I went back to the Vedder after being away for 3 weeks. What a great Steelhead season it has been. I helped Pat release a nice wild on Sunday, and a couple of others were released before I got there. Way to go Pete! Any ways after fishing up and down, I decided to look at the Lower where I had never tried before. I am talking about below Keith Wilson Bridge. If you are looking down river from the bridge, there is a gravele bar that juts out on the the East side of the river, you know the one. When I waded out and walked back up to the gravel bank I noticed dead fish on the bottom of the river in about 3 ft of water. I reached down and picked up Stickleback litterded on the riverbed. They were all what looked like all adult fish, and that makes sense for the time of the year. I noticed a healthy population of fry along the shore, so that was a good sign. The Stickleback for those that are familiar with this fish were ' frozen dead with the spines out " look.
I Was lucky to grow up on a few acres and a pond with Trout/cutties, slamanders, frogs, all the other good stuff like Dragons and Damsels, etc, and a very healthy population of Sticklebacks. Never did I see more than one dead fish per year. Something bad happened on the Lower river and I dont know what to do. I dont usually post, but maybe these fiish should be tested, any ideas?
Ed.