Local stream Redds

[Maurice]

FrankTroutAngler wrote:

Maurice wrote:
Cross in riffles to avoid them all together.

Riffles are one of the most common places to find redds. If you want to avoid walking over redds, cross only in the middle of deep pools.

It is my understanding and experience that trout spawn in a narrow window of stream characteristics including; water velocity, water depth, pebble size and preferably in front of a dimisnishing water column to provide a sweeping action to keep clean the redd and subsequent egg placement.

The redd is created by fanning the bottom and placing the proper sized gravel in a hump behind the depression. Then the eggs are laid and fertilized and are "hung up in the piled gravel at which time they are either abandoned to hatch exposed or they are again fanned with more gravel. to cover them.

This process is most prominent in the tails of pools and perhaps side channels and inside bends on larger streams. On smaller ones, its far more subjective to the available habitat.

I find it hard to believe that the riffles are the most common place to find them....simply because ;1. I've never heard of it and 2. it goes against all I've read and witnessed.

But I suppose there could be some riffles that exhibit these characteristics. Could you elaborate on what streams you've seen these examples?

 

[gfen]

Maurice wrote:
in front of a dimisnishing water column

Please clarify your nomenclature: Do you mean at a point where the water begins to lose depth, and thus gain momentum? IE, where the groundline sweeps up at the end of a pool and before a riffle?

 

[Maurice]

gfen wrote:

Maurice wrote:
in front of a dimisnishing water column

Please clarify your nomenclature: Do you mean at a point where the water begins to lose depth, and thus gain momentum? IE, where the groundline sweeps up at the end of a pool and before a riffle?

That's right....a compression area I believe they are called. It is in these areas that the trout seek the correct velocity because it is varies and they can choose what they instinctively feel comfortable with.

 

[Chaz]

A Redd is probably a celtic or gaelic word meaning a nest, specifically for spawning trout. The female cleans up the gravel with her tail, lays eggs and the male releases milt (sperm) over the redd to ferilize the eggs. Hence, redd-up your room.
Redds get covered with algae very quickly, but you can usually see where the trout have moved gravel around, there is usually a slight depression and a pile of gravel behind where there redd was made. Because of where the trout make their redds, they don't usually get cover with silt, if they did get covered with silt the eggs would die.

 

[TimMurphy]

Maurice wrote:

surveyor06 wrote:
Do the redds stay that clean looking through the incubation period? Just wondering if I should take note of where they are to avoid them during winter fishing, or if I will be able to spot them even after they are done spanwing

It depends on the amount of rainfall and turbidity experienced after they are cut. For instance, if the eggs are laid and covered and this is the condition and the water remains clear through incubation they are likely to remain the same contrast to the surrounding area of streambottom.

However, if there are storm events that muddy the water the resulting fines will settle out on top and reduce the contrast to the point it may be indistinguishable. Or perhaps a huge event (flood) may sweep the bedload away that they are resting in.

Be careful at the tails of pools and soft glides and you should be fine.

Cross in riffles to avoid them all together.

Hey Reese,

Take a look at the pictures Wetfly posted immediately above your post, those are redds and they are in riffles.

You'd better go instruct the fish to move them since they aren't supposed to be there.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Maurice]

I'd say they are adjacent to the riffle or in a soft glide. Not the heavy bumpy water I was talking about as a riffle.

But I will concede....they are everywhere.

 

[afishinado]

My .02 is first you need a gravel bottom area, not silt or larger rocks. Next the spawning trout seek water that water should be fairly shallow and the velocity of the water moderate to fast. The above is sometimes found tails of pools and glides as well as riffles in my experience.

Long and short - DON"T WADE through these areas. The incubation period for brookies is a month and a half in 50* water of Big Spring, but it's over 4 months in many freestones with a winter water temp of 35*.

