Beavers and trout

I recently watched an interesting show on CBC’s the Nature of Things about beavers and the important role they play in maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems.

 Most people are familiar with beavers, and beaver dams. They are often a nuisance when they dam bridges and culverts and many anglers feel their dams also serve as a barrier to fish migration in small streams. This may be the case during low flows but usually in the fall, when fish are moving upstream to spawn, water flows are higher and most fish manage to get over or through them.

 Beaver dams actually benefit the environment by stabilizing stream flows, reducing silt and providing habitat for fish and other wildlife.  Beaver populations are currently high throughout Eastern Canada. This means we have a lot of beavers, and beaver dams. The small ponds created by beaver dams have always been one of my favourite areas to fish and I know many anglers who share my enjoyment of fishing them. While most do not produce large trout many of the ones I fish have good populations of pan-sized trout. Ponds created by the dams are often deep. This depth provides protection for fish as well as a refuge from warm stream temperatures. In my experience many of these ponds also tend to have good populations of aquatic insects and leeches, all great sources of food for fish.

Well looky looky looky at the good news from Canada! Jari Osborne’s documentary reaps another beaver benefit with this smart article aimed at wistful fisherman by Don Mclean for The News. The whole article sounds like a beaver ad campaign and you should definitely go read it all the way through. I can’t wait until we get the program on PBS and our own media has a little run of beaver gospel for the US. I thought the article needed a graphic so I snagged a cuttthroat photo from the internet and borrowed one of Ron Bruno’s alaska photos. Thanks guys!

If you are not familiar with beaver ponds in your area a chat with local trappers should point you in the right direction. If you haven’t fished beaver ponds give them a try next season, you won’t be disappointed.

Um, just a thought, if you want to fish an active beaver pond you might not ask a TRAPPER where one is. He’ll most likely point the way to a ghost town. Ask a beaver defender. There are more of us than you think.