Stream levels

No, but I'd guess you need to explain what you mean. To the extent that many streams are low right now, I have minimal concern, because the northern tier hasn't had run-off yet, the southern tier hasn't had any good rains. We are supposed to get rain Sunday and Monday, after that I may or may not be concerned. That depends on if we get rain and how much, the weatherman has been wrong this year more then he's been right.
 
They are a little low but way ahead of last year. It seems our April rains now come late May / early June. No panic until June. It will rain and blow the rivers out. If you don't below me, go to the JAM. It will pour. Lol
 
i'm not worried. after an early spring last year i would have put money on a late spring this year.

like any other trout fisherman, i'm hoping for a crap summer. lol
 
i hope this weather keeps up and we keep getting more rain and snow every 3 days
 
Chaz wrote:
No, but I'd guess you need to explain what you mean. To the extent that many streams are low right now...
Click to expand...
That's what I mean. Red and orange dots (USGS) over much of the state.
 
I jnow what you mean , i'm used to most of the places i fish to have much higher levels this time of year , but Wildman , i don't question the boss when it comes to weather just take advantage and if we get a warm day we can fish oh top!!!!!!!!!
 
In my local streams in perry county they are acually looking better than the last two years. I talked with a person a few days ago and he said that the water looked high, I had to laugh to myself that they aren't high they are normal he just didn't realize what normal looks like. In other places around the state there are issues.

Went to pine creek last spring, it was a little low when we arrived, within two days after a drenching rain it was blown out for a couple of days. Seemed to be one or the other for every trip I went on last year, ending the year in erie steelheading and it was no different.
 
wildtrout2 wrote:
I'm worried about early season stream levels, anybody else?
Click to expand...


Worried? Scale down, stay low, and lighten up for the wild ones. Should be fun.
 
Lower flow and freezing or near-freezing temps overnight on Friday will make water temps low on small to mid-size streams at 8AM. If fishing for stocked trout in anything but limestoners I would recommend avoiding the BT streams and fish the RT and ST streams. If you see that a stream received a mix of BT and RT from Huntsdale Hatchery you may find a higher than normal proportion of BT this year as the hatchery was a little light on RT production. Normally, a BT/RT mix preseason is about 70-90% RT.
 
I checked 3 stream gauges that I monitor regularly, and all 3 streams are at near perfect fishing levels.

You can't determine good flow levels for a stream by looking at the color of the dot. Because the color of the dot is based on current flow compared to average flow, for this particular date. But the average flow varies greatly for different dates. So a particular rate of flow will show up as an orange or red dot now. And the exact same rate of flow will show up as a green or blue dot at another time of year.

You have to look at the actual flow in cfs, and know from experience what flow levels are high, low, and a good fishing level on that stream.
 
I have an android phone application, RiverFlows, that shows usgs flow data for five streams that you choose. Once you select a certain stream, data is given in a full-screen chart for the last seven days. This chart doesn't give the colored dots based the current flow compared to the historical flow levels for this date, which I think is good, because the historical averages vary a lot across the months.

My guess is that NE stream levels are OK, and actually not too high for dry fly fishing, when blowouts could be a problem this time of year. Water temps are probably lower than I would like, but at least the streams aren't too high... yet.
 
If streams are low now, they have to be better than last year. Last year at this time there was much concern about the lack of rain and low stream levels, at least in SEPA. The forum had at least 3 threads on the subject. One member, wildtrout2 wrote: "I can't recall anything like this in my lifetime. This looks REAL bad!"

Here's a six page thread from last year on the subject:
we need rain darn it

 
One thing to remember about freestone streams is, flows are only as good as the last rain.
 
Chaz wrote:
One thing to remember about freestone streams is, flows are only as good as the last rain.
Click to expand...
Point well taken Chaz. Very true. I'd rather be waiting for a stream to start coming down than waiting for it to start raining though. lol
 
I've fished four streams in the last eek and was just looking at the gauge for Pine Creek and even though flows seem low, I can honestly say that the streams are fine right now. Many of the gauges have been on creeks for a long time. USGS has said that run-off on many rivers and streams happens 2 to 3 weeks earlier than it used to due to Climate change. What this does is it scews the flows asthey are reported, as being lower than what they've been in the past.
Translated we may be seeing the new normal for this time of the year. I don't doubt we need rain though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top