The effect of flows on fish location

DrDan · Administrator

The effect of flows on fish location

Cole Davis · Senior Member

I will let someone else comment on the flows. Even though I pay attention to them I don't let it keep me from going fishing. Rather be out on the water than wondering about it on my couch. Does it mess with the fishing..absolutely. The answer to your question about the survey is you should count every fish that touches your hook. Every fish you LDR or land. DFG wants to know how many are in the river not your photo album. This goes for anywhere you fish. I guess on the size if I don't see the fish and I usually round down one size on the survey. Congrats on a good trip. A little hard work pays off. smile

Ty · Senior Member

Dan , the flows usually start going down later in Sept. and they decrease slowly through the fall until the reach the lows for the winter. And Cole is right, the fish WILL be holding in different spots based on high/low flows.

-Taylor

SK60 · Senior Member

Agree with Cole and others on fish movement-they go where food, protection from predators and less energy expenditures are available. Flows continue to ramp down now until November, bottoming out at <100 cfs for the winter.

Spawning starts late October thru February-I'm sure you will hear a lot of discussion then about leaving the spawners alone and avoid trampling redds. DFG usually does a prespawn electroshocking survey in November.

Flow start ramping up in Spring to summer flows, etc.

Nohackle · Senior Member

As others have said, fish do move with changes in current flow. However, if you are fishing the same area where you previously had success and the current flow is nearly the same, your chances of success do increase. That is why I keep a fishing journal. After a trip I record where I fished, what fish I caught, and what the current flow was. If you do the same, eventually you will discover that certain spots tend to hold fish under a certain range of current flows. You'll find that for some spots, the current range for success is very narrow while for other spots you can have great success over a very wide range of flows. Eventually, after you gain a better understanding of the relationship between current flows and where fish hold, your productivity and consistency will improve. I know that maintaining a fishing journal sounds like a lot of effort. However, I have found that it is a great learning tool and it's a lot of fun to go back and read.