South Fork Boise River

Category: Tributaries

  • FUTURE FISHERY: Fry Monitoring Assesses Recruitment

    In addition to the population survey that Idaho Fish and Game conducts every three years on the South Fork Boise River, there is also an effort to track the status of trout fry in several locations along the South Fork Boise River.

    In late October a small crew was led by Art Butts from Idaho Fish and Game along with volunteers from Boise Valley Fly Fishers and the Ted Trueblood Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  They monitored trout fry in six locations spread a few miles apart.

    A section of the river would be measured for a 33 meter transect.  The photo at left shows a portion of the river right (we are looking upstream so it’s on your left in the photo) portion of the South Fork just upstream of the confluence with Rough Creek.  This is just upstream of the slide area where a January 1996 landslide formed a backwater along the South Fork.

    Since Art was the guy who knows what he is doing with electricity he manned the backpack electroshocking unit.  The three volunteers handled the nets, and as fry would emerge from the river bottom they would be netted and put in the five-gallon bucket.  The larger photo above shows the method.

    The next step in the process was counting and measuring each of the trout that had been netted and put in the bucket.

    Each trout was counted and measured with a ruler.  Total numbers are each site were recorded as were the measurements of all the fry.

    The age zero trout were then put in the second bucket (both buckets held water of course) so they could avoid double counting or losing track of the number of fish.

    This process was repeated for a total of six different sites.  The data collected at these sites match up with previous fry monitoring activities in years past.

    Over time we hope to get a better sense of the juvenile fish populations in the South Fork Boise River and what issues they face with flow and habitat management along the river.

    As lay people we were interested to see these fry are in very shallow water and for the most part on or in and among the interstices of the rocks on the bottom of the channel.  And they were right along the bank or shoreline.  In places where there was better brush cover along the bank there appeared to be more dense numbers of these little fish.  The more open areas seemed to have fewer fish.

     

     

  • What’s the Deal with the Tributaries?

    After several posts about the Pierce Creek culvert removal project it’s appropriate to step back and have a look at the role of these tributaries in the South Fork Boise River fishery.

    It would be uncommon — to say the least — that people who fish the SFB go there to fish one of the tributaries.  Many anglers may not even know these small streams exist.  Some may be attracted unwittingly to the confluence zone of these streams with the SFB to find rising fish, or good holding water provided by structure in the river channel.

    Small streams play an important role in the health of a trout fishery.

    First, they contain a significant amount of stream length and therefore habitat than may be at first realized.  Even a trickle of water can still provide some holding water in small pools for fish, especially those young-of -year.  Second, during certain times of the year, such as spring and early summer, the flows in these streams swell and more water can mean more habitat – space for fish to live.

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  • Bridge is Built; Pierce Creek now Part of South Fork Boise

    By Friday November 11 the new bridge was installed over Pierce Creek and the road bed was filled and rebuilt.  Guard rails were added to the bridge and the water was turned back into Pierce Creek.  Here are some photos:

    Looking downstream as Pierce Creek flows under the new bridge.

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  • PIERCE CREEK: Construction Starts, Cofferdam In, Culvert Out, Connection Coming

    Pierce Creek Culvert 11.02.2011

    Wednesday November 2 we broke ground on the Pierce Creek Reconnection Project.  The 48-inch culvert, one that has over the years turned into a fish barrier, will be removed and a new steel bridge installed.  Here’s a report on the first two days of work.

    Photo at right shows the clearing and grubbing on the downstream end of the culvert.  For the first time a clear picture of the stream gradient can be fully appreciated.  And even this did not reveal a surprise (more after the jump). Prior to clearing, willow bushes and aspen trees obscured Pierce Creek between the South Fork Boise road and the South Fork Boise River.

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  • Pierce Creek Reconnection Project Poised on the Launching Pad

    If you made it to the South Fork Boise River near Danskin Bridge in the last couple of days you would have seen this heavy equipment and rock pile in the photo below.  It represents the first step of the Pierce Creek Reconnection Project.

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