Paddle Talk

By Paul Ferguson

Paul is the author of the guidebook Paddling Eastern North Carolina (www.PocosinPress.com)

A conversation among paddlers can be confusing to the uninitiated. Here is a sample: "Let's meet at the put-in at 9 and set up the shuttle to the take-out.  The first half of the trip is flatwater, Class A, followed by whitewater, Class 1-2. We'll catch the eddy above the first rapid. Beware of the undercut rock at the head of this rapid. There are likely to be occasional strainers. Be ready to ferry to avoid them. Make sure your painters are secure and not floating. Two miles before our take-out is a low-head dam with a powerful keeper hydraulic. Portage it right. After that, there is little gradient." Here is a translation of the terms:

The put-in is where paddlers launch their boats, and the take-out is where they end the paddling trip. A shuttle is using vehicles to get boats and paddlers to and from the put-in and take-out before and after paddling.

Making a ferry and catching an eddyare useful river maneuvers. The purpose of a ferry is to move the boat laterally across the river without letting current carry it downstream. It is done by paddling against the current while keeping the boat somewhat angled to the current. The angle causes current to move the boat laterally. An eddy is formed when water moves past an obstruction or around the inside of a river bend. The eddy current just downstream of the object or bend flows opposite to the river current.  Paddlers catch an eddy by paddling into the eddy current to get out of the river current.

Rivers can have flatwater and whitewater characteristics. Flatwater has no rapids and is rated by speed of the current: Class A is less than 2 mph, B is 2-4 mph, and C is over 4 mph. A 4 mph current is generally considered the limit most can paddle against. Whitewater rivers have rapids classified as 1-6 (often written as Roman numerals I-VI), where difficulty increases as the numbers increase. Class 1 has small rapids requiring little maneuvering, while Class 6 has extreme difficulty and danger.

The gradient of a section of a river is the total drop divided by the section distance, where drop is the elevation (height above sea level) of the river at the start of the section minus the elevation of the river at the end of the section. Gradient is typically expressed in feet per mile. Usually more gradient indicates more difficult whitewater, but gradient is only an average. The drop is usually not uniformly distributed. Most of the drop may occur at a dam or in only a few rapids. Typical flatwater rivers have gradients a few feet per mile or less, while whitewater gradients of rivers in NC's Piedmont vary from many to tens of feet per mile.

A low-head dam has water flowing over a small vertical drop, usually only one to a few feet. It is especially dangerous because it looks easy to paddle over, but there is a powerful recirculating current (called a hydraulic) at the base. Most low-head dams have a keeper hydraulic because it keeps recirculating anything that floats. A paddler might run a low-head dam with sufficient speed and balance to make it look easy, but a small mistake can be deadly. Low-head dams are also known as drowning machines.

A strainer is an obstacle that lets water pass through, but blocks (strains out) objects. A downed tree in a river forms the most common strainer. The current will carry a swimmer beneath the tree and into underwater limbs. Current prevents the swimmer from returning upriver, and the limbs prevent going downstream.

Undercut rocks are rocks that have been eroded underneath the water surface. Some undercut rocks have cavities that can trap paddlers.  

Painters are ropes attached to the ends of a boat, which are used to help retrieve the boat or tie it to the bank or roof rack.

See you on the river.

(paddle talk for good-bye - sometimes abbreviated as SYOTR)

X-Weather Fishing

By Peter Boettger

Peter Boettger is author of "Fishing the Western Pamlico", available at the PTRF office.

It is early October, several days after 20-24 inches of rain have deluged eastern NC.  The Tar-Pam is swollen over its banks in more than a few places.  An enormous plume of fresh water is surging down into the estuary, bringing with it the good, the bad, the ugly, and the indifferent.   Following dry conditions over the last month of summer, the upland run-off will bring with it an infusion of detritus, nutrients, and sediments that form the base of the estuarine food web.  However, too much too fast may have deleterious consequences on the receiving end.   The need for intact wetlands, vegetated riparian buffers, and naturally meandering streams can become painfully obvious.  But that's another discussion.

2010 began as a year of extreme weather conditions and shows no signs of moderation as of this writing.  The winter was memorable for sudden and prolonged cold snaps.  Web site discussion forums were abuzz with anecdotal reports of speckled trout floating stunned and dead by the thousands.  Accordingly, specks were few and far between over the spring and summer.   "Winterkill" may be the single most devastating cause of mortality for speckled trout in the western Pamlico.  Trout start to be adversely affected when the water temperature dips below 50, and a precipitous decline below 45 can be lethal, especially for smaller trout.  When a strong cold front blasts into the region quickly, many of the trout wintering in the creeks and rivers of the western Pamlico do not have time to escape to the deep waters of the open Pamlico Sound, where temperatures are slower to change, even under severe conditions.  Fortunately, speckled trout reproduce and grow quite prolifically and the population will normally rebound in 2-3 years.  Smaller trout did begin to appear in late summer this year with a few keepers mixed in.

