Yough River, Somerset County, 6/30/20

greenghost

greenghost

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Jun 25, 2008
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TIME: 3:00pm - 7:00pm

LOCATION: Somewhere between Ramcat Run and Ohiopyle

WEATHER: Sunny around 83 degrees

WATER TEMP: 58 degrees at 3:00

BUGS: Caddis size 16-18, Cahill size 14-16, very large yellow-ish drake size 12, tons o' midges, crane flies...

FLOW: 655 cfs, median is 798

FISH CAUGHT: 3 rainbows, 1 brown

Needing a break from work at home, I took the afternoon off and checked the streamflows. The Yough was at 655cfs, low enough to wade out far and reach places I normally can't. (First time in years) The river was clear and cold with insect activity. I started in a familiar riffle, but with no noticeable rising fish. I tied on a green caddis emerger and fished for an hour with nothing to show.

I moved to a slower water flat, noticed some rises and immediately tied on a #14 caddis since I saw quite a few fluttering around. I picked up one small rainbow immediately. Then nothing. "Here we go again," I thought since I had a similar, frustrating experience at the Little J a couple of weeks ago. This time there were no tiny BWO's to save me. I stopped, looked at all the bugs floating by. It was like a conveyor belt of food. Caddis, midges, crane flies, Cahills and a big, yellowish-drake-size fly. But the bigger flies weren't being touched. I saw a smaller (#18-ish) caddis flutter on the surface and a fish grabbed it. "Aha", it's the size!" I tied on an #18 elkhair and then... nothing. Fish were still rising.

I paused and just watched the surface for 5 minutes. There were many small caddis, but then I noticed they were spread-wing on the water surface. No wonder elkhair ties weren't working. I dug through my box and pulled out an old Henryville Special with feather wings. Size 16. It worked. In the following 15 minutes, I caught 3 fish on the fly before I broke it off on my 4th take.

No more Henryville, no more fish. I was ready to leave anyway. It was starting to get crowded. It seems everyone is out fishing these days... I suppose a good thing.


LESSON LEARNED: Fly silhouette is very important.
 
Thanks for the report. Been trying to make it down there (never fished it) for the past couple weeks to bike/fish it. Didn't realize it produced that many bugs this time of year, I'm pretty unfamiliar w/ tailwaters though. I'll have to hit the vise and come prepared.
 
As far as "that many bugs," I hope I didn't mislead, there were a variety of bugs and the numbers weren't great until about 6:30 and on that particular flat stretch, then activity started to really increase. That's the way the Yough fishes best toward evening into dusk.
 
Nice report

I fished upstream - where the Casselman River dumps in - monday evening.
Some fish were rising very sporadically to the few bugs that were hatching.

I started out with a tan caddis, and caught several on that.
But noticed a few large sulphers hatching here and there.
Switched to them - in size #14 and #16 - but never drew a hit on either.

Towards dusk, I started to notice some quieter, sipping rises.
And saw some small BWO's on the water.
Switching over again to #20 olives, I caught more fish on those than anything else.
Ended up with a half dozen total, with one nice fish in the 14" range.

I read a water temp of 53 up there, which didn't include the influx from the Casselman - which was very warm
 
Hope the USACE manages the outflow rates better or we'll be out of cold water release before the end of the month.
 
hendeylathe wrote:
Hope the USACE manages the outflow rates better or we'll be out of cold water release before the end of the month.
Click to expand...

It does seem crazy to release ice cold water at this time of year, then run out of cold water, and release 80F water later on.

Does the dam have the right release technology for them to finesse the temperatures of their releases?



 
I believe it's strictly bottom-release unless it overflows down the usually dry spillway.
 

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troutbert wrote:
hendeylathe wrote:
Hope the USACE manages the outflow rates better or we'll be out of cold water release before the end of the month.
Click to expand...

It does seem crazy to release ice cold water at this time of year, then run out of cold water, and release 80F water later on.

Does the dam have the right release technology for them to finesse the temperatures of their releases?
Click to expand...

They do have the technology. They don't have the desire/priority to manage it as a fishery. Typically by mid-August to late August the reservoir "runs out" of cold water.

Why? EVERY weekend they increase the releases to accommodate the rafting industry in Ohiopyle. I've always thought it would be possible to have our cake and eat it too, that is to slightly decrease the weekend releases to still be enough for rafting and yet have enough cold water to release last through September. But for the last 40 years or so, rafting is the priority. Actually, to be fair, flood control and safety is number one priority.

The only reason I know all that is because years ago I wrote to the USACE to ask these same questions. They were nice enough to respond and say that a cold water fishery was a consideration, just further down the list. They also said they were in correspondence with the local TU chapter accordingly. (I believe it is Chestnut Ridge). Personally, I believe it can work better.
 
Well Greenghost, welcome to the fold. FEWalterdam on lehigh has same issues. Early this year NYC poked its nose in the tent and to make a long story short are putting up a significant amount of money to study water usage. It may be that NYC become an ally in the fight for cold water. Politics sure makes strange bad fellows. It will be years but it is progress.
 
I have fished there a couple times 20-30 years ago. If cool water releases were managed appropriately for fishing would that stream section become a prime tailwater (if it isn't already)? If so is it tame enough to handle driftboats and guides? It could be a 12 month economic boon to that area in addition to a 5-6 month rafting industry. Or would guided fishing not be desirable for flyfish forum members?
 
Shark -

The Youghiogheny tailwater is pretty good.
But I wouldn't quite classify it as "Prime" - for several reasons:

1 - The aquatic insect life isn't very good.
2 - The fish are all stocked - although there all some large ones there

There are several outfitters that guide people in drift boats - and they've been doing it for quite a while.

And I don't have a problem with them. The river is big enough to handle the traffic
 
FYI on current usage and meeting for future
https://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Lakes/Youghiogheny-River-Lake/Youghiogheny-Master-Plan/
In my opinion even they did manage not to release all the cold water during the summer the cassleman is way too hot and years like this with hot weather water temps downstream would increase significantly. Only have about half mile from dam to confluence with cassleman.
 
The Casselman is very hot, yest the temp at Markleton varied from 74 to 86. But its only flowing at 73 cfs. The Yough is flowing at 570 below Confluence.
 
The fishing has been VERY good. Fished it yesterday and did really well with anything that resembled a caddis. As for the flows, releases have been so low I doubt they'll run out of cold water any earlier than usual. I've never seen the river this low for this long.

The fishing pressure has been ridiculous. I fished it all day yesterday and at one point had 8 fisherman below me from the bottom of the gauge pool to the bend at Ramcat. And that was just yesterday. It's been like that nearly every time I'm there.

This really pisses me off, someone is hitting golf balls into the river near the River's Edge. I pulled 50 plus (stopped counting at 50) golf balls out of the river. I hate people sometimes.
 
Muffin -
Interesting how you found all those golf balls in the Yough river.

I once came across a bunch of them at the Bard Parker access area of the Delaware River.
A countless number of them were all over the stream bottom right in front of the parking area.

Really had me wondering if someone really just hit them into the river.
Or if a high water event somehow washed them in from somewhere
 
This is the third time I've seen NEW golfballs in the river and we haven't had high water on the Yough in forever.
 
Temp are holding cool, at least on the upper river so far this year. River was too hot this time last year.
 
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