Is this a de ja vu of last season?

[wildtrout2]

The way this early season is starting to play out reminds me exactly of last season. Plenty of early season rain bringing streams to good levels, then no rain to speak of for the remainder of the season. Many streams can't take a repeat of last year!

I'm not trying to be negative, just an observation of what I see shaping up with our weather pattern. Does anyone have any info that could/should ease my concern?

 

[tomitrout]

This App might be of help:

Ask the Magic 8-Ball

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Now that's funny!

I was suggesting the Farmer (Dave) Almanac it's usually a pretty good guide.

 

[steveo27]

I feel like Ive read this somewhere already.

Everyday is more like Groundhog's day.

 

[troutbert]

Is this an action item?

 

[Swattie87]

troutbert wrote:
Is this an action item?

aka...an opportunity area that can be better leveraged with closer calibration on best practices?

 

[allthingsfishing]

Continue to watch the storms that come out of the lower Rockies. These are the ones that move in a path that brings rain to our region. If those stop coming there may be a shift to drier weather.

 

[afishinado]

:lol:

 

[jifigz]

I sure hope not. The wild trout streams I frequent still seem to be loaded with nice browns and bookies so the fish handled last year's terrible conditions quite well. It would be nice to have some periodic rain showers this year not just for the fish, but for crops and gardens, wildfire concerns etc. Also I still have an old 35' hand dug well, so it helps when I have water I can actually use.

 

[just_jon]

Just for the record, the 8 ball said "Signs point to yes" when asked it When asked if we would receive a rainy summer.

 

[TYoung]

I think your memory of last spring is little off. The streams were a good bit lower this time last spring. Last year we didn't get any storms like the two we got a week ago. If you check the USGS water map, you will see a lot of green this year. Last year you would have seen a lot of yellow and orange.

 

[tomitrout]

Or you can adjust the dates for the data and actually confirm your 'memory':

Yellow Breeches - Jan 1, 16-Apr 11, 17

Turn it back to Oct, 2015 and it looks even more interesting.

 

[PennKev]

I really don't see the point of having long threads about the weather and stream levels. There is literally nothing we can do about it.

My advice is to make a point of going fishing when conditions are good. It's much easier to get through stretches of poor conditions if you fished like crazy when conditions were good.

 

[salmonoid]

TYoung wrote:
I think your memory of last spring is little off. The streams were a good bit lower this time last spring. Last year we didn't get any storms like the two we got a week ago. If you check the USGS water map, you will see a lot of green this year. Last year you would have seen a lot of yellow and orange.

A major indicator last year of the lack of high flows year round was the amount of silt and leaves that remained in the streams from the fall of 2015. It made for worse fishing, in my opinion and I kept wishing Mother Nature would provide a good enema or two. The two storms from the past few weeks did just that - it's good to see stone bottoms again and some depth in a small stream I fished on Sunday and not just mats and mats of leaves.

Two large storms, while beneficial to a short-term flow, do little to recharge groundwater. We'll need more as time goes by; we're already dropping into the middle percentiles again.

Lancaster County groundwater observation well.

Statewide groundwater well monitoring site.