Smith-Continued

[Fishbug]

Don't hide that fruity 🍉 beer; it's delicious

[streamereater_101691]

Increasing flow out of philpott dam as of noon weds 20 July.

At the same time, flows out of Mville reduced to 60 cfs.   Fairly warm slug; lets hope this is just a quick reduction....

Not looking for any logic in this; been fishing the river and watching the situation for too long to expect any.  Just fyi!

We had sampling both days on the upper. City of martinsville electric department made a miscalculation. They have been informed and already apologized for the incident. I personally talked with the head of the department for an hour. Nice guy and fly fisherman. He was concerned and apologized multiple times.

[Woolly Bugger]

#92

Too damn hot, gas $3.90

For a moment I considered wet wading today, but I was planning on fishing till dark. The lot was empty, and I encountered spider webs on the trail.  The first refreshing cool breeze from the river didn't hit me until I was across the creek. It was damn hot. When I got to the left-hand pool, I waded out just to cool off, it took a while. I didn't mess with fishing there and was soon on the way downstream.

It was just after four and there wasn't much happening on the water, it looked like a desert, void of visible activity. I switched leaders and swung a wet fly for a while, only receiving a few bumps. Bugs started floating by and I saw a trout rise. I took off my wet fly leader and untangled a dry fly leader that I had stashed in the wallet with a puff daddy still on. I unrolled it, but the tippet got tangled and I broke it having given up on untangling it, this allowed the tangled tippet to free, I then blood knotted the broken leader and thought I was done. With all of this done in the middle of the stream I had forgotten to attach the leader loop to the fly line and when I cast the leader and fly went flying downstream. By the time I realized what happened it was too late and the leader couldn't be recovered. Crap. I blame the heat frying my brain. That was my only dry fly leader. So I sat down, popped a beer and salvaged a truncated leader that had been used for nymphing adding some 4x, 5x, and 7x tippet with blood knots. By the time this was done the fish were a little more active.




With a newly reconstructed leader attached I waded out to the head of the run and started catching fish. It was awesome seeing them rise off the bottom and follow the fly back and then gulp it in.



Just the usual small browns and the odd stockbro were caught. The hatches aren't as prolific as I remember from last year, perhaps all the algae is to blame?  It was mostly over by 7:30 and I began to hike out.



I checked Sally's pool, there were a few trout still rising and I went after them, I caught a couple of punes.

There were at least two dozen deer in the field, they all look like yearlings, most bound away, but there is always one strangler who doesn't appear to be concerned until I get within 30 feet, then they run off to the shelter of the woods.

[creakycane]

Increasing flow out of philpott dam as of noon weds 20 July.

At the same time, flows out of Mville reduced to 60 cfs.   Fairly warm slug; lets hope this is just a quick reduction....

Not looking for any logic in this; been fishing the river and watching the situation for too long to expect any.  Just fyi!

We had sampling both days on the upper. City of martinsville electric department made a miscalculation. They have been informed and already apologized for the incident. I personally talked with the head of the department for an hour. Nice guy and fly fisherman. He was concerned and apologized multiple times.

Thanks for following up on this.   Glad the level was quickly raised back.   Hopefully It will be a below average August temp-wise, and the pm rains come intermittently.  Thx again!

[streamereater_101691]

Increasing flow out of philpott dam as of noon weds 20 July.

At the same time, flows out of Mville reduced to 60 cfs.   Fairly warm slug; lets hope this is just a quick reduction....

Not looking for any logic in this; been fishing the river and watching the situation for too long to expect any.  Just fyi!

We had sampling both days on the upper. City of martinsville electric department made a miscalculation. They have been informed and already apologized for the incident. I personally talked with the head of the department for an hour. Nice guy and fly fisherman. He was concerned and apologized multiple times.

Thanks for following up on this.   Glad the level was quickly raised back.   Hopefully It will be a below average August temp-wise, and the pm rains come intermittently.  Thx again!

Absolutely. The pm thunderstorms actually don't help the situation other than fill the lake. In a perfect world, rain between midnight and 7am would be perfect. Cooler than average temps would be welcomed though!!

[Woolly Bugger]

#93 Overcast - then rain, 85 going in 75 coming out Gas $3.80

Listening to The Monument Men on the drive up after checking the weather report and radar. It looked like I would miss the storms and it should be clearing by the time I got there.

So far this is a fascinating story with a lot more depth than I had realized.