Here a link to some info:
http://www.denniskalma.com/brooktrout.html

 

[JackM]

Good info afish. When I offered advice, I should have said avoid wading altogether, if possible. I would say a redd in a typical fast riffle is the least likely place, but Frank is right about the deep pools also being unsuitable. If I had to wade or cross, I'd just becareful whereever I was to walk or stand softly an area that looks least likely to harbor a redd.

 

[RichFishbelt]

Foxgap239 wrote:
I was out and about today and found some very nice Redds. No fish were on them while I was there but I think it will give those of you who have never seen a Redd an idea of what not to step on when you are out fishing this time of year. The big Redd was about 4 ft long and 2 ft wide, must have been a nice pair. The other redd was about 2 ft long and a foot wide. Enjoy and be careful where you walk this time of year.

I fished the McMichaels yesterday. I saw one small redd. On some of the other streams that I fish regularly, I have not seen any yet. However, there have been seasons that I saw the trout spawning as late as early December.
With regard to wading, I should mention the importance avoiding the area immediately downstream of the clean gravel in the redd. I recall reading an article, where the author said that soon after the eggs are deposited over the redd by the female, they are carried by the current into the gravel just downstream of the clean area, where they eventually settle.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Maurice wrote:

FrankTroutAngler wrote:

Maurice wrote:
Cross in riffles to avoid them all together.

Riffles are one of the most common places to find redds. If you want to avoid walking over redds, cross only in the middle of deep pools.

It is my understanding and experience that trout spawn in a narrow window of stream characteristics including; water velocity, water depth, pebble size and preferably in front of a dimisnishing water column to provide a sweeping action to keep clean the redd and subsequent egg placement.

The redd is created by fanning the bottom and placing the proper sized gravel in a hump behind the depression. Then the eggs are laid and fertilized and are "hung up in the piled gravel at which time they are either abandoned to hatch exposed or they are again fanned with more gravel. to cover them.

This process is most prominent in the tails of pools and perhaps side channels and inside bends on larger streams. On smaller ones, its far more subjective to the available habitat.

I find it hard to believe that the riffles are the most common place to find them....simply because ;1. I've never heard of it and 2. it goes against all I've read and witnessed.

But I suppose there could be some riffles that exhibit these characteristics. Could you elaborate on what streams you've seen these examples?

Maurice: Not that it really matters, but please note that I didn't say that riffles are THE most common place to find redds; I said riffles are ONE OF the most common places to find redds.

An example of a stream where trout do a lot of spawning in riffles is Spring Creek in Centre County. Logan Branch, a tributary of Spring Creek, also comes to mind.

 

[Chaz]

Maurice, As I said in another post, I was out fishing a week ago on a brookie stream and there were a lot of redds in the stream. NONE of them were where I would have expected to see them. I'll add to that many times I have crossed a stream and walked right up to a redd not expecting to see a redd where I was walking.
So it is best to know exactly what a redd looks like and to be watchful whenever wading.

 

[Chaz]

I have seen many redds in riffles, I tend to think the most important factor in spawning is gravel. In the brookie stream mentioned in the prvious post the brookies were spawning where there was gravel, it wason the edges of the stream for the most part. But there were some in the tails of pools and in riffles.
On another stream, which happened to be a limstone stream with large brookies, an entire riffle was pock marked with redds up to eightteen inches in diameter. There were a few brookies still handing out over top of the redds.

 

[JackM]

We are probably working with different definition of "riffle." I really don't think the exact parameters of that term are commonly agreed upon.

In any case, I say stay home if you are that sensitive or careless.

 

[Foxgap239]

I second what most everyone has said here about redds. I think a common sense approach will work best. If you see redds avoid them. I do not want to get a debate started about whether to fish or not fish when they are spawning, just be careful. If you want to fish, fish, you paid your license fee (I hope), and if you don't want to fish because they are spawning, don't fish, you earned that right too. If you can avoid wading, do, if you can't be very careful where you step. I think the one consenus is that trout spawn in fairly shallow areas and if you can cross in deeper water, do so. Enjoy and remember it's our resource to enoy and protect.