How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Hey everyone. Planning to head to the Black Hills in South Dakota around Memorial Day weekend. How wide spread is the Didymo infestation in the Black Hills?
Any suggestions as to where a person should go to chase a few trout? I usually spend some time ABOVE Deerfield Lake but water levels were quite low the last couple of years. Have also fished BELOW Pactola but understand there is a Didymo problem there.
How about Spearfish Creek?
Any suggestions? Thanks.
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Royce,
Here's the limited information I know.
Below Pactola, on Rapid Creek, there is didymo. Below Deerfield res., on Castle Creek is didymo, close up by the dam. There's didymo in Rapid Creek by Mystic. At last report, seeding the creeks with nutrients to kill off the didymo was supposed to start in April, though I haven't heard if they have started or not. There is NO posted information anywhere along the streams saying the waters are infested with didymo, and the State, in all it's wisdom, has continued to release rainbow trout, even in the infected waters. Responsible fishers are disinfecting boots, waders and lines, and letting felt soles boots dry COMPLETELY before using them in a different body of water. If you see any waters that look like they are full of wet toilet paper, don't go in them! And disinfect everything that's touched even the grass around them!
Above Deerfield, on castle Creek, a lot of damming has taken place. It's getting really hard to get in, and the water goes from dry to 8" in a hairs width!! And frequently MUCH deeper, as you no longer can tell where the original channel was!! Spearfish is beautiful. We understand the dam at the power plant (along the highway) has been breeched, but I don't know first hand what that's done to the fishing. Hanna Creek is always challanging, and a lot of fun!
We'll be there for a few weeks staarting around Memorial day. I hope the water levels are higher, and the didymo is under control. I also hope for 75 degrees and sun each day, and serious catches of fish. Think any of that will happen? :roll:
Betty
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Hi,
Didymo has infested the South Island here in NZ. It's a major problem. It's not a hard process to clean your gear, in fact, a decent concentration of dish detergent in hot water will kill it in your gear. The thing is to make sure you really soak your felt boots completely, for an hour or so, and then dry completely. They were originally suggesting 48 hours of drying, but with felt boots, the soles can stay wet for days and the didymo cells can be pushed into the felt and survive in there for just as long. If you don't need your felt boots, wear something else; just don't put yourself at risk of course. If you do need them, clean them, each and every trip. Didymo is awful stuff.
- Jeff
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Jeff,
Thank you for the update! Obviously, NZ is doing far more that SD!!!! Will take my dish soap with me, and still plan on wearing the other soles to my Korkers for the most part!
Betty
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Once again showing my ignorance but not wanting to be part of a problem.
What the heck is didymo?
I plan to travel to the black hills this summer and dont want to spread anything around.
Any info would be nice.
Thanks
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Hi Perch and Betty,
Check out this link from New Zealand on Didymo:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/didymo
It contains information on what it is and cleaning methods to help avoid spreading it. Betty, you might find some information there that would be worth sharing with other people you know. And this information needs to be spread to people other than just anglers, those who hike through the woods and cross streams can just as easily spread the stuff as those of us who fish in the streams!
- Jeff
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
I try to get out to the Black Hills at least once a year as I am about a day's drive from there. The last time I was there was spring of 06 and we did not notice Didymo as much as the glaring lack of water out there. We had good fishing in Castle creek, both above and below the Deerfield reservior, in Spearfish creek (which you need to see if you have never fished it), and in Rapid creek above Pactola (which is another beautiful place to fish). If you want to take the first exit off 90 in Wyoming, you will find Sand Creek which is an awesome fishery if it has water. We did not go to Rapid Creek below Pactola. Something started killing off the brown trout there about 3-4 years ago and I never heard if the DNR ever figured that out. That's why they are stocking bows below Pactola. Didymo is another strange thing that has naturalists puzzled, it is native to the Northern Hemisphere in North America and Europe. It has been imported to NZ where it is a very nasty invasive species and has ruined some fine trout water. If you haven't heard of it, Didymo is basically a slippery algae that will grow to cover everything. The odd thing about it is that even in it's historical native range, it sometimes goes wild, acts like an invasive species and just overwhelms everything else in the environment! If you find it in North America in some body of water there is no telling if that is just a normal occurance or if it is 'super Didymo' (unless of course it has obviously overwhelmed everything). There are a few theories about what is making Didymo go wild. It is probably not too great a stretch to say that the low water in the Black Hills has concentrated the nutrient load and allowed greater light penetration below Pactola which would contribute to the situation. Even though it may not be invasive in North America, you need to be really careful not to spread it around from places where there is an infestation. One theory is that it has mutated and the 'super Didymo' is some kind of mutated strain. The stuff is perfectly adapted to being spread around via felt soled wading shoes!
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Thanks for the info. Hoping to get in a couple days of fishing while we are out in the Hills. Never fished Spearfish Creek. I think your information has put that on the top of the list for this trip. Thanks again.
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
Hey Royce - there are some great places along Spearfish creek to fish - not only inthecreek but also in the numerous ponds that are up and down the canyon. My favorite is a pond created by a hydro dam just up the road from Savoy. There are also a couple of good places up on Little spearfish creek as well. email me and I'll give you the details. You can also check with Betty Hiner since she's also up in the hills quite a bit.
Good luck and PLEASE be careful about cleaning up between trips to keep Didymo from spreading in our sweet, sweet Black Hills waters!
Re: How wide spread is Didymo in Black Hills of SD?
There is actually talk here in nz of banning felt soled bos altogether sometime soon. Fish and game have banned their use in the rivers and lakes of fiordland already and have shortened the open season on these waters in an attempt to keep this algae out of these pristine waters, and they could implement these measures so readily as they have full control over the conditions of a special license required to fish these select waters.
Getting such regulations banning felt into the national regulations will take time, as they must petition the minister of conservation first, but I have no doubt that sometime soon, we will see their use outlawed completly on nz waters.
even using the aforementioned measures, felt soles have proved almost impossible to effectivly clean via chemical measures, and biosecurity nz reccomend freezing your boots solid (yup) to kill off cells.
The other method is soaking them in solution and hot 60 degree C water for 40 odd minutes, but Im sure you all realise that water temp cools with time, and this is not the most accurate way to comply with biosecurity requirements.
A friend who owns a disinfectant company here in nz has created a specialist didymo killer which has taken off here with anglers, simple to use, and proved effective by NIWA, and at the moment he is working on refining this product so that it will more readily penetrate deeper into the felt than other solutions. Thus far his tests are proving positive, and soon he hopes to take his product again to NIWA for official testing. The findings may prove interesting.
In the meantime guys, I know it is a pain, but I thuroughly reccomend the use of rubber or studded aquastealth soles and vigilent cleaning practises to ANYONE who even steps foot in any river, didymo affected or not.... You can neve be sure that a river or lake is didymo free!
Chris