Lehigh Releases

[Smike]

Here is what perfect flows for a couple days in a row can produce on the Lehigh River:

 

[vcregular]

^^ Good stuff right there. Just curious of ballpark area it was caught? Above Lehighton or downstream of that? Any bugs?

 

[SBecker]

I floated Sunday Dunbar to Btown. Grannoms and size 12 black stoneflies were prevalent. The fish showing activity were not. I saw exactly 1 Hendrickson. A guide buddy was floating from 895 down. He said there were more Hendricksons down that way. I would have hated to be him though, because the wind was howling pretty dang good. It must have taken him 2 hours to row through the 873 bridge. Lol

 

[Tigereye]

Haven't weighed in on this because it frustrates me to no end. The rafters do not see the potential of 2 extra months of revenue they can enjoy. If FEW would maintain steady flows April thru June they could build a cold water pool to release July thru August.

Currently there is very little rafting in the summer due to low water. Why wouldnt the rafting companies want a higher flow in those months? Its a win win. Right now they get the Flash Floods on the release dates and then starve in summer when they could extend their season 2 months. Hmmmm?????. Is BOOM and BUST a good business model?

I am really thinking there is more going on here than meets the eye. Just haven't decifered what it is. Bet your bippie its not flood control.

 

[Smike]

VC, I was in the Bowmenstown section.

Hey SBecker,
I bet this is him here, he was hardly moving. I agree lots o bugs, not much looking up. You'll also notice the brush fire in the distance. (I came across the scene down below later in the day, wild stuff)

 

[SBecker]

That was Saturday, correct? I ran into those two guys at the launch as we were wade fishing there. They supposedly saw more rises then I did on Sunday. I live in Bowmanstown. Sat on my front porch with a beer watching the fire burn. It was pretty crazy.

We floated Sunday, called my wife to pick us up and run my cousin up to our transport vehicle. Got a call 5 minutes later from my wife stating the state police would not let her come get me. Luckily the fire chief was working the pump truck at the ramp. He put a call in to let her through. When she got there she told us no matter what we were not allowed back through. So, there we sat trying to figure out how to get 2 pontoon boats back to my house. Piled them on top of my Volvo wagon and made it home. Found out later the fire had jumped 895 and many more fire companies were called to stop it from advancing. Fire is out now with no structures lost.

 

[LehighRegular]

Smike - that fish is a beaut. Nice catch.

Tigereye - I'm not comprehending your concepts discussed in your post, but I think there may be some mis-information about what is going on with FEW.

 

[Tigereye]

Regular.

My point is that during the summer the River runs low and warm. The rafting is poor due to the low flows and the people needing to get out and portage around rocks, gravel bars etc. Rafting Companies are not making much money.

Wouldnt it be nice for the rafters to have a 500+/- flow in July and August. Wouldn't the rafting be that much better? Wouldn't it be nice for the fishermen to have those flows with cool water.

The way it is currently managed all the water is release in May and June when natural run off already has the river at higher rafting levels.

If FEW would save that water instead of flushing it, they would raise the pool level, increasing coldwater storage in April, May and June. They can then use that water to augment the rafters in the low flow months of July and August and at the same time adding much needed cold water to the stressed trout.

Why wouldnt the rafting companies want to extend their season 2 extra months? They can with the above release plans. A win/win for rafters and fish.

Something else is going on.

 

[Smike]

Hey Becker, that was Sunday. I took a break in-between spots and drove down 895 before they shut it down. Here is a video of what I came across about 2 miles down valley from Bowmenstown.

https://vimeo.com/125419730

 

[LehighRegular]

Tigereye

Everything you state, the Army Corps is doing. Every spring they raise the lake pool an extra 70 feet and put around 7 Billion Gallons of water in the reservoir. Normally there is only 0.5 BG of water. The extra water is stored to be used for whitewater releases on almost every weekend in July & August and every other weekend in June with 2 weekends in May as well.

This extra water storage is also released slowly during the summer to reduce "low" water periods in the Lehigh during June, July and August. This has been helping the fishery and we have been seeing better numbers of trout holding over during the summer and the presence of more wild trout too. This "extra" water released during the summer is keeping the river cooler then it use to be before the Corps was adding water storage (10 yrs ago).

I suggest looking on the Corps website to bring you up to speed with what is going on.

http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/FrancisEWalterDam.aspx

Feel free to check out our website too.
http://thelehighriver.org/

 

[Chaz]

My point about the releases is, ACE has learned nothing from all the meeting held about flow plans. I was at the first couple of those meeting, they were told then that the fishing releases need to be during the periods when the river warmed, that they are blowing out water during the wrong time of the year if they release during the cool months. The flow plan shows that's when the releases are still occurring. It's just a lousy plan.

