Yellow Creek Watershed Partnership, Inc

Yellow Creek Stream Sample Pictorial Review

The pictures were taken by Stan Slachetka and put on the internet by Lee Butler.

The web site name is; www.snapfish.com

The login ID is; [email protected]

The password is; yellow

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Yellow Creek Stream Sample

On Wednesday June 8th, 2005, some of the Y.C.W.P. members assisted Karen Anderson to sample the creek.

Yellow Creek Stream Sampling report by Lee Butler

It was a very interesting 'learning' experience.

#1 We sampled on Randy Kryler's property upstream from the bridge on Tiger Whip Road. This was an excellent site for access to the creek. We netted a lot of fish and a few large lunkers! The netters were; Wendell Kurr, Steve Simpson, Steve Spucich, Lee Butler, & 4 IDNR personnel. A lot of big carp were seen spawnning in the creek upstream from the bridge. Our test site was 200 feet upstream from the bridge and this spawning site. I don't think we netted any nice 'game' fish. The crew stopped at Boco Gas Station in Pearl City for a quick food snack.

#2 We next tested Hideaway Park. This was an excellent site for river access upstream. However, we did not NET very many fish. The netters were; Joe Ginger, Steve Simpson, Lee Butler, & 4 IDNR personnel.

#3 The next site was at Stan Slachetka's house. The creek was too wide for their equipment and possibly to deep. We did not test at this site.

I needed more information about how the 'stream sample' process worked to find good sites. The creek needed to be only about 20 feet wide and less than 3 feet deep to walk and seine the creek. The netters should wear polarized sun glasses to be able to see the fish deeper in the water. We needed 500-600 feet of river access upstream. Karen needed to know the river depth and width to properly equip the project. If the river was shallow and narrow(20'), we could walk and seine the creek. If the river was deeper (3' or more) and wider than 20', a boat shocking device would be used.

Our stream sample report will be released by Karen Anderson sometime in September or October. They do their stream sampling all summer and do their lab work and reports in the off season.

The Stream Sample Procedure (as experienced by Lee Butler)

1. Two nets 20 to 30 feet long and 3 feet tall was strung across the stream. One at the start point and one at the end point 500 to 600 feet upstream. An electric generator was placed in a small boat. The electrode sweep was about 20 feet long with 12 inch probes spaced every 2 feet and was plugged into the generator. As we walked up stream the fish were stunned with the electrical current and floated to the surface. The electrical current extends 3 to 4 feet around the probes. The 'generator boat' was dragged upstream also. Using a fishing net, the stunned fish were scooped up and dumped into a tub in the 'generator boat'. The IDNR personnel then counted, measured, weighed, and logged their findings in a report. Most of the fish were returned to the stream. All the equipment was then loaded in the trucks and on to the next site. They try and do 3 stream samplings a day on each creek every 3 to 4 years. During the off-season, the stream samples are analyzed and put in report form.

2. Procedure #2 Method(described by Karen Anderson, IDNR) is used when the river is deeper than 3 feet and wider than 20 feet. A small motor boat with 2 booms extending front and on each side is used to stun the fish. The fish are netted and placed in a tub for counting and statistical data.