10/17 low flow report good and bad

Matt R · Senior Member

10/17 low flow report good and bad

mx19 · Senior Member

Hey Matt ..I cant tell by the pics where you were fishing.craw fish tells me mid creek.I would like to know cause the brown trout are first to spawn.That looks like a redd..Send it in a PM please..SK60 will want those pics.
�� anyone else that hits the creek during the very low flows please take some pictures and get them to SK60..Let him know what part of the creek the oics are from
�� mx19

brian clemens · Senior Member

well i hope these flows get back up quick, not only for the fish and aquatic life, but i really would like to fish the creek on weds, but these flows suck

AbelBoy · Senior Member

Matt,
Thanks for the heads up on Putah. There is always something said about a first hand look with pictures to back it up.

AB

dtp916 · Senior Member

Ah man, that sucks for the little guys! Those look like redds to me too.

Lahontan · Senior Member

This is a great post.�PICTURES.

I regret not taking any�yesterday.� I stopped and walked #3 on my way up stream.� The fork closest to the road was completely turned off due to the flows. This was just 12 hours after the drop in flows.

I don't know much about "hydrology" but I bet the "standing water" upstream keeps running down even though the "faucet" is shut off.

I'm guessing there a few spots, like the ones Matt shot here that were still underwater last night. Be on the look out.

It doesn't feel right that they've buttoned the water down this tight.

40 ... come on.

PS...� Matt...thanks for the photos and the education.
Ed.

-- Edited by Lahontan at 16:54, 2008-10-17

SK60 · Senior Member

Matt-thanks for the pictures. If you could email them to Keith B, he can forward them. I went to the lower parts of the creek looking for fish in some of the side channels. Found 1-5"er minus its head, so probably had been attacked, lots of dead crawdads; no trapped live fish. But, as per my earlier post, and repeated above by mx19, please take pictures of redds, stranded/dead fish. We might be able to get SCWA to do a slower step down next time�if we show them�evidence of their putting fish at risk.

Also went up to the dam and saw� fish feeding in 3 feet of water. They were ignoring the two FF�trying to coax them with a variety of offerings.

Again, thanks for your help.�

cole · Senior Member

Pretty sure I know where that is, and if so that's bad news.� Way to snap em, there's the evidence.

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

Solano irrigation is probably doing their annual cleaning of the canals,last year they dropped the flows and left a major side channel of Putah high and dry like right now. I too found a few dead small trout and literally hundreds if not thousands of dead sticklebacks and riffle sculpin of which I spent about two hours filling my ice chest with these struggling little critters and multiple trips to the main stem of the creek to rescue as many as I could. I too wish they would ramp down the flows a little slower.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Happy to report that after spending nearly 10 hours on putah creek today I did not find a single dead or stranded trout. I found 3 dead riffle sculpins, 2 dead crawadads, Thats it. But that dose not by any means justify what was done ! Despite the flows the fish are still biting and were rising nicely in the late morning and again in the late afternoon, Midday was completely dead, Took a nice nap next to the guide hole at that time smile

. Had the entire creek to myself all day, Maybe its not such a bad thing. these trout are true survivors and are highly adaptive. Was lucky and got to witness the finest of all fishers on putah today, the great blue heron !

-- Edited by shon42073 at 18:42, 2008-10-18

-- Edited by shon42073 at 18:47, 2008-10-18

jamesjw55 · Member

I don't remember the flows being so low before, and the drop was dramatic. There must be a more fish-friendly way to clean out those irrigation canals. Reducing the flows slowly would help, but couldn't they also divert the water while they clean the channels?

The flows seem to be up to a somewhat reasonable level now. Any new reports? I'm hoping to see more pictures of the big boys coming in over the next few weeks. I'm snowed in with work, so will have to fish vicariously for a while.

JT · Senior Member

It seems to me that�Putah Creek is treated as a big irrigation canal.� We think of it differently, because there�happen to be some really nice fish in this canal.� With all of your help we can get the creek listed as a wild trout�fishery.� Even then, we will have to come up with some sort of compromise�on the flows.� ��

-- Edited by JT at 06:50, 2008-10-22

BROKERFLYMAN · Member

JT I agree with you. Even though "The Creek" becomes a wild trout
fishery" it doesn't matter to the district controlling the flows.
I think they are already showing you they really don't care. Like Bono
said they have brought down the flows in the past to clean the canal's. It's
not the flows but the drastic reduction of water. In 48hrs
it went from 290 cfs to 40 cfs. These guy's cannot be this anal
about wild game whether we are a fishery or not. Someone
should be in someone's face and make it a point to be heard
because this issue will not go away.

lightfoot · Senior Member

Are they NOT able to shut off the flows to the canal without reducing the flows out of Monticello?

JT · Senior Member

The only reason the flows are higher at certain times of the year is to irrigate the fields.� I was told that they�have to keep a minimum flow on the lower creek, so when the Putah South Canal gets shut down for its annual fall cleaning, they only release what they have to from Berryessa to meet the minimum requirement on the lower creek.� They don't want to release any more, because they see it as a waste of potential water�on the fields.� A while back someone asked about releasing a little less water in the summer�and releasing the stored water in the winter, but they only release what they absolutely have to in t he first place. �In order to hold back water in the summer, they would have to hold back a farmer's water.��I believe that�spawning areas will have to be reconstructed to be able to function at low flows.� I don't see the normal winter flows increasing anytime in the near future.� ��