Tag Archives: Fish

Winooski Fish Lift Open

The fish lift at the Winooski One hydroelectric facility on the Winooski River is now operating for the spring season, providing expanded fishing opportunities for anglers.

Winooski Fish Lift

 

Springtime operation of the fish lift on the Winooski River, which begins in March and extends through mid-May, is a collaborative initiative focusing on moving steelhead rainbow trout above the Winooski One Dam and into the next section of the river.

“Lifted steelhead are released into the 1.3 mile section of river above the Winooski Dam and below the next dam, also known as Gorge 18… The Winooski River provides key habitat for a number of Lake Champlain fish species at various times during the year and we do our best to protect fish at sensitive times while also providing quality angling opportunities where we can. It’s definitely a balancing act, but one that is important to the lake, its fisheries and to anglers.” ~ Nick Staats, fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

In an effort to protect spawning walleye and endangered lake sturgeon, fishing is not allowed between March 16 and May 31 on the section of the Winooski River below the Winooski Dam downstream to the first railroad bridge.

 

Winooski Fish Lift Open

The Winooski One Hydroelectric dam would have blocked spawning fish. A fish elevator was installed beside the Winooski Falls dam to help Winooski River fish get upstream to spawn. This elevator allows the fish to be transported beyond the two dams in existence further up the river. The fish are lured into a narrow compartment at the base of the dam; the water rushing through this compartment looks like a stream. The fish travelling upstream to spawn swim into this compartment and are unable to find a way out. The fish are raised by the elevator to the upper level of the Winooski River where they can spawn.

 

Winooski Fish Lift = Fishing Opportunites

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, in cooperation with Burlington Electric Department and Green Mountain Power, operate the fish lift to assist steelhead with their natural spring migration and also to increase angling opportunities on the stretch of river above the Winooski Dam that is open to fishing.

“Lifting steelhead above the Winooski Dam gives anglers the opportunity to fish for them in a section of the river that is legally open to angling. That being said, this is on a catch-and-release basis using artificial lures or flies only, until April 11 when Vermont’s traditional trout season opens up. After that, anglers are allowed to fish with natural baits and keep up to six steelhead per day.” ~ Brian Chipman, fisheries biologist with Vermont Fish & Wildlife.

The Winooski River is stocked annually with 20,000, 7 to 8-inch steelhead, in addition to 30,000 yearling salmon.

Additionally, anglers also have the chance to catch any landlocked Atlantic salmon that may still be in the upper sections of the Winooski River as a result of last fall’s spawning run.

  • As a reminder, anglers can visit www.vtfishandwildlife.com/lawsdigest.cfm to access the 2015 Vermont Hunting, Fishing and Trapping Laws and Guide that includes maps showing lakes and streams as well as fishing access areas and public lands.
  • The guide lists the fish species found in each body of water and includes the state’s fishing regulations. Copies are also available where fishing licenses are sold.

 

 

Lake Champlain Salmon Restoration Successful in 2014

2014 Lake Champlain Salmon Restoration

Officials from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced that the assessment results for 2014 show continued gains for Lake Champlain’s landlocked Atlantic salmon fishery restoration.

Lake Champlain Salmon Restoration

Landlocked Atlantic Salmon

“It’s extremely encouraging to see the collaborative efforts of New York, Vermont and federal agency staff fostering the long-term sustainability of the Lake Champlain fishery. Our staffs have made great strides in controlling sea lamprey, benefiting anglers and surrounding communities. However, we must remain vigilant in combatting the invasive sea lamprey so the fishery can continue to rebound and flourish.” ~ Joe Martens, Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
2014 Lake Champlain Salmon Restoration

Fish Culture Operations Chief Adam Miller with a landlocked Atlantic salmon at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle, Vermont

The three groups make up the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative and work collaboratively on restoration efforts. They reported a number of highlights from recent evaluation activities that indicate further improvement to the lake’s salmon population.

The joint efforts have included lampricide treatments to kill young lamprey before they get into Lake Champlain and start to attack salmon and other gamefish, stocking programs and fish ladders and lifts to help the salmon reach spawning grounds.

“We’ve seen several indicators from our 2014 assessments that make it very clear that sea lamprey control and our other salmon restoration initiatives, are continuing to be effective in strengthening the salmon population in Lake Champlain. This is a great sign for the salmon, for the health of Lake Champlain’s fisheries and for anglers.” ~ Brian Chipman, fisheries biologist, Vermont Fish & Wildlife Dept.