The brutally hot summer of 2010 did not seem to help much.  In addition to scarce trout most fishermen in the area agree that puppy and yearling drum did not show in numbers typical of recent years.  The general consensus was that the annual mid and late summer spawning run of old, big drum was somewhat off as well.  Flounder were actually quite prevalent, albeit on the side of below size limit.  It appeared to be a banner year for crabs and prey species of fin-fish.  The surface was positively teeming with mullet, menhaden, shrimp, shiners, and mud minnows prior to the heavy rains.  One has to wonder whether the heat profoundly detracted from water quality, creating more anoxic, inhospitable conditions for larger predators.  It is difficult to know for the casual observer, since the state on-line water monitoring stations were discontinued due to budget constraints. 

Bottom dwelling species are particularly sensitive to low oxygen conditions.  Occasionally, during periods of calm in the heat of summer, flounder will participate in a strange phenomenon sometimes known by local people as a "flounder walk" or a "jubilee".  Periods of little or no wind during long, hot days and nights allow the still waters to settle into well defined layers.  Under these conditions there is no mixing between the more buoyant, oxygen rich layers of fresher water in the upper water column and the heavier salt wedge at the bottom.  A lack of photosynthetic activity, combined with microbial decomposition of decaying organic matter on the bottom, further depletes the oxygen supply to extremely low levels.  Such stagnant water can literally drive bottom dwelling flounder, crabs, and other creatures to the shoreline in a desperate effort to find higher levels of oxygen, even attempting to gulp it from the air. 

The weakened fish are quite docile, appearing to offer themselves with no resistance to those fortunate enough to reap the harvest.  A festive, mystical aura is often described as surrounding the entire event.  Left alone, the hapless flounder may live to walk another day if they can find enough oxygen, or if a wind adequate to mix the surface and bottom water soon follows.  

Salinity is critical in determining the presence or absence of various fishes, as well as their prey species.  Trout are particularly sensitive to salinity, and ideally inhabit waters greater than 20 ppt.  Thankfully, they are present in good numbers at much lower levels in the western Pamlico, but are noticeably less prevalent at less than 10ppt, and usually absent at less than 5 ppt.  Local flounder fishermen arefortunate that southern flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) are well suited to low salinity.  Perhaps the flounder bite will continue unperturbed.  Likewise, young red drum can adapt readily to fresher water.   The excessive rains are almost certain to push menhaden and shrimp to saltier environments.

The prevailing winds are from the north to northwest in fall and winter in a normal year, keeping salt water from the inlets in the eastern portion of the Pamlico.  Conversely, if an unusual amount of easterly winds should occur, it might produce a relative rise in salinity, as saltier water from the eastern sound is pushed west.   So what will the fishing in the Pamlico hold for us during fall of 2010?  As one begins to factor in the elements of wind, precipitation, and temperature the combinations and permutations become mind boggling.  So your guess is as good as mine.

PTRF ELECTION RESULTS

The Results Are In!

An outstanding slate of candidates was nominated to be considered by the membership for election to the PTRF Board of directors.  The good thing  about having excellent candidates is that we are assured of and excellent outcome.  The bad thing is that it makes for a close vote and someone is not elected.  All the nominees care about our river and are committed to help and be involved with our important work.

Tw o board members returned to their spots on the board and two new board me mbers wer e elected as the final ballots were tabulated at the PTRF annual membership meeting.  The ne  w members elected to the board are Dr. Priscilla Denney and Dr. Alex Manda.

Pricilla is a respected engineer, educator, and technical manager. With an enduring passion for the environment, her intellectual capacity and independent outlook continue to enable organizations to achieve a new and higher level of growth. As CEO of Priska LLC, an environmental consulting firm, she continues to demonstrate her unusual combination of analytical and communication skills by providing traditional environmental services and green jobs training for the emerging renewable energy industry. 

Alex would bring his background in water resources and diverse international experience

to his work with PTRF. He currently serves as Assistant Professor in Water

Resources, Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for Coastal Science and Policy at East Carolina University. He wants to use his background and expertise to gain an understanding of the challenges and solutions related to the availability and distribution of potable water. In addition, he hopes to build networks with professionals and volunteers that will establish collaborations and will facilitate the exchange of ideas about how to deal with the influence of climate change, contamination, and population growth on vital water resources.

PTRF has the great good fortune to have Jerry Eatman and Lawrence Behr reelected for a second term on the Board. Both individuals provide excellent leadership to the board. Their contributions are diverse and support us moving to the next level of excellence.

r intellectual capacity and independent outlook continue to enable organizations to achieve a new and higher level of growth. As CEO of Priska LLC, an environmental consulting firm, she continues to demonstrate her unusual combination of analytical and communication skills by providing traditional environmental services and green jobs training for the emerging renewable energy industry. 

Alex would bring his background in water resources and diverse international experience to his work with PTRF. He currently serves as Assistant Professor in Water Resources, Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for Coastal Science and Policy at East Carolina University.

He wants to use his background and expertise to gain an understanding of the challenges and solutions related to the availability and distribution of potable water. In addition, he hopes to build networks with professionals and volunteers that will establish collaborations and will facilitate the exchange of ideas about how to deal with the influence of climate change, contamination, and population growth on vital water resources.

PTRF has the great good fortune to have Jerry Eatman and Lawrence Behr reelected for a second term on the Board. Both individuals provide excellent leadership to the board. Their contributions are diverse and support us moving to the next level of excellence.