Boat launches closed on the American

[JasonB]

For those who were not aware, many of the launches are closed on the American River currently. Went for a float yesterday, knowing Howe was closed I looked online and saw Watt was also closed but Gristmill was “open”. No problem then; we floated from Sunrise to Gristmill. Unfortunately, while the parking lot is open, there is a cable blocking the access to launch boats. I presume this is due to the higher (10,000cfs) flows, though completely unnecessary imo. Pretty sure it has been open before at these flows. We didn’t check, but I would guess Rossmore likely also has the launching area closed? Makes it extremely difficult to float the river below Sunrise with drift boats or larger rafts :mad:

Be sure to check if you are hoping to head out.
P.S. “no fish were harmed in the making of this post”

[Sheepdog8404]

Thanks for the heads up, Jason. Did you guys manage to find any fish?

[JasonB]

We had a few grabs, mostly half pounders attacking smaller sculpins at or near the end of the swing. None stayed on the hook long. We did see a tone of other fish, if you count “Golden Bones”...
One nice sized bright steelie cleared the water a good 4-5’ right next to the boat, which was very exciting. Not much else though

[Andy Guibord]

Rossmore is open,or should I say, it was yesterday. I too would love for them to open Gristmill and Watt.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I guess they will as the water goes down?

[JasonB]

I guess they will as the water goes down?

I would assume they would, but how much lower are they waiting for? If they keep them closed at say 7,000-8,000cfs that could be a major bummer for a while this year. Still an aweful lot of snow sitting up in the mountains, and the main melt hasn’t really started yet. Looking at flow graphs there has been almost zero diurnal fluxuation still. I know they are set to reduce flows slightly this week, but they are bound to go back up as the runoff increases. I’d expect we might have flows in the 8,000-12,000cfs range for another month at least?
I really didn’t see any good reason for the access to be blocked at Gristmill at the 10,000cfs flow. Other than the fact you would need to back the trailer down the short driveway to the water it really wasn’t any different taking a boat out. No biggie...if they would just take one little cable down.
JB