I showed up for the second shift around 3 to find an empty lot. Thunder was still booming to the south but I was confident enough that it would remain clear on the river. As I left the lot a pickup truck drove into the field and stopped to check the farm equipment, I followed it and when the driver turned around, he stopped, "Are you a Philpott?" I asked. He just cuts the hay, they have had some equipment repairs and they hope to get the bales put up soon. I mentioned the high yield this year and he claimed that getting rid of the beavers kept the field from flooding and that led to a vast improvement. He went on to talk about the price of fertilizer and diesel fuel. He said that he had spent over $1,300 for fuel and wrapping for those bales plus another 30 on another field. We talked about how old man Philpott would driver around the perimeter of the field to keep grass knocked down. He asked if I wanted a ride to the end of the field and when I declined, he said, "I guess you want the exercise". Then he mentioned that he had been to Greensboro to have his shoulder worked on, and his doctor, who fishes here often, told him that work was going to start on the dam soon. When I told him that I hadn't heard anything about that, he said that Dr. Lucey was certain that the work was going to begin. We parted and I walked on down to Sally's pool.

Any of y'all know anyting?

I waded out into a slot too cool off, there were a few fish rising, and a smattering of bwo and midges along with the occasional sulfur. I got a couple to fall for a puff daddy.



Then I moved on down checking spots along the way. I caught some on the surface, but it was slow. It was still early, and I was waiting for the evening hatch when it started to rain.





since dry fly fishing was out of the question, I swung flies and picked off a couple of handfuls of punes.



It looked like the rain was going to stop, but it continued on and off for the rest of the evening and the bugs never got going at all.





I gave up at 7:30 and hiked out, checking Sally's on the way out, it was dead.



On the way home I stopped at the Citgo for cheap gas and a lottery ticket.

[Dougfish]

43

Unlike WB, I was confidant it would rain later. Maybe thunderstorm.
So I went down earlier. It was my night to cook dinner, also.





2 female common merganser? Big ducks!



I started out down low. Swung up some and the bugs started to slowly get active.
Took about 9-10 more on the low riding comparadun.



Moved up as some booming in the distance started up.
Took a few more and headed further upstream.
Popped into Sally's run as 2 kayaks and a one man toon as had just passed.



The toon driver was struggling. He needed more PSI and his oarlocks were too high.
He had some interesting runs to contend with before takeout. 

I hiked out to eat some lunch and move upstream.



Fished down through the upper and only got 2 tugs.
Saw a young guy headed down. He wanted to fish right side, I wanted to fish left.
Good deal.

But I got skunked in the good run.



Left all of it to him and headed out.
Saw WB's chariot at the usual.
And I saw his text giving me shit for being chicken and not fishing when I hit cell service. 
I sent him this when I was home, and he was getting wet.



 

[Woolly Bugger]

I saw those ducks... couldn't quite out what there were...

them r some big oars on dat pontoon...

[Woolly Bugger]

he said that Dr. Lucey was certain that the work was going to begin. We parted and I walked on down to Sally's pool.

Any of y'all know anyting?

Philpott Dam to undergo major repairs


The recreational funding budget for Philpott Lake has been restored, but it pales in comparison to repairs to the dam that suffered substantial damage from a landslide that occurred over two years ago.

Congress allocated over $12.2 million for Philpott Lake in FY2021. The final bill for FY2022 was slightly more than $4.8 million, but $24.4 million was designated from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act fund to pay for repairs from the landslide and the installation of anchors and gauges, the Corps of Engineers report in April states.

https://martinsvillebulletin.com/news/local/philpott-dam-to-undergo-major-repairs/article_601cb4c4-06d3-11ed-97a8-ab05647a77ae.html

[Dougfish]

They never once mentioned the downstream fishery.
It's meh, to the Corps.

[Woolly Bugger]

They never once mentioned the downstream fishery.
It's meh, to the Corps.

SAVE THE LOGPEARCH!

[streamereater_101691]

Mark my words. It's going to be a long time. Bank stabilization hasn't been completed or assessed since the landslide. Multiple attempts have been made and have failed. GE has already started removing old equipment. The new turbines will be the same as the old ones, full blast or nothing. Also, they are replacing both units at the same time, 2 generators will be back normal again. 1500cfs.. 

[trout-r-us]

From the article:

"Since November 2012 the dam's rating on the Dam Safety Action Classification System (DSAC) was reclassified from a DSAC IV (inadequate with a low probability of failure) to a DSAC III (significantly inadequate with a moderate to high probability of failure)."

[Woolly Bugger]

From the article:

"Since November 2012 the dam's rating on the Dam Safety Action Classification System (DSAC) was reclassified from a DSAC IV (inadequate with a low probability of failure) to a DSAC III (significantly inadequate with a moderate to high probability of failure)."

"DSAC Class III (High Priority) – Dams that have issues where the dam is significantly inadequate or the combination of life, economic, or environmental consequences with probability of failure is moderate to high."

I guess that is why the got the money. Does what appears to be a drawdown of the lake have anything to do with the repairs?

[streamereater_101691]

Does what appears to be a drawdown of the lake have anything to do with the repairs?

No. The steady ~280 flow has been in cooperation with the COE to keep lower river temps bearable. They wanted to shut it off multiple times but were met with complaints.