 

[RyanR]

Lehigh Regular has a MUCH better understanding of the issue(s) and explained it very well earlier in the thread. While not incredibly complicated to understand it is however more involved and shouldn't be oversimplified.

BTW, Tigereye the rafting companies make LOTS of money in the summer. LOTS!

 

[LehighRegular]

Chaz

I'm going to disagree. The Corps isn't increasing water "releases" this time of year. In fact they are holding back water to increase the pool to get up to the summer elevation of 1370'. Recently, the Corps has been holding back water on weekends so fisherman can access the river when under normal spring time flow conditions fisherman would have a very tough time fishing the river. For example, this past weekend the inflow into FEW was around 650 CFS. The Corps only released 400 cfs from Friday to Monday, thus holding back water and making the river more favorable to fisherman.

The Corps does release water during July and August to increase the river's flow when normally it was low and too warm for trout. Typically, during those months the Corps increases the rivers flow on non-whitewater release days at a rate of 100 cfs. So, if inflow to FEW on any given day in July is 200 cfs, the Corps will release 300 cfs. As I said before, this is adding benefit to the fishery as they are eliminating the typical lower flows in the river during the hottest time of year. By increasing the rivers volume it helps keep the river cooler than it has been in the past before these Flow Plans were even in operation.

Granted the coldwater runs out by Mid-July, but even so the releases are around 70F-72F at its warmest. Before the Flow plans, the releases were mid-to High 70s during July & August making trout survival dramatically more difficult.

 

[Chaz]

I'm not saying they don't release in the summer I know they do, what I'm saying is there is no reason for a 400 CFS release during the spring, unless there is a chance that the dam will be topped or it would be going over the spillway. The flow plan clearly is wrapped around the weekend releases for the rafters.

 

[Smike]

Hey Chaz, a release of 400 this time of year is "holding back' water (filling the pool) , not depleting it. Hell if the ACE thinks there is a remote chance of topping the spillway (never has happened) they would be letting lose 8x times that amount or more.

 

[LehighRegular]

Chaz

The Corps is not authorized to go above 1370'. If inflow is high (say 1000cfs or greater) and they only release 200 cfs, they will go above the 1370 mark in a heart beat.

The 400 cfs "target" (if you want to call it that) is an attempt to do the following:

1) Give wade fisherman access to the river during typically high natural flows on the river
2) Allow drift boats to navigate the river, especially in the Gorge
3) Allow for enough "freeboard" space in FEW to maintain these types of releases for more than just one weekend. Basically we don't want FEW to hit 1370 until designated fishing weekends are finished. If the lake hits 1370, the Corps will match inflow to outflow. If that happens this time of year, fishing and access to the river will be even more difficult. So pick your poison.

I will agree the Flow Plan accommodates the Rafters more than fisherman. HOWEVER, there has been significant strides to strike a balance in the last 4-5 years. PFBC is on board with the anglers and I feel doing a pretty good job for the most part. Continued support, meeting attendance by anglers, and comments to PFBC and the Commissioners is needed on a regular basis. Not just once and done.

If you want the lake level to go higher than 1370' it will take an act of Congress to re-authorize FEW. This is in the works and part of the continued work, but will take time. Until then we have to live and work with what we have to the best of our ability.

 

[Chaz]

Doesn't it make more sense to have a constant flow of 'X cfs' then the yo yo effect?
For instance the inflow is currently 358 (Stoddardsville) the release is 2000 (White Haven).

 

[Dcap240]

Chaz, the Lehigh at stodartville is 358cfs but you also have the tobyhanna at 650cfs and there are at least 2 other small tribs that flow into the FEW. We had some serious rain here Monday night, an inch of rain during the day and another inch or two that night.

 

[vcregular]

True inflow number can be found here - http://www.nap-wc.usace.army.mil/nap_plots/WALTR.html

The pic below is time sensative. So over 1400cfs of inflow right now. So well above the incorrect number chaz stated.

 

[vcregular]

Outflow matching inflow now. Should be a great week on the river. Last weekend there was a blanket hendrickson and quill gordon hatch. Big bugs! And the fish were looking up. And no one fishing. Amazing. Any other stream in the state would have been packed. People must be scared of big water. If you know where to go, you can have great wade fishing at this level.