River Types: Feeder Streams
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Horse Brook |
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Trout Brook |
Trout Brook gives up its cool waters to the Beaver
Kill River just above the town of Peakville, New York. Numerous
other small rivulets and brooks - Horse Brook (picture on the
left), Russell Brook, and Horton
Brook - also add their modest volumes of water to the main
stem. In this way, much of the life in the river survives the
killing heat of summer. While spring
holes in the river itself also provide refuge from the often
overly warm, low water of July and August, it is the small feeders
that make the biggest difference to fish regarding their survival.
Beginning high up in the surrounding mountains, nearly all brooks
of the freestone variety are spring fed. Their water rises up
to the surface under pressure where the aquifer
exits from its underground strata. Feeders generally are crystal
clear, cold, and quickly become oxygenated as they spill over
their rock-filled beds. Their beds are shaded most of the day
by a full tree canopy (see: June. The Alder Fork
- A Fishing Idyl. Aldo Leopold. "A Sand County
Almanac With Essays on Conservation." Oxford University Press,
New York)
These trout habitats serve several additional important functions
for the main river. They are a repository for macro-invertebrates.
In addition, trout from the main stem spawn in their gravel beds
in the fall and early winter months when water levels allow. Other
fish life, such as minnow species provide additional food for
foraging trout adventurous enough to wander up their pools and
riffles. Lastly, during high water times in the summer, when,
for instance, thunder storms deluge the area, feeder streams contribute
much needed nutrients in the form of detritus
(i.e., dead vegetation) into the menu of the macro invertebrates
of the main river.
