Tailrace fisheries

[Mike]

There is no doubt that there are many positives associated with good tailrace fisheries, but what seems to be lost among anglers at times is that not all tailrace fisheries need to be coldwater fisheries in order to be good and not all tailrace fisheries are necessarily going to be good. Habitat is still very important. Discharges need to maintain suitable water temperatures, suitable water quality, and favorable flows that match the channel size and provide reasonable depths. Tailraces also need to have good physical habitat; flow, temperature, and other water quality parameters are not necessarily enough.

The problem with some tailraces is that the physical habitat declines over time as the tailrace becomes wider and shallower. This means that the fishery can also decline and that previously successful management techniques, such as fingerling vs adult stocking, may no longer work or be appropriate.

Impounding a stream or river disrupts natural fluvial processes downstream from the impoundment. Sediment that would have been transported downstream is instead trapped in the impoundment. Much of that sediment would have been cast up on the flood plain and contributed to stream bank maintenance. Without the benefits of the sediments, tailraces are subject to becoming wider and shallower. And, of course, bank destabilization can be exacerbated if and when high flows occur more frequently than occurred pre-impoundment, whether they are associated with operational activities at the dams or just increasing development (and runoff) in the drainage basin. Additionally, the impoundment and tailrace may change more than just fluvial ecology; they may change avian ecology (over time may increase avian predator densities throughout the year) as well, which in turn may have direct impacts on tailrace fisheries with limited deep habitat.

While I am not attempting to discuss all aspects of tailrace fisheries here, I thought just a few of the aforementioned items might stimulate some thought and other comments on tailraces. I am not interested in participating in a point/counter-point discussion on such a complex topic.

Finally, let's bear in mind that "resource first" is not necessarily the same as "trout first." Changing a tailrace from warmwater to coldwater, and potentially damaging a perfectly good warmwater fish population, could easily be interpreted as being contrary to "resource first" guidance. Some anglers prefer good warmwater fishing.

 

[jayL]

Mike,

Good post, and one that is sure to start a 5 page thread.

I agree with your stance, but also enjoy a good tailwater fishery. I do think that there are some that are a bit unreasonable in their support of cold water tailwaters, but their intentions are good.

 

[Sylvaneous]

Every coldwater tailwater fishery becomes a warmwater fishery in our part of the world. No need to worry about that. I live on a cold, or better yet, cool water tail water fishery: the Allegheny in Warren, PA. It basically never gets above 74 F, yet is certainly a warmwater fishery throughout its length. I can assure you that it has not widened the steep sandstone bedrock banks of the Allegheny any over 40 years.

With the rampant loss of coldwater fisheries, coldwater tailwaters are just a way of adjusting the balance. And you can still do well fishing for warmwater species in this water, as long as it isn't really cold water, like 55 degrees. The musky,smallmouth bass and walleye fishing can be quite good up near Kinzua dam, so I'm told. I've never fished it. But the trout fishing is essentially non-existent on the rest of the river much further down.

Syl

 

[Chaz]

With respect to the Tully, since there are several cold water streams that enter the Tully at Blue Marsh reservoir, I suspect that it would be a decent cold water stream, had the dam not been built. My belief is that given that many streams in the area are seeing better tree re-growth along the banks that this would probably be true of the Tully also, therefore the management by ACE should have been for cold water.
Also the Lehigh River was a cold water fishery before the dam there was built, it should have been managed with that in mind from the beginning.

 

[pcray1231]

I think we're mostly talking about the Tully here.

I know of no such problems on the Allegheny or Yough, but I know little about the Lehigh and the D, so I'll refrain. I'm sure there are more, but for the most part thats the only dams I know of that are regulated for year-round trout habitat. Trout are stocked at certain times in other places, but the releases are not managed for trout in those places.

I don't believe the Tully, in the Reading area, would be cold enough for trout year round if it weren't for the dam. Even with the dam, its pretty marginal. The issues you bring up are good ones. And from a strictly "resource first" standpoint, perhaps it'd be better if it were restored to a coolwater fishery like many other USGS dams in the state.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would include:

Still stock trout in spring and perhaps fall. But abandon hope of fingerlings or holdovers. It's already marginal in July and August, you'd be extending that to include June and September.

Probably do away with delayed harvest. Could still, however, have artificials only section.

Knock out the lower overflow dams to let species from the Schulykill move in.

