Discovered this weekend that one of my favorite stretches of trout stream is now a beaver pond. A fairly big one. I like beaver dams and ponds in the short term, and when they're a series of small dams and ponds that create kind of a network through the woods, lots of water still running cold between small dams, lots of little pools and waterfalls, etc. I've caught plenty of good brookies in areas like that. When you get those bigger ponds, though, that back up the crick for a quarter mile -- after a while you've just got a silted-up, warmer-water sucker/bullhead fishery.
Would you call the conservation department and ask about having a beaver dam removed, or let nature take its course? This is a stretch of public-access private property, so I suppose the decision would be the landowners unless there's something in the easement about such things being the domain of the conservation people.
Would you call the conservation department and ask about having a beaver dam removed, or let nature take its course? This is a stretch of public-access private property, so I suppose the decision would be the landowners unless there's something in the easement about such things being the domain of the conservation people.
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