Once came across 100's of large trout trapped in puddles of an outflow ditch/creek on the south end of 10 Mile Lake in BC.
The outflow was to a trickle because beaver had a dam right at the lake thus all these 100's of fish were trapped in these small ponds in the ditch/creek.
Decided to help the fish get back into the lake so I started ripping apart the beaver dam. Talk about HARD WORK as the sticks were so thick & jammed up. Remember I worked non stop aprox 2 hrs ripping away at the dam.
Lots of water started to flow so off I went...
Was TOTALLY SHOCKED when I found the whole dam was once again in place the following day.
Those beaver must of worked very very hard during the night. No way was I going to waste my time to rip it apart the 2nd time.
As far as those chums in puddles 20 ft from the creek...it's amazing that during a heavy rainfall how large these side creeks get...then after the rain stops they become small again. These chums got to those puddle locations when there was a big flow of water...& got trapped after the rain stopped. Ever see salmon on the news where they are swimming on flooded roadways or on people's front lawns after a heavy downpour & flooding
Nature is always surprizing & unpredictable.