A Fish, a Duck, and a broken arm

Guess what? It's time to work on John's Creek and the Pocket Recreation area. We will be there Saturday morning about 9am, destroying rock dams, installing a kiosk, and clearing a roadbed. We need as many of my "No Followers" as possible to show up and help. Bring rubber boots or waders, shovels, rakes, pry-bars, saws, gloves, wheelbarrows, slingblades, chainsaws, dogsleds, and anything else you think may be useful. Except fishing rods. No fishing. Even for Paul DiPrima. (See next paragraph) I'm not sure how long we'll work or what the conditions will be. It has rained a good bit in the past week and all of the creeks around here are way up as well as the river. So we'll see what happens.

Trout season starts in a couple of weeks. Fishing is allowed on the upper portion of John's Creek from the last Saturday in March until Halloween. That's why there will be no fishing when we work there this weekend. However, with the work we've been doing, this creek will become a pristine trout stream. A project in the works to bring the stream temperature down will be changing the way the water drains from Lake Marvin. Currently the water comes from the top of the lake and raises the water temperature in the creek. The plan is to install a device that draws cooler water from the bottom of the lake, thereby reducing the water temperature in the creek. This is one of the ingredients for a healthy trout population and will hopefully lead to spawning. Then we will have more fish to catch, in addition to the stocked trout.

I went fishing in Cave Spring Sunday afternoon and didn't catch anything. As I said before, the creek was high, almost out of it's banks, and very murky. I tried some flashy flies to try to bring any fish out, but no luck. Anyway, fishing's not always about catching fish, is it? Maybe just a little. Are we more concerned about the fish, or catching them. I like to catch them. Stream banks can be very boring without hooked fish flopping around on them.

In other news the trout in the pond in Rolater Park are looking good and there is a lot of them still in there. We fed them some crackers and a guy caught one with his bare hand. I turned him in. He's in jail now. Not really. I tried to get a picture of it but the thing jumped out of his hand. I did take a picture of the world's most hideous looking duck. The reason I mention this, is because Kid's Fishing day is 3 months away. June 18 to be precise. That's the Saturday before Father's Day. In addition to the trout that are still in the pond, the DNR will be stocking thousands of more trout in the pond thanks to the Coosa Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the participants and patrons of the Chili Cook-off.

Back to Saturday, we will be deconstructing rock dams in the creek so the fish have more room to roam. Upstream and downstream from the stocking points, people have built them to hem the fish in and make them easier to catch. We're going to knock these down. We especially want to remove the very large one just upstream from the logging road crossing. This one has backed up a very deep swimming hole and someone's tied a rope swing in the tree next to it. We will also remove the swing because we're mean.

If you come, you may want to bring a lunch and some drinks. I plan to bring a couple gallons of water in my cooler and some dixie cups. I'm not bringing extra food though. You're on your own there. We may not even work long enough to worry about lunch. Who knows. Anyway, I'll see you Saturday.