 Lake Champlain Salmon Restoration Success Indicators

One of the primary indicators is the strength of annual salmon spawning runs – which have produced several record or near-record numbers in 2014. Some of the key data points include:

  • 158 salmon lifted at the Winooski River Fish Lift at the Winooski One Hydroelectric Facility in Winooski, VT – this is the second highest number in the 22-year history of the fish lift operation. Most of these fish were trucked upstream and released above  the dam in Essex, VT dam for access to suitable spawning habitat.
  • Salmon spawning activity was observed for the first time at several locations in the release section of the Winooski River, and its tributary, the Huntington River.
  • Salmon lifted at the Winooski facility were in excellent health and ranged in size – one was a state record-class male salmon measuring 32 inches and weighing 14 pounds, the largest salmon ever observed from Lake Champlain in the history of the restoration program.
  • A record 724 salmon collected in Hatchery Brook at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle, VT. Many of the salmon collected were used to provide eggs for hatchery production.
  • 139 salmon were collected in the Lamoille River below Peterson Dam – this is the most collected in a season since 1993.
  • 43 salmon were captured and passed upstream at the Boquet River fishway in Willsboro, NY – the most passed at this site since 2011.
  • Two other Lake Champlain tributaries not know for significant salmon runs yielded record numbers of salmon in 2014 surveys: 30 salmon in Otter Creek in Vergennes, VT, and 19 salmon in the Missisquoi River in Swanton, VT.
  • Lake Champlain Salmon Restoration Successful in 2014

    Sea Lamprey attached to fish

    Additionally, data from 2014 assessments also show the lowest sea lamprey wounding rates since the long term sea lamprey control program began in 2002.

  • Lamprey wounds on salmon declined from 19 wounds per 100 fish in 2013 to 15 wounds per 100 fish in 2014, meeting the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative’s target wounding level for salmon. Lamprey wounds on lake trout also declined to 30 wounds per 100 fish in 2014, from 54 in 2013.
  • This contrasts sharply to the 2003 results when sea lamprey were near peak abundance, at a rate of 93 wounds per 100 salmon. That year, salmon returns were extremely low – only 84 collected from Hatchery Brook, 21 from the Lamoille River, and 14 from the Winooski River.

“The reduction in lamprey wounding rates indicate an overall decrease in sea lamprey abundance in Lake Champlain, and highlights the continued success and improvements in the sea lamprey control program. Through technological advances in survey and treatment methods and the inclusion of newly identified lamprey population infestations, the control program has gained more ground and become more comprehensive in its approach.” ~ Bradley Young, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, sea lamprey control program supervisor

Lamprey have had less of an impact in Lake Champlain which is beneficial to a range of fish species including northern pike, walleye and lake sturgeon, as well as trout and salmon. This progress is expected to translate into better fishing on Lake Champlain for years to come.


Other Lake Champlain Fishing Articles:

 

Ed Weed Fish Culture Station Improvement to Improve Health of Lake Champlain Salmon

Ed Weed Fish Culture Station Improvement to Benefit Lake Champlain’s Salmon

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department expects that an upgrade at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle, Vermont will improve the health of the salmon population in Lake Champlain.

 

 

fish trap at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle.
Fish Culture Operations Chief Adam Miller with a landlocked Atlantic salmon
from the newly-installed fish trap at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle.

 

Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department hatchery staff, fisheries biologists and other officials recently joined forces to construct a fish trap on the station’s discharge stream, Hatchery Brook. The trap will help to improve the collection process for adult salmon when they return to the brook to spawn.

After collection, the adult salmon will be used to reproduce and provide fertilized eggs at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle, where the eggs will be hatched and the young salmon raised before their return to Lake Champlain.

“Being able to collect fish in a safe, efficient and effective way for both staff and salmon is key to our overall fisheries management plan. The improvements we’ve completed at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station allow us to meet these objectives more effectively and ultimately produce healthy salmon for our Lake Champlain restoration efforts.” ~ Adam Miller, fish culture operations chief with Vermont Fish & Wildlife.

Former collection methods required more handling, put more stress on the fish, and were less efficient for hatchery staff and biologists.

“The new fish trap decreases the risk of injuries to adult salmon from handling and increases the health and condition of parent fish used to provide fertilized eggs to our hatchery system”. It should also decrease the stress on eggs taken from parent fish, which may improve egg survival rates in the hatchery.” ~ Chet MacKenzie, fisheries biologist with Vermont Fish & Wildlife.

The fish trap will also help fisheries biologists more efficiently collect data  from large numbers of returning salmon. The data collected will feature lamprey wounding rates, fish size, abundance and age structure – aiding the department’s assessment of salmon restoration efforts.

Ed Weed Fish Culture Station Improvement to benefit Lake Champlain Salmon

Landlocked Salmon, Salmo salar

The fish trap will also serve as an education tool. The public will be able to see fish when the trap is in operation, learn about salmon restoration efforts at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station and in Lake Champlain, and learn about fish culture and the impacts of invasive species.

According to Vermont Fish & Wildlife Commissioner, Louis Porter, “We are always looking for ways to protect and improve the health and number of fish and other wildlife in the most efficient ways possible. These improvements in how we trap fish, so we can collect and fertilize salmon eggs were developed by hatchery staff and fisheries biologists, and their efforts to come together to put in place cost-effective solutions to improve our work will benefit the salmon population for years to come.”

To purchase a Vermont fishing license or to find out more about fishing opportunities in Vermont, visit www.vtfishandwildlife.com.


Other Lake Champlain Fishing Articles:


 

 


Freshwater Drum or Sheepshead

When I was taking my open-water diving certifcation in Lake Champlain I bumped into a freshwater drum near Oakledge Park in Burlington. It was a bit of a shock to see something so big and unexpected in lake Champlain. – Tom

This article by Eric LaMontagne originally appeared on the LCI blog.

