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Rhodes Pond Tragedy

Started by Guest_catfishcain_* , Oct 02 2013 04:23 PM

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15 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_catfishcain_*

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 04:23 PM

I have some very bad news for those of us that have enjoyed collecting or micro fishing Rhodes Pond near Godwin and Dunn, NC off I-95. I am sorry it has taken me this long to get the word out. But back on Sept 18, 2013 I toke a trip to Rhodes Pond to try and get some Elassoma (Pygmy Sunfish), Enneacanthus obesus (Banded Sunfish), and Enneacanthus chaetodon (Blackbanded Sunfish). However when I arrived the water had been drained and only narrow canals no more then 4 feet deep remained. The dam had been opened and all the water had drained out. Not a single drop was able to pass through the dam it was so low. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. But a great deal of plant life was lost and the majority of fish within the pond were either taken down stream, ate by larger predatory fish or were fished out.
Now as of Sept 29, 2013 the water has gone back up several feet but is still pretty low. But I figured I would let everyone know just incase anyone was planning a trip to Rhodes Pond any time soon. It might be more productive to find a different location.
First 4 pics are from Sept 18th when the water was down and the last 3 are from Sept 29th.

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#2 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 07:40 PM

Bummer - was it drained for dam repairs? I often take folks there for the Raleigh Aquar Soc workshop in Feb, but imagine it'll take more than a few months for the small littoral-zone fishes that depend on plants to repopulate. I have caught bluespotted and banded pygmy upstream near Angier, so I know there's upstream pops to recolonize, but I dont know about any upstream blackbanded pops. Mid summer is a bad time for that to happen, no shelter and no escape from the full sun.

#3 Guest_Dustin_*

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 07:51 PM

There's a spot near me that is similar, but on a smaller scale. Once a year for a couple of weeks, they open the dam and allow the stream to flow freely. It drains the shallow swampy area and leaves narrow canals and the main stem of the creek which typically has a fair amount of flow. The big concern with this spot is that while the water is low and the fish are concentrated, you can catch thousands of Elassoma boehlkei in an hour or so. This is their last really strong population in SC. We have been in contact with our DNR and they have attempted to keep this from happening with no success thus far. I have to say, though, it doesn't seem to affect the Pygmy population as there are always tons there form year to year.

#4 Guest_catfishcain_*

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 10:09 PM

That is really good to know Dustin, thanks for sharing. I did manage to catch one Enneacanthus obesus (Banded Sunfish) right below the dam among the rocks while micro fishing. It really surprised me when I caught it.

#5 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 02 October 2013 - 10:25 PM

That is really good to know Dustin, thanks for sharing. I did manage to catch one Enneacanthus obesus (Banded Sunfish) right below the dam among the rocks while micro fishing. It really surprised me when I caught it.

Would you mind posting a report of what hook and bait you used in the microfishing section? I've had the worst luck being able to reel in the smaller sunnies.

It's too bad to hear that about the pond. Is this the first time they've done that, or is it something that happens frequently and we can expect the pond to bounce back from? At least the heat broke recently and we've been having high temperatures in the 70's. Today's high was 82 I think. That's not nearly as bad as the 100+ we were getting just a month ago.

#6 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 12:36 AM

Well that's miserable from a fishy point of view. Only been there twice, but it's my go-to location for eastern mudminnows. (You'd think I know a good mudminnow location closer than 8 hrs from my house, but heh, what can I say, I don't.)

Hope it comes back soon.

#7 mattknepley

NANFA Member

Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 03 October 2013 - 05:36 AM

Another "dam" conundrum... :rolleyes:

I know there are varying opinions of dams and their value here on the ol' forum, but since I wasn't around to see the initial damage caused by its construction, I seem to be sympathizing with the ecosystem formed behind the dam. These pictures have really taught me one thing. I spent most o' my twenties in Florida, and did a lot of hiking there. Never did I realize just how deep below the surface some of those cypress trunks go. (Those are some truly intriguing trees. Beautiful, too.) The third pic really shows off the depths from which they will rise to the surface. Just how deep was the water there? What fish were most likely to call those things home? Do different "elevations" of the trunk host different critters?

Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

#8 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 08:49 AM

While that does stink, it looks like there is still a fair bit of habitable (albeit shallow) water left. If the water is already going back up, I bet most species are just fine and will bounce back pretty quickly. At least it wasn't during the spawning season!

If anything, it may depress numbers of larger predatory fish, and the next few years could be FANTASTIC for small aquarium-sized natives. But maybe I'm just an optimist...

#9 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 11:14 AM

My (pessimistic) expectation is just the opposite: Except for bald cypress, the vegetation is all in the shallows (less than 5 ft deep when pond is full) and most veg-dependent small fish die or get eaten when the pond is drained (except Gambusia, which can get by in 1-inch of water in full sun). I expect LM bass, bluegill, crappie, and golden shiner to have higher survival in the remaining unvegetated pools, and may dominate for the next few years. It'll depend in part on how soon the littoral zone aquatic plants come back, and whether they dried out enough to kill the roots. I sure hope Hydrilla doesn't invade now that the native aquatics have been knocked back. I've never seen Hydrilla in Rhodes Pond, although other invasives like Anacharis (Egeria), parrot-feather, and Ludwigia grandiflora are in there.

