Author: Ian W. McVitty

Season end on Bee Creek arrived with heavy rains and rising water levels.

Water temperature has dropped slightly since the summer months and remains at around nine to ten degrees, as we recorded six trout in the creek. The Cutthroat remain mostly small ranging from 60 mm to the largest of 120mm.

The creek flow remains strong with low turbidity and with slightly higher levels, compared to the drier summer months. Site seven especially has regained some depth and which is good to see. Three of the trout were recorded there.

The deeper pools provided a good insight into food sources for the trout, showing an abundance of shrimp and an occasional mayfly. With healthy creek, and good food sources, it is hoped that trout levels will rebound next year.

With the approaching fall and the ending of the Bee Creek monitoring season, we recorded ten cutthroat trout with half of those found in site 6, which is likely the deepest pool on Bee Creek. No trout were recorded near the mouth of the creek.

Despite the low trout count, the creek has a strong flow, with low turbidity. In addition, the water levels seem to have held with no apparent further drop, possibly due to recent rains.

When examining the collection bucket we often find insects such as shrimp and stoneflies. This month we observed a mayfly nymph which is a preferred food for trout. Similar to a Stonefly nymph in appearance, the three appendages can just be seen in the video.

Salmon in the City refers to events celebrating salmon runs and wildlife conservation in urban areas, such as the annual “Salmon in the City” celebration in Surrey, BC, and viewing opportunities in other cities like Coquitlam and Toronto. These events often include family-friendly activities and educational displays, while opportunities to view wild salmon in city parks and hatcheries are also available at specific times of the year.  (Google, 2025)

I was invited to visit by Dorothy Chambers and Joachim Carolsfield who lead the volunteer group monitoring Coho Salmon on Coldquitz Creek in Victoria. The group installed underwater cameras during my visit that will film coho during the spawn.

The underwater camera was of particular interest since we have considered a similar approach on Bee Creek. The model shown here has however been hard wired for its internet connection.

The intent is to use the camera for counting and observation as opposed to what we may have in mind.

The Coldquitz River visit was a fascinating example of citizen stewardship in action.

The Summer end brought cooling weather to Bee Creek.

The creek shows a strong water flow with consistant temperatures below 14 degrees even after hot weather during August. In addition, there appears to be a drop in water level most apparent in the pools located on site 1, and 7. Despite these issues, there appears to creek appears healthy with good quantities of invertebrates .

Jamie and I were joined by Judy, a good friend and neighbour, well experienced with ELSI due to her volunteer work with Jason on the European green crab trapping. Some similarities exist between crab and trout trapping, in that in both cases, traps are baited and left to soak for a day.

We recorded a healthy 185mm cutthroat in site 1, likely readying its return to the lagoon shortly and beginning its next stage. Based on research, juvenile trout remain in freshwater creeks for about two years.

We experimented with two alternatives for measuring the trout. The cutthroat on the left was measured using a stream keepers viewer which has a small tape measure at the bottom of the device. We need to keep the trout secure with our hands on top as opposed to the 185mm trout on the right which was measured in a ziplock bag with a ruler placed in the bottom.

The end of July brings us to the half way mark in the monitoring season at Bee Creek.

We were joined by James, a neighbour and friend who will become a regular ELSI volunteer and team member. Kelly-Anne and I showed James some of the changes to the creek sites since last year, most significant of which was the blockage at site nine with multiple trees which fell down last winter. Despite this and the clear drop in the water level there still remains a good sized pool where four trout were recorded.

The trout were well dispersed over the length of the creek this month and we monitored trout at each site. Site two which has a deepish run held five healthy Cutthroat.

Sculpins continue to thrive in the lower section of the creek. According to iNaturalist the smoothhead sculpin (Artedius lateralis) is not considered an invasive species. It is a native fish found along the northern Pacific coast, ranging from Russia and the Bering Sea to Baja California.

With half the season over we are seeing a moderate yet consistant average drop in the numbers of trout recorded.

By the end of June the warm weather finally arrived at Bee Creek. Although the number of trout recorded remain low, the creek looks healthy with temperatures around 13 degrees Celcius. In addition, a diversity of insects were visible.

Access to the sites in some cases remains a challenge, especially site 7 which was heavily overgrown with blackberries, holly, salmonberries and trees which fell over the winter.

The site is almost invisible and we had to cut away branches in order to set traps. Fortunately there are still trout in evidence including a small 50 milimetre juvenile which was measured.

We were joined by Duncan this month who is studying Biology and is set to graduate next year. He recently was involved with a multi day trapping effort by ELSI to capture Asian Green Crab in the Esquimalt Lagoon and his experience was very helpful in identifying Bee Creek invertebrates.

This Smoothhead Sculpin was retrieved and released at site 4.

Artedius lateralis, also known as the smoothhead sculpin or round-nosed sculpin, [2] is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae (Wikipedia)

An unusually cool spring opened the season for 2025. The traps brought in 13 juvenile trout, all healthy and ranging between 80 to 140 milimetres in length. The majority of trout were 100 mmls in length suggesting mature trout spawned in December.

The larger of this month’s recordings show that the larger fish were found upstream, perhaps a kilometre from the mouth.

Site seven, experienced the biggest change over the winter with two large trees falling over the creek. The foliage once cut back to allow access to the creek, showed a more shallow pool, possibly due to a blockage further upstream. Despite the depth and overgrowth we recorded five healthy trout there.

Other sites were considerably overgrown since last year but the stream overall shows a healthy flow and consistent temperature.

We usually find interesting plant and insect life whie monitoring and this year is no exception.

The last monitoring session of the 2024 season was accompanied with wet cool weather. Water temperature has dropped to just under 10 degrees showing the consistency of the creek throughout the year.

Despite the drop in numbers, trout measured were healthy and ranged from 55 to 135 millimetres. We recorded two large sculpins from site two; it appears they are attracted to the oysters and smoked mussels used as bait in the bee traps.

This month we have started using the traditional streamkeeper fish viewer again for observing and measuring the cutthroat. The viewer makes it easy to photograph and measure the fork length of the trout which is from the tip of the nose to the inside length of the tail fork.

This example is 13 centimetres or 130 millimetres in length. Other typical cutthroat indicators are the spotted body and the orange flash just under the jaw.

By the end of August, the number of cutthroat measured returned to normal with 24 healthy fish recorded. Fork lengths ranged from 40 to the largest measuring 160 millimetres.

Trout were recorded at each of the seven sites along the creek contrasted with the last three months of monitoring. Water temperature was also consistent at 14 degrees.

The caddis flies have finally moved on to the adult stage and the fresh water shrimp were recorded through the creek. Although it is not easy to measure the shrimp is was noticed that they vary in size as well, prompting us to find ways to discover more about these macro invertabrates.

New discoveries this month include a flying ant which floats on the surface of the water and what looks like a leech which was caught up in the gee traps. Both are considered food for Cutthroat.

Sculpins can feed on small juvenile cutthroat, but they are not commonly found beyond site 1, close to the mouth of Bee Creek. For the first time a sculpin was recorded on site four, roughly half way up the creek towards the source.