a picture from atop the topsoil pile.  If you get a chance to wander over, you’ll be surprised at the changes.  Make sure you stop in.

We start up again after July 4th and will at least have the remaining dam out and the new stream in place in early September.
 
Karen Honeycutt

Badger fished well on Sunday (25th) and Monday (26), the only two days with really nice weather since the regular opening day for the local lakes. Sunday wasn’t quite “combat fishing” but there were lots of boats at the south end of the lake, still fishing, trolling and, despite the breeze, chronomid fishing in the shallows.
The shallows netted some smaller rainbows, but, on both days, trolling a #6, brown woolybugger produced cutthroat and rainbows in the 16-18″ range. Most of the activity was along the south-east side of the lake in 30-40′ depth. I was surprised to net a number of 17-18″ cutthroat along with one 20″ rainbow. In the spring of 2009, 50,000 rainbow and 20,000 cuts were planted. Possibly due to the easy winter, those fish are now around 16 inches. Water was 50 degrees and clear. I would expect more success with chronomids on calmer days as the wave action sorta spoils the presentation and casting into the wind can be a challange.

Ice has been off Coffeepot for weeks. I fished it on the 1st and 5th of March. It and it had already turned over; clarity was poor and color brownish. Trout were active and hungry, taking woolybuggers and bunny leaches, black to bright orange size 6 and 8. Water is low, with a rocky shoal between the upper and lower lakes. Smallest fish was 18″ largest was 24″ with more in the 20’s than the teens.

Carla and I were recently fishing the Methow River for Steelhead. As we returned to the car at a Game Department access site, we were chatting with a couple other fishermen getting ready to head down to the river. While one gentleman was stringing his rod, it suddenly snapped a quarter of the way down. Just shattered!  Needless to say they were bummed.

We gave it some thought as to what might have happened, but at the time really couldn’t come up with a good explanation. It wasn’t until we drove off I recalled they had the rods in the back of their truck with the tips hanging over the tailgate. Having traveled a couple of miles on a rough gravel road, those rods bounced and bounced. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hit the steel tailgate hundreds of times. All it took was a slight bit of pressure to snap the rod.

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen rods being transported in this manner and I’ve been guilty of it myself. One thing I used to do though is string a bungee cord across the truck bed and rest the rods on it. I now try and remember to bring my magnetic rod holders for travel. I’ve seen MANY folks place rods under the windshield wipers. This scares me half to death. It can’t be a safe way to haul a rod.

Suffice it to say, with most of us being a bit on the lazy side; break your rods down before travel if you don’t have a proper way to carry one on your vehicle.

Oh, neither Carla nor I caught any fish. I was hoping to turn her into a card carrying Steelheader!

A big thanks goes out to the Ross’s for hosting another successful outing the weekend of Aug 7, 8 & 9.  There were at least 25 club members attending with Clara and Art preparing both a Saturday morning breakfast and a great pulled pork dinner for the evening meal. Both meals were well assisted by Linda  and Carla. Thanks to all who provided their favorite side dishes. As is typical, there were to many salads and to few desserts. (in my opinion anyway).

Carla and I stayed on for the remainder of the week with my sister, her husband and our grandson for the remainder of the week. I think it rained 8 out of the 11 days we camped! Quite a chore getting everything clean and dry.

I think nearly everyone had better than average fishing with some days out shining others. Attractor patterns, Terestrials and Mayfly’s did well. Not to many Caddis for some reason.

WE look forward to being able to attend other outings in the future. Dan & Carla

Bonnie Lake is accessed by paddling up Rock Creek for about 1-mile. Bonnie is just north of Rock Lack. I had never been to Bonnie but it is a very scenic lake and pretty darn private because you have to do a little paddling to reach the lake. After some experimentation and moving up the lake I began to catch some nice bluegills and a couple of small bass and assorted other sunfish. Chironomids, damsels, and dragon nymphs seem to attract the fish. You need a canoe, kayak, or small motorized boat as Rock Creek, while very slow moving, is very narrow in spots and also has lot of turns. I don’t think a pontoon boat would be a good choice. It is a good workout for the paddle sport enthusiast. Roger Bertsch

Basalt Structure Near Bonnie Lake

Rock Creek (a "wide" section)

Bonnie Lake

Bonnie Lake

great time at Kelly with 22 members in attendance. everyone caught fish. lots of 8 to 12 inch and some 14 to 16 and one or two near 20. Mountain man breakfast was well received.

Mark Potter