Battle the Brute: Freshwater Drum

Freshwater Drum or Sheepshead

It is common knowledge that Lake Champlain is home to many different species of fish. From miniscule minnows to monstrous muskies, the diversity held within the waters of Lake Champlain is impressive.

Of the more substantial fish, the Freshwater drum is a brute. Commonly known as a sheepshead, the current state record stands at 20.46 lbs from Lake Champlain, the only body of water they are found in Vermont.

The Freshwater drum is scientifically unique. It is the only member of the genus Aplodinotus and the only member of the family Sciaenidae that spends its entire lifecycle in freshwater. Mature male sheepsheads have the rare ability to “vocalize”; a set of muscles within their body cavity vibrate against their swim bladder to create a grunting sound thought to be used in mating.

Freshwater drum spend their days in the deep water where they can stay cool. At night, and on very cloudy days, they will move upwards to the shorelines to search for food. Females spawn in early June, choosing warm, shallow water to lay their eggs.

These fish are a favorite of anglers on Lake Champlain because of their size. Being a bottom feeder, the most common way of catching them is to cast a live bait with a heavy sinker; minnows, nightcrawlers, and crickets work well. Small, shiny lures fished slowly can work as well. They are much more active at night.

For more information:

http://fishbase.org/summary/Aplodinotus-grunniens.html

http://seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/drum.html

Lake Trout Moving “Below the Surface” of Lake Champlain

We at ECHO are fortunate to have a wonderful resource in the UVM Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory housed with us at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain.  The “Rube” as its called, is the home of some of the most current research on the Lake and its Basin– all done by a dedicated, interested, and sharing group of UVM faculty, students, and staff.  Among them is Dr. Ellen Marsden, who has been studying lake trout in Lake Champlain for a long time.  As you may already know from our video about Champ, Dr. Marsden has a knack for communicating scientific concepts concisely and in an accessible manner.  Sometimes a moving picture can tell us what words cannot.  For instance, she and her graduate student, Bret Ladago, built a underwater Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) that is capturing remarkable footage of lake trout staging for spawning in shallow reef habitats in Lake Champlain (for the best viewing, maximize the view):

In this one, several lake trout are “shoaling” — staying in one area where they may later spawn.  Several trout in this small group have adult sea lampreyattached to them; some show wounds from previous parasitism by sea lamprey.  To my eyes, the proportion of fish with either sea lamprey attached or wounds is dramatic; yet overall I only can get a really good look at perhaps a dozen individual lake trout.

In this one, a much larger number of fish are moving past the ROV while “schooling.”  Again, there are signs of sea lamprey parasitism on a portion of these fish.  In this case, I can see that there are many more fish in the area and I can examine many more fish for signs of parasitism by sea lamprey than in the previous footage.

This amazing footage provides never-before-seen glimpses into the appearance and behavior of Lake Champlain’s lake trout.  But yet it is important to understand that these are glimpses- just a very small snapshots of the large population of lake trout.  For example, the shoaling video alone could make us believe that despite our efforts to control the numbers of sea lamprey in the Lake, a majority of fish show signs of parasitism.  The second video may lead us to temper that view somewhat.  More footage might reveal other impressions.  How do we know what the true rate of parasitism of lake trout by sea lamprey is?  Are efforts to control sea lamprey changing this over time?

While the video footage is certainly engaging, its not the best tool for estimating rates of sea lamprey parasitism.  For example, because we cannot always see both sides of the trout, we do not know if individual trout may be seen multiple times.  Furthermore, there appears to be behavioral differences between the sets of footage which might indicate that the fish we see may not be average or typical members of the population.

Fisheries science provides the tools we need to answer these questions.  By actually capturing and examining hundreds of large lake trout in a standardized way, the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative has collected data year after year to provide answers.   According to their data (presented here from Lake Champlain Basin Program’s 2012 State of the Lake Report), rates of wounding on both lake trout and atlantic salmon by parasitic sea lamprey have been declining since 2007:

Taken from: http://sol.lcbp.org/biodiversity_impact-sea-lamprey-on-salmon-trout.html

For 2011 around 40% of large lake trout had scars from infestation of sea lamprey.  Ideally, this rate will continue to drop over time and achieve the 25% target rate set by fisheries managers for lake trout.

There are many reasons that we should care about the health of lake trout populations in Lake Champlain.  As large, deep water fish-eating predators, they exist with Atlantic Salmon as one of the top predators in the Lake, playing a role in maintaining the structure of the Lake’s food web.  By virtue of their size and habitat, they are part of the economic draw to the Lake, supporting the business of fishing guides, equipment sales, and fishing license sales.  Some of these dollars get invested back into conservation activities of our state and federal governments.  Additional public dollars support management activities to control the numbers of immature sea lamprey growing up in local streams and rivers and to rear young lake trout for stocking.  Last but not least, as these videos attest, they are graceful, resilient, and beautiful members of our Lake community.

For more information about lake trout in Lake Champlain, check out this story from UVM’s University Communications series, or visit Dr. Marsden’s website.