While that does stink, it looks like there is still a fair bit of habitable (albeit shallow) water left. If the water is already going back up, I bet most species are just fine and will bounce back pretty quickly. At least it wasn't during the spawning season! If anything, it may depress numbers of larger predatory fish, and the next few years could be FANTASTIC for small aquarium-sized natives. But maybe I'm just an optimist...

The dam spillway gates were rebuilt about 2010. This past summer the gates were not opened far enough during a heavy storm, and the pond overflowed, flooding highway NC-301 which is the road just in front of the dam spillway. The recent draining was for repairing damage that occurred during that flood, if I understand correctly. The Friends of Rhodes Pond Facebook Page has more info.

The dam was built mid-1700's. Bald cypress can survive long-term inundation after they're a few years old, but young seedlings can only tolerate short-term flooding. So the trees in the deep water parts of the pond are probably older than the dam.

I've been there many times over the past 20 years and have never caught E. obesus, but have seen plenty of E. gloriosus. If you catch an obesus please take some pics to post. I've also never caught a mud sunfish or dollar there, but it looks like they ought to be there.

#10 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 11:36 AM

More Info: http://fayobserver.c.../07/05/1267005. This article says that NC-WRC has been keeping the water level down about 4 ft below normal this summer after the flooding in June, so hopefully there will be enough native aquatic veg survival that both the veg and veg-dependent fish can recover in a couple years.

#11 Guest_catfishcain_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 11:54 AM

I'll try and get a post up either today or tomorrow about micro fishing for the smaller sunnies. So far Ive only been able to really catch Bluespotted Sunfish and 1 Banded Sunfish of the smaller species. Ive caught plenty of Dollar sunfish but don't think Ive caught any from Rhodes Pond.
I will say I did see a nice sized Eastern Mudminnow below the dam one night when I was shining a flashlight into the shallows amongst the grass. So I bet below the dam is still the same for Mudminnows.
From what I could see for a depth of the lake, there were parts that were around 8 to 10 feet easy and a few spots that might of been a few feet deeper but I didn't tread through the water to find out how deep it went. A great deal was around 6 feet Id say give or take a foot.
Gerald would be the best guy for knowing what species are located there.
And Im not to knowledgable on the ecosystem of a cypress tree. But I do remember over a year ago collecting with a net around the base of a cypress tree and caught all sorts of small fish from pickerels and sunfish to darters and seen a shiner caught.
Oh I did catch a Banded Sunfish below the dam while the pond was drained. It was among the rocks directly below the dam. I was jigging a small piece of powerbait worm on a tanago hook between rocks and it toke the bait. Ill make sure to post pics when I do the micro fishing article.

#12 Guest_catfishcain_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 11:56 AM

More Info: http://fayobserver.c.../07/05/1267005. This article says that NC-WRC has been keeping the water level down about 4 ft below normal this summer after the flooding in June, so hopefully there will be enough native aquatic veg survival that both the veg and veg-dependent fish can recover in a couple years.

When I was there at first it was well below 4 feet. Im 6'3" and stood in parts that you could see the old water line above my head. Hopefully your right though Gerald about the plants.

#13 Guest_harryknaub_*

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Posted 03 October 2013 - 07:42 PM

I'm thinking that it might be interesting in February to see what can be found there, compared to what was found during past wokshop weekends.

Harry Knaub

#14 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 04 October 2013 - 10:15 AM

Levi (and anyone else) - please let me know if you find a similar place between Fayetteville and Smithfield with easy access and good aquatic plant beds for bluespotted, blackbanded, pygmy, mudminnow, pirate perch, lined topminnow, etc. That way if Rhodes has not recovered by Feb 14 (Raleigh Aquar Workshop field trip) we can have another site to try.

#15 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 27 January 2014 - 12:12 PM

CatfishCain - Have you (or anyone else) been to Rhodes Pond in the past couple months? I'm wondering if there's enough littoral plant beds left to make it worthwhile for the Raleigh Aqu Soc trip on Feb 14, or if the shallows are too bare from the summer drawdown and if I need to find a different site to take the field trip participants. I expect the Nymphaea are fine, since they're rooted in deeper water, but I'm wondering about the (former) dense near-shore beds of Juncus, Ludwigia, Najas, Callitriche, Utricularia, etc where most of the small non-game fish lived.

#16 Guest_Mysteryman_*

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Posted 05 February 2014 - 01:12 AM

That's a shame.
I used to live in Dunn, way back in '75-'76, and I had a ball catching fish in the ponds and creeks of the area. They were always so full of great stuff.