Duck River Info needed

[Jim]

Hi all,

As some of you know, I work in the fisheries world doing habitat mapping among other things.

A short notice project came up that will deal with mapping the Duck River starting at Normandy Dam and going downstream. I have never fished or floated the Duck so I am unsure of what it will be like.

Given the river conditions, it looks like we will be using kayaks and canoes to move down the river. From my quick Google Earth overview of the river, likely we will put in at the dam and then go downstream to either the Three Forks Bridge Access (8.5 miles) or to the Mullins Mill Bridge Access at 41A (13 miles).

A few questions.

1. Has anyone floated these sections and is there anything to know about or watch out for?

2. Is the water clear? Can you typically see the bottom?

3. Is the Mullins Mill Bridge Access to far for a long day trip?

4. Any good fishing?

Thanks in advance,
Jim

[Jim]

I forgot to add that this trip will be for the upcoming Sunday or Monday. So if anyone know current water conditions for kayaking that would be great.

Jim

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Jim, I have floated a limited section of this river, mainly from the dam to just below the Dement bridge put in/out, just a few miles from the dam, IMHO it is a long slow trip from the dam to Mullins bridge under the current water level/discharge, Normandy is spilling about 145 cfs and is forcasted to continue to spill this amount so you will have to do a lot of getting out and dragging you kayak, the best fishing I have done is from the dam to just below Cortner Mill restaurant, you can find all kinds of fish but mainly some nice gills crickets rule this stretch of the river, and most of the time you can find them very shallow, 3 to 4 feet, water is not very clear but not pea soup green either, you will find slow moving water for the most part with a lot of shallow faster stretches, hopefully Alpha can chime in, he knows some parts of this river as well, I hope this helps, have fun and be safe, let us know how you do!!

[Jim]

Thanks a bunch! Exactly what I was looking for. We may have make some adjustments to our plans.

Jim

[Alphahawk]

Jim, I have floated a limited section of this river, mainly from the dam to just below the Dement bridge put in/out, just a few miles from the dam, IMHO it is a long slow trip from the dam to Mullins bridge under the current water level/discharge, Normandy is spilling about 145 cfs and is forcasted to continue to spill this amount so you will have to do a lot of getting out and dragging you kayak, the best fishing I have done is from the dam to just below Cortner Mill restaurant, you can find all kinds of fish but mainly some nice gills crickets rule this stretch of the river, and most of the time you can find them very shallow, 3 to 4 feet, water is not very clear but not pea soup green either, you will find slow moving water for the most part with a lot of shallow faster stretches, hopefully Alpha can chime in, he knows some parts of this river as well, I hope this helps, have fun and be safe, let us know how you do!!

Pretty much covers it.....throw in some nice black perch also. As for the water being clear that changes from spot to spot on the river. A lot of folks think the Duck is always dingy but that color comes from different sections having rocks that contain iron oxide. You should do pretty good with the fishing.



Regards

[Greasy Ham]

Jim check your PM's

[Jim]

Jim check your PM's

Got it and thanks very much for the info. We will probably hit that section for mapping later in the fall.

[Jim]

Hi all,

We spent the day habitat mapping on the Duck yesterday and I thought I would pass along some things we saw.

Our work went from Normandy Dam downstream to the Three Forks Bridge Access. It was about 8.5 miles on the river. It was a lot of paddling and a few sections where we scraped the bottom, but we never had to get out and drag the boats (one canoe and one kayak, each loaded with gear). We did have to portage at Cortner Mill Dam.

We collected data on depth, habitat type, bottom composition, right and left bank geometry and condition, riparian condition, and water quality through the whole section. The data is not analyzed yet, so I will give you some impressions from what I saw.

Overall, it is a beautiful river and conditions changed from the dam to the takeout.

The water was very dark near the dam. I am not sure if Normandy Lake is turning over or if it is like that all the time. It cleared up a lot downstream a few miles and got very clear in one section. It looks like there were some spring fed areas. By the end of the section down by Three Forks Bridge, it started to turn green.

We were not sampling fish on this trip, but I spent a bunch of the day looking into the water noting type and size of the fish as we passed. The section near the dam had the fewest fish seen. We did not see many minnows or larger fish in this area. There were plenty of freshwater sponges. The overall size and numbers of fish increased as we moved downstream.

I saw a fair number of medium size smallmouth 10 - 13 inches and one big one. 90% of the smallmouth were at the tail end of pools right before you got into a fast water section. We saw a few largemouth bass with the best ones in the Cortner Mill Dam pool. In general, we saw many more fish below Cortner Mill Dam than above it.

Next trip should be from Three Forks Bridge to Shelbyville. It will be interesting to see the differences.

Hope that is of some use to you all,
Jim

[MNfisher]

Thanks for the interesting info!

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Thanks for sharing this info Jim, in my limited experience this does go along with the results of previous fishing trips, I would be interested to learn what the lower section from three forks to Shelbyville shows, thanks for the work you do!!

[Alphahawk]

Sounds like nice trip and is great info. Fishing directly below the dam can be a crap shoot as to what you are wanting to catch. They seem to come and go but don't hang around up there long....except for when the trout are there. You have runs of walleye.....KY bass....Smallies....and when they do what ever it is they are doing....they go back down river. Just odd nothing much hangs around all the time up there.




Regards

[Reel Tune]

Awesome review Jim, you can email me the maps when you're done:D

I you need assistance on any of these observation trips let me know.