Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[jack]

After four years of construction work, that fish ladder around the dam on Rock Creek at Pierce Mill is finally finished. The awful chain-link fences were taken down today, and the parking lot will be re-opened to the public. Right now the fish ladder is a covered-over concrete structure around the dam. Early next spring, the covers will be removed, and we'll be able to watch the fish on their way upstream via the ladder. -- Jack

[flydhest]

Great news. Access to the Park via Pierce Mill is one of the best parts of living in Mt. P in my view.

[Nippyfish]

[jack]

[Nickel]

OK, I'll bite....what fish in this region seek to spawn "upstream" in the Rock Creek?

[jack]

[jack]

[Dwight]

If you can believe it, the installation of the fish ladders was part of the new Wilson Bridge project.

-- Dwight

[Nippyfish]

Oh, I DO know what that is... I was just a bit slow on the uptake. Well, that's great news. I look forward to watching fish climb said ladder.

[igorok]

[flydhest]

Update on the fish ladder.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033002430.html

[micmac]

When are they taking the covers off so we can see the fish climbing their "ladders"?

[micmac]

I went to check out the fish ladder today. The Park Service put up a wooden fence to block off access to the fish ladder. The only way you could see it would be to go inside the fence and stand on top of the grates. That's disappointing, hardly worth $3 miilion or so.

[admin]

...this is hilarious.....

A Long, Upstream Battle
Copyright The Washington Post
By John Kelly
Tuesday, April 17, 2007; Page B03

"Are we there yet?" asked Larry, panting. Scraped and bruised, with a few scales missing, my best friend looked as if he'd gone a few rounds with a killer whale.

"Not yet, Larry," I said, trying to get my bearings. Climb the fish ladder, then straight on till morning. That's what the other herring had said, the ones that had already spawned, the ones we'd encountered languidly drifting downstream with contented looks on their faces as we headed north, fighting the current every inch of the way.

"I'm tired, Jim," said Larry.

"Of course you're tired. You climbed the fish ladder twice, you moron."

And he had. We'd waited in line for hours, then muscled our way to the top of the ladder near Peirce Mill -- up, up, up the various levels, our tails thrashing, our fins pumping. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. When we finally made it to the top, I looked for Larry -- and there he was, getting pulled over the falls, plummeting back down. "You go on ahead," he shouted. "I'll catch up with you."

But I couldn't leave him. Larry doesn't do so well on his own.

"I'm hungry," he said.

So was I. We hadn't eaten since the Potomac. We were too nervous. This was a big deal: obstructions removed, a fish ladder built, 28 miles of new spawning grounds opened. This was history, and we didn't want to miss it.

On we went. Farther, farther, farther. We kept our noses pointed into the current and swam on autopilot. What had been a crowd of fish dwindled, though every now and then, we'd pass some herring floating off in little side streams or treading water in pools that were strangely quiet.

"ASG, here we come!" shouted Larry in that funny voice he has.

"ASG?"

"Ancestral spawning grounds," he said.

[denisew]

Does anyone know when the shad run (if I have missed it) I caught it a couple of years ago and would like to see how the ladder works.