Hope coolwater sportfish population responds to more suitable conditions. This gives a viable recreational opportunity in the summertime.

The argument for maintaining it as a coldwater fishery is that, with the Schulykill and other streams, there are plenty of coolwater opportunities locally. But the Tully provides one of the only year round larger coldwater opportunities to the greater Philly metro area. I think there's some merit in that, though I do realize that it deviates from a strict "resource first" policy, which is a good policy. It's not a great trout fishery as is.

So, all told, I'd understand if management were changed to make it a coolwater fishery. It does fit "resource first", and on principle, I agree. It would be a little sad to see it go. Personally, I don't like the "riding the fence" that they seem to be doing. Make it coolwater, fine. But if you're gonna keep it as coldwater, do what is needed, I'm sure TU and other organizations will help with cost, and make it a fingerling fishery.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I don't believe the Tully, in the Reading area, would be cold enough for trout year round if it weren't for the dam. Even with the dam, its pretty marginal. The issues you bring up are good ones. And from a strictly "resource first" standpoint, perhaps it'd be better if it were restored to a coolwater fishery like many other USGS dams in the state.

actually it would be. The tully in the headwaters is a fantasic wild trout fishery. In fact i rank it among the top in all of south east pa. The water is ice cold. it rarely gets above 55 degrees due to Pennsy supply pumping nutrient rich cold water into the stream at a constant flow. Just as Stevie-B how fertile and cold this stream is. Unfortunately all of that wild trout section is posted...and you have to be really lucky to get permission to fish it.The stream does slowly warm throughout its length. I have caught wild trout well past Myerstown but5 not as many as the headwaters. This is not due to temp but rather do to the sink holes at Penssy Supply robbing the stream of some flow. The Doc Fitcherty Chapter of Tu is looking into fixing the problem after I had a nice conversation with Frank Viozzi (the president). Released in thier news letter this month is a project to help remedy the problem. The wild trout should be working there way down even farther.

I do believe that with out the dam it is likely that the Tully would still be a cold water fishery. In fact with out the dam it would be a far better one. But then again we are arguing or discussing points of nature against man made structures. Im sure that without the dam, the roads, the devolpments and towns, farms and cutting down of trees......The tully was a great wild brook trout fishery.

 

[pcray1231]

I have no doubt it is a fine stream in its headwaters. I need to get up there and fish sometime. There's alot of good streams more locally too, but public access is such a huge problem in this portion of the state.

Still, Myerstown is a long ways above Blue Marsh. If it were under 65 degrees when it entered the lake, in August, I'd tell you it'd have a shot, but its not. Heck, the inflow is 61 right now, in November! And I remember inflow temps around 80 this summer. It is just not cold enough entering Blue Marsh.

Yeah, there's a cold tributary or two. But the biggest trib is the Northkill, and at its lowest end, it too is too warm for year round trout. As you progress upstream, you start to find a few holdovers, then a few wild browns mixed with holdovers, then a few wild browns and a few wild brookies, till finally its a brookie stream. Maybe taking out the Penssy supply would help, but it wouldn't be that much of a help. Any low-gradient stream in SE PA, the size of the Tully, and as far from its source as the Tully, is simply not going to be cold enough for wild trout during the average summer. Maybe before man it was, and had brookies. But not today.

 

[shultzy501]

I know of two tailrace fisheries here in the northeast part of the state. The lower Lackawaxen River is the one with which I am the most familiar. The river receives a bottom release from Lake Wallenpaupack when PPL is generating electricity. It is a strange tailrace, however, in that the release runs through a 3 ½ mile pipeline from the lake to the hydro plant before it empties into the river. The bottom release is cold and it definitely helps make the Lower Lack a stocked trout fishery. HOWEVER, the releases from the lake are not constant or consistent, so it has some strange effects on the resource. The flow can change from bank full to “normal” within an hour. You can see a distinct line of streambank erosion at the high water mark.

Because the releases are not managed to maintain a trout fishery, the water warms to the upper 70’s during the summer. The periodic release of cold water into the warm system helps some of the trout hold over, but is obviously disruptive to the ecology of the river. So, is it a coldwater or warmwater fishery? I’ve caught trout and smallmouth bass out of the same stretch on the same trip. (by the way, I’ve learned that both are fun) I know that PPL and the local TU chapter have tried to work things out, but the mechanics of the dam and release system, along with a complicated flow model and the use of the plant as a peak generating source, do not allow for a more consistent release.

