Any water in the river?

Back on September 13 or so we read in the local newspaper that the water flow on the river was going to be stopped. Stopped! Nothing coming out! Zip, nada, zero! It was only going to be for 3 hours, from 1 PM to 4 PM, but nothing coming out the pipe! How can they do that, we wondered, without some harm to the fish?

The authorities had a plan to start reducing the water flow on September 15 and on the 18th it would be shut off for 3 hours to perform a much needed inspection of the dam's water release gates. We read that there had only been 3 inspections since the completion of the dam back in the 1960's. I don't know if this had been scheduled or was a result of the terrible problems at Hebgen Dam.

We were so curious and apprehensive about the affects of the lower water on the fish. In the few days leading up the 18th the water did recede. It went from about 180 cfs to nothing. We were fishing on the morning of the 18th with some new friends from Idaho (Jerry, Dan, and Ray) and the fishing had been fantastic despite the major change that was occurring. Right at 1 PM Rick and I stopped fishing and drove the short distance to the dam and the spillway. There were a couple guys, the inspectors, in a row boat who went into the dark spillway/release gate area where the water had been coming from. The inspectors were only in there a few minutes and out they rowed. There were a couple other bystanders on shore watching, wondering, and talking about the possibilities of what would happen to the water flow. Someone said it was going back to normal (160 cfs?) and someone else said the BLM authorities were planning to take it to a winter level of 25 cfs. Oh my! We didn't think it would go that low until December! Fishing season runs to the end of November, unless they shut down fishing earlier, which they could do.

There were more rumors swirling around than there was water. After a few minutes of looking at nothing coming out of the dam we went back to the campground and started to walk the river. So easy to walk with no water flowing. We took some photos of the natural springs that were still flowing and providing some water to the fish population. We crossed the river in places we never had before, with the water just barely up to our ankles. We saw fish stacked up in any little pool of water, anywhere they could find some depth and shelter. And they were super spooky. Just walking on the new shoreline sent them zooming through the water like torpedoes.





Right at 4 PM we noticed an increase in the water flow and for the next couple hours it continued to increase and rose to more than 100 cfs. On Friday the 19th we thought our remaining time here would be good fishing, with a substantial water flow. We were hoping it would stay around 100 cfs or more. We fished for a little while on Friday, but the river was so different, so changed. A strange mood had started with me on Thursday and it hadn't been lifted away on Friday. I started to think I was depressed. I felt sad that our river was so changed. Perhaps the next day would be better -- for the river and me.

Saturday was cold and windy and the water flow was down to 56 cfs. My mood was still down and I didn't want to see the river. I felt like the life had been sucked out of the river. I started thinking I'd rather it was back to the high of 850 cfs than this low.

On Sunday the dark weather and my dark mood continued. Rick and I walked down with the dogs and the camera on Sunday afternoon and we talked with our friend Stan from Chicago. He'd been fishing the river each day in different places and we talked about the changes. He fishes dry flies and we discussed how spooky the fish had become. We didn't fish and hadn't fished since Friday. Stan encouraged us to get our rods and fish with him.




Having been here for 100 days and having fished most of those days in the same stretch of river, I have come to think of this as my home, in fact, my river. I know it's not my river, but this is what we've done all summer. This has become our life for the past few months. This has been our focus and I've started to feel protective of the river.

Actually, the water has been this low before in the fall, in past years, and it is fishable. Although the fish seem to be concentrated like in a hatchery now, it is still open to fishing. Most people are fishing with flies and releasing their fish, but I've become even more protective. Always was to some degree, but more protective now. I love it when the game warden comes around to check licenses and see if people are keeping fish.

Our friend Steve said he's felt different and a little grouchy since the drop in water. He hasn't fished since Wednesday and told us last night he's going to fish today. We're also going to walk down with our fly rods and check out the river. I know there are people in my favorite places so we'll walk upriver. Walking upriver is usually difficult with higher water so we'll have the opportunity to explore. I'll take the camera and share some photos with you. I also plan to be in a better mood when the day is over.