Klamath River/Copco Lake

[njbeast]

Looking for a little help getting information on planned water releases on the Klamath River. Planning to go on my annual trip with the fella's October 17 to fish the last six miles of the Klamath above Copco Lake to the state-line. Friend reported the lake was very low and starting October 17th "they" were going to start filling the lake again. I can only assume the river will be blowing hard into the lake and fishing will be for naught. Water is normally released into this section of the river from the J.C. Boyle dam in Oregon. The JC Boyle website shows some conflicting info if I am correctly reading the graphs. Current 24 hour flows average between 106-110 CFS. Another graph shows current fluctuations from 350 CFS to 1600 in an approximate three hour window every 12 hours. Any ideas how to get better info?

[Langenbeck]

Call Pacific Power as they operate the dam. Here are current flows but couldn't find projected flows for mid-October:

[Langenbeck]

http://www.pacificorp.com/es/hydro/hl/wr/kr/jbbf.html

[Langenbeck]

Here are last 30 days of release. A daily power generation surge up to about 1,800 CFS.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=gif_default&site_no=11510700&period=30&begin_date=2015-09-08&end_date=2015-09-09

[njbeast]

Thanks Gordon. I guess I will try and locate a number.

[golfish]

These are the flows you want, not the bypass. You can only get a week in advance.

http://www.pacificorp.com/es/hydro/hl/wr/kr/hre.html

(800) 547-1501


About 2.5-3 hours to stateline another 1.5 hours or so to access 1.

I wouldn't worry about it just check it before you go and know that Wed is correction day. I've only got stuck on the wrong side once in 30+ years, and it was on a Wed. Oct the river may be low in the evening so check it out.

I was up there about 3 weeks ago staying at the cabin at copco on the way to the Rogue. It was full when I went up and when I stopped on the way back it was dropping fast.

Fished a couple mornings while I was up, fished excellent and Oct is great but I usually chase steel then. There's still plenty of 20"+ fish swimming around, just gotta work for them.

goodluck!


---ted