pit river isonychia hatch will dissappear

[shawn kempkes]

If i read it correctly The flow schedule only shows releases in pit five for the dates bill will be up there.

IMHO pit five fishes the best.

[wineslob]

I fish the NFF alot. I've never seen any drops in trout populations. However, the section at the Tobin Cabins was possibly comprimised from a spill a few years ago. Getting rid of the dams would destroy the man-made fishery, unless you like Squaw Fish.

[aaron]

Alienating the whitewater folks isn't really the best idea; there's probably a lot more of them than fly fisherman, they have a better organized lobbying group, and they also have the long term best interest of the rivers in mind. If we ever want to get anywhere on damn removal and maintaining healthy flows we're better off conceding recreational releases and banding together on the big picture. Full disclosure, I fish and I paddle.

[EricO]

IMHO pit five fishes the best.

Well have you seen what the flows have been on a regular basis after the FERC licensing agreement these
last few years?

I used to fish it often (with great results) prior to the flow increase...as I recall, around 200cfs. Now it
runs in the 400-600 cfs range.

Screw that, i want to live. It was already a pain in the butt to wade at 200cfs, but doable.

Unless you have some secret spots that fish well at the high flows, I'll stick with Pit 3 and 4.

Just my .02 cents

EO

[ycflyfisher]

"Isonychia mayflies are strong swimmers, and live in moderate to fast flows"

And this guy thinks that a 2 day release of a bit more water is going to destroy them? Seriously? Anybody else want to squash this nonsense???

I agree that it initially sounds nuts. But it may not be. A two day bump in flow in Jan-April, probably doesn’t do anything. But does that necessarily hold true if the bumps happens when the Isos have transitioned from their normal habitat to the slack, shallow margin water to molt and end up getting swept away?

I don’t know that Shawn is right about the Isos, but I wouldn’t doubt that he could be. I don’t fish the NFF at all in the Fall, but the anglers I know who do are singing the same tune: No Isos above the Pulga reach. It isn’t so much the volume or duration of the pulse, but the timing that could be the issue.

Pulse flows are definitely not good, but I think the increased base flows are definitely beneficial and likely outweigh the negative impacts of the pulse flows, so I can't agree they've destroyed the river. Isos maybe, river no.

[Scott V]

Full disclosure, I fish and I paddle.

As do I, plus I was a spear fisherman as well. I am amazed at how many times I have been insulted by people's generalization comments. But then again I just laugh at some of the ignorant statements made. Probably why I pretty much no longer post any reports.

[Jeff F]

I don't mind whitewater guys, as they have a right to the river as we do. However, what does bother me is the lobby. Particularly, lobbying for pulse flows on rivers when nobody actually uses them.

I fish the NFF alot, and I know they have their annual get together up there (coming up soon, I think). However, during years past, when there were scheduled pulse flows, I never saw a single kyaker in that river, Rock Ck or Cresta stretch. And I've definitely never seen a boat on the Pit, which I also fish alot. So, it seems the lobby is just trying to get pulse flows on every single river just for the sake of getting pulse flows. I don't see the nexus for increasing flows for boaters when there are no boaters using a particular stream.

As for the Iso's......I doubt the flows will affect the Pit. However, the NFF.....I used to see lots of them, but now I think they're mainly down in the Pulga section.

I haven't noticed a decline in trout #s on the NFF. If you fish that river alot, you know damn well that those fish are unlike other fish. They move around alot and are extremely sensitive to a tiny change in air pressure. And in the dog days of summer, sometimes you'd swear there weren't any trout in there cuz the squawfish take over the trout lies. That's why I only fish it early and late in the season.

~Jeff

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We will just have to wait and see.

Like most of this we, don't know what is going to happen and that is OK.

It seems we have Isonychias where the water gets a little warm in late summer.



How many streams have you seen them on or heard about others seeing?

Pit River - tons for years.

MFF - others

Battle Creek -once

Trinity River - once

Maybe they are on the Klamath River?

.

[wineslob]

.I used to see lots of them, but now I think they're mainly down in the Pulga section.

I'd LOVE to see them try the section below Pulga Power Dam.

[Kevin Goding]

Unless the pulses cause some bedroll I doubt much will happen. As long as the Iso habitat is not utterly destroyed, they will stick around.

As far as the FERC stuff goes, at least they try I guess. It's just one of those regulatory things that is more or less controlled by the people it's supposed to be regulating, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt.