Tony Buzolich
12-28-2005, 05:38 PM
Well, the clouds parted and the sun came out (briefly) and I just had to go see how things were in my favorite section of river.
Grabbed a #7 weight, tied on a large Popscicle and headed for Oroville.
There are plenty of steelhead in the river and still quite a few salmon digging redds the last time I was there.
Crossed over the river at Gridley and though running high, it looked green. Great, now if the low flow looks the same I'll be in the money.
At first sight from Hwy.70 I couldn't believe my eyes. I had just past Mathews heading north and the "lowflow" was no longer a low flow. The river had risen over the normal banks and covered the pond next to the Hwy.162 bridge.
No fishing here for a while and definitely not for the opener of the upper river above the Hwy.70 bridge.
My wife suggested we go see what's happening at the hatchery and the dam there. Maybe we could see some steelhead going up the ladder and look in the viewing window?
When we got there, Dept. Of Water Resource people had just taken down the railing around the viewing platform and had cordoned off the walkways leading down to the observation area.
The water coming over the dam at the hatchery normally has a 12'-15' vertical drop preventing the salmon from going upstream any further. Today, there is no vertical drop at all, just a solid wall of water between the buttresses.
The lowflow usually fishes best when the water is between 650-700cfs. This is what most of us are used to when we fish this part of the river. Today, around 1:00pm the lowflow is running at 13,000cfs.
I spoke with a few of the Water Resource workers and they said they expected the river to go even higher by Friday.
The pictures hardly do it justice. All of the islands below the Table Mtn. bridge and in front of the kiosk are already under water.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see but for now, Forget the Lowflow.
TONY
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/DiversionDam2.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/DiversionDam1.jpg
Grabbed a #7 weight, tied on a large Popscicle and headed for Oroville.
There are plenty of steelhead in the river and still quite a few salmon digging redds the last time I was there.
Crossed over the river at Gridley and though running high, it looked green. Great, now if the low flow looks the same I'll be in the money.
At first sight from Hwy.70 I couldn't believe my eyes. I had just past Mathews heading north and the "lowflow" was no longer a low flow. The river had risen over the normal banks and covered the pond next to the Hwy.162 bridge.
No fishing here for a while and definitely not for the opener of the upper river above the Hwy.70 bridge.
My wife suggested we go see what's happening at the hatchery and the dam there. Maybe we could see some steelhead going up the ladder and look in the viewing window?
When we got there, Dept. Of Water Resource people had just taken down the railing around the viewing platform and had cordoned off the walkways leading down to the observation area.
The water coming over the dam at the hatchery normally has a 12'-15' vertical drop preventing the salmon from going upstream any further. Today, there is no vertical drop at all, just a solid wall of water between the buttresses.
The lowflow usually fishes best when the water is between 650-700cfs. This is what most of us are used to when we fish this part of the river. Today, around 1:00pm the lowflow is running at 13,000cfs.
I spoke with a few of the Water Resource workers and they said they expected the river to go even higher by Friday.
The pictures hardly do it justice. All of the islands below the Table Mtn. bridge and in front of the kiosk are already under water.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see but for now, Forget the Lowflow.
TONY
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/DiversionDam2.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/DiversionDam1.jpg