As far as managing the resource, I believe that the management has to begin in the watershed of the reservoir above the tailrace. Lake Wallenpaupack has had more than its share of eutrophication issues in the past and it is a constant struggle to find funds to help with projects.

The other tailrace up here is obviously the Upper Delaware. It also has plenty of issues, as we’ve discussed before in this forum. I can’t help but wonder if an outcome of the strange flows there will be the return of the upper river to a warmwater fishery.

 

[LehighRegular]

Well, I got suckered into posting, how could I resist - HA.

Mike- I agree with a large majority of your points. However, managment of the water will affect if physical habitat declines over time. If managed properly, this does not always have to be the case.

As for "resource first". This is definitely a dilema when you have an impoundment which may have been a warmwater fishery and now becomes a coldwater fishery or potentially a coldwater fishery.

I think one has to look at the benefits of maintaining one or the other. My issues I have with PA coldwater tailwater fisheries is, we have these impoundments in place and we can not change that, they are here and here to stay. So, why not manage them or a few of them to be premier wild trout coldwater fisheries. Everyone knows tailwater fisheries have the capability to produce BIG TROUT, if managed properly. The Upper Delaware with all its issues is a great example of this. But unfortunatley the D has a hornets nest of problems.

My issue is how many tailwater fisheries in PA do we manage this way? ZERO!!!!
We have theses structures in place - lets use them in a way to benefit our coldwater resources in PA.

I think there are tremendous benefits of managing some of these impoundments to create tailwater fisheries. The benefit list is large and it ranges from tourism, license sales, recreational and potential for a trout angler to catch a trophy of a life time in PA.

Hopefully the PFBC is and maybe changing their stance on this issue. Time will tell and talk is cheap.

 

[Fishidiot]

I have felt for many years that the Raystown Tailrace had great potential as trout water, or at least "coolwater" with a mix of trout with smallies, walleyes, etc. As a bottom flow tailrace coming out of a fairly high elevation, deep, cold, lake its trout potential would seem to be obvious (perhaps the hydroelectric flow is warmer water?). Back in the 80s the tailrace pool produced some big trout which were likely washouts from the lake - one of them was the state record brown trout for awhile. A couple years ago I seem to recall that there was a plan to start stocking this section of the Juniata River with trout. Was this ever done? Does anyone have any experience with this project? My sense is that this section of river is too flat and shallow to be a great sport fishery but with some man made improvements it could have enormous potential.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I do agree that Myerstown is a long way from Blue Marsh and that the stream warms form there to the lake. Like i said, we are arguing nature vs man made involvment. As you agreed the Tully was prolly a fine wild brook trout fishery in its day.

My point was if we had the stream back to its orginal state as when the settlers came in. It would be cold water fishery. I know that this is not possible. But then again we are discussing the impossiblity of the dam not being there.


As far as fishing the headwaters you better know someone or get permission. The wild trout section is entirely posted. I am lucky enough to have access for me and one fishing partner. Above the section I have access to is a commercial fish hatchery that is also a fly fishing club. You wont get access there unless you pay 2,000 dollars a year. So just dont go up there exp[ecting to fish the stream. As far as Penssy Supply not pumping water into the stream....that would be a huge mistake! The tully before Pennsy pumps its mineral laden spring water into it is about 3 ft across, muddy and a freestone stream. After Pennsy it is about 10- 20 ft wide and a limestone spring creek with 55 degree water.

 

[riverwhy]

I would think Spring Creek (starts near Robesonia) would supply a nice shot of cold water even by the time it gets to the lake. I caught a 13 inch wild brookie there years ago. The water is numbingly cold even coming out of the pond at its source. It is large enough to accomodate significant summer migration too. Also, the Cacoosing. Well no point dreaming. Blue Marsh is a reality.
Jay

 

[Mike]

My original post on this topic was only partially referencing the Tulpehocken tail-race. I have familiarity with a number of tail-races in Pa., both warmwater and coldwater, and I have very good ones of both types within my present region of the state....Codorus, Susquehanna power dams, Blue Marsh, Nockamixon, Octoraro, Schuylkill R. low-head dams.

As for the Tully before Blue Marsh was constructed, it was a smallmouth bass, rock bass, redbreast sunfish, white sucker fishery in the presently impounded area and downstream reaches.