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Sewage plant mishap kills trout in Dog River
A chemical release by a municipal sewage plant is being blamed for killing a significant number of fish last week on one of Vermont's premier wild trout streams.
Fish were killed on more than a half-mile stretch of the Dog River below the Northfield sewage treatment plant. An angler alerted state fisheries biologist of dead fish Monday afternoon.
According to Northfield Village Manager Charles Morse, an infusion of chlorine was accidentally leaked into the Dog River from the sewage treatment plant as work was being done to upgrade the facility's chlorinating system.
"We knew we released chlorine, but we didn't detect a problem until later on," Morse said. "We're upset that we killed fish, obviously; we try to be as environmentally conscious as we can be."
Morse said the spill affected a stretch of river about 0.6 of a mile long, from below the sewage plant to the mouth of Cox Brook, a major tributary of the Dog.
Low flows compound a high drama
This summer has certainly been one of great joy for holiday-makers and sun worshippers. The sun has been working overtime while the rains have been on strike - until this last weekend. River fishing has been virtually at a standstill except for some trout fishing around dusk and sewin fishing at night. Rivers like the Towy and Rheidol have produced a few quality sewin intermittently despite the low water levels. Sewin, often referred to as the children of the tide, have been scarce on most rivers and even on rivers where stocks appeared more numerous, the fishing conditions have been atrocious. Anglers sometimes equate catches with stocks when in fact the catches often reflect the fishing conditions. Anglers are very concerned about the future of sewin and salmon stocks especially as several of those important nursery streams are drying up.
Like shooting fish in a barrell
I just got home from a week-long road trip and I think I may have found some of the best fishing on the planet. That is if you like yanking on halibut until your arms feel like they're full of wet cement and hooking so many coho salmon that it seems a little like bluegill fishing out of a 5-gallon bucket.And the best part of the deal is this angling paradise is relatively close.My base of operations was Juneau, Alaska which is a short three-hour flight from Sacramento, with a stop in Seattle. On assignment for Fish Alaska Magazine, my orders were to explore and report back on the fishing opportunities available in the waters within easy striking distance of Alaska's capital city.On day one, my assistant Khevin and I rented a car and buzzed around the Juneau road system, where we found massive amounts of salmon in all the small streams we visited, catching more than we could count on fly and conventional tackle.
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