Smith River Generation(or lack of)

Started by dossphoto, February 17, 2012, 18:09:40 PM

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dossphoto

As you may already know, there will be no generation at Philpott for about 70 days starting on February 21st, 2012. They have agreed help keep the river watered up with above average flow-bys between 65-80 cfs. The normal average low flows are 35-40 cfs. So hopefully we will have normal rainfall, and keep the lake levels up so the Corps will maintain the 65-80 flow rate. They are scheduled to resume regular generation schedules on April 28th, 2012.

**THESE DATES AND FLOW RATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. CONTINUE TO CALL AND VERFY THE GENERATION SCHEDULE BEFORE YOU GO!!***

Al

Good post Darrin -  For those not in the loop, they are changing out a generator, not a turbine or the intake valve, both of which are what is really needed to help the fishery.

You should continue to call to check the schedule because I have been caught before during periods of "maintenance" when they decided to run a short "burp" to test whatever they were working on. They always announce it just before hand to CYA but if you don't check just before you pull on your waders you could end up on a rock in the middle of the river and gain fame with your photo on the front page of the Martinsville Bulletin :o.

22midge

a couple of warm days and the stoneflies just might show up in the warm water
never let a day go by without telling your children how special they are----make a child smile today and gain a friend for life

dossphoto

Looks like we are getting just a little more water than we originally thought.  The graphs leveled out at 109cfs for now.  There could be some sluicing from Philpott during this time as well, so keep an eye out for sudden water level changes.

phlyfisher

Quote from: dossphoto on February 22, 2012, 20:24:33 PM
Looks like we are getting just a little more water than we originally thought.  The graphs leveled out at 109cfs for now.  There could be some sluicing from Philpott during this time as well, so keep an eye out for sudden water level changes.

i was out yesterday and it was wicked low, even in the honey hole. me and woolly are going out tommorow. hope we dont get swept away...  b';
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FB@Ohio Fly Fishing

22midge

I believe the flows will be fine since they are mandated to minimum flows........I am more interested in the temperatures for that long of a period becoming constant instead of spikes hi & low.Could be a real good bug producing period for mid- river and below.
never let a day go by without telling your children how special they are----make a child smile today and gain a friend for life

jwhop3

I agree. I'm ready to give Eggleston Falls, Fieldale Crossing and Marrowbone Creek a try this year.
"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."


~by Doug Larsen~

phlyfisher

Quote from: jwhop3 on February 28, 2012, 16:52:29 PM
I agree. I'm ready to give Eggleston Falls, Fieldale Crossing and Marrowbone Creek a try this year.

the water at eggleston just looks so damn good.... ill get them to cooperate down there one of these days, haven't had the chance to fish it as much as i would like. I'm also seriously interested in what the bug populations will look like with the low water, and let me tell you it is LOW. when me and woolly went out it was low up above the dam and high below it.from my understanding they can generate at mville dam? maybe not, but either way the water was high and then came down about 30 mins after being there. I flipped some rocks down below the dam and saw lots of mayflys and a surprising number of stones. i think dry flies down there will be awesome come warmer weather....not to mention the sulphurs...oooo the sulphurs should be killin it this year...april cant get here fast enough  -0-
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FB@Ohio Fly Fishing

Al

Received this from Brian Williams, Program Manager for Dan River Basin Association (DRBA)  - He is talking about next week, March 5-8.  In my opinion you should go elsewhere next week as 350cfs is too much flow to fish safely

"I got word from the USACE that the current rate  of release at Philpott during the outage has been running around 100 cfs. Due to rising lake levels, they will be opening the sluice gates wider next week beginning Monday morning resulting in a total discharge at the tailrace gauge of about 320 cfs.  They will most likely hold this release at least through Friday, depending on rainfall/inflows."


phlyfisher

Quote from: Al on March 03, 2012, 09:30:13 AM
Received this from Brian Williams, Program Manager for Dan River Basin Association (DRBA)  - He is talking about next week, March 5-8.  In my opinion you should go elsewhere next week as 350cfs is too much flow to fish safely

"I got word from the USACE that the current rate  of release at Philpott during the outage has been running around 100 cfs. Due to rising lake levels, they will be opening the sluice gates wider next week beginning Monday morning resulting in a total discharge at the tailrace gauge of about 320 cfs.  They will most likely hold this release at least through Friday, depending on rainfall/inflows."

how much of an affect will that have below martinsville dam? do you think it will be inaccessible for fishing down that way as well?
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FB@Ohio Fly Fishing

dossphoto

Martinsville Dam has been running as usual so far. I think generation times have been something like 800am to 300pm, but that could very well change with this added water coming next week.  I would check HERE before going down there just to make sure!!!!!

dossphoto

Here is the closest I could come to finding a data point in the flow history for the Philpott gauge that **MIGHT** represent the levels we'll get next week. 
12/21/2011 09:15 EST
3.35' 
366cfs
Here is a data point from today's level.  Which I am getting ready to go test out ;D !
[/size]
03/03/2012 09:00 EST
2.57' 
101cfs 


Look like we'll be just about  9" of water on top of the current level.  Please take this with a grain of salt....it's just a guess and it's only at the Philpott gauge!!

phlyfisher

Quote from: dossphoto on March 03, 2012, 10:30:17 AM
Here is the closest I could come to finding a data point in the flow history for the Philpott gauge that **MIGHT** represent the levels we'll get next week. 
12/21/2011 09:15 EST
3.35' 
366cfs
Here is a data point from today's level.  Which I am getting ready to go test out ;D !
[/size]
03/03/2012 09:00 EST
2.57' 
101cfs 


Look like we'll be just about  9" of water on top of the current level.  Please take this with a grain of salt....it's just a guess and it's only at the Philpott gauge!!


good luck man, smack em around for me.  -0-
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FB@Ohio Fly Fishing

gamatt53

I was out there Saturday around midriver. I could tell there was a little more water than usual but the fish were still in their normal places - not much bug or surface activity until I had to leave at 3:00   b'; The thing that I did notice however was that the Didymo was much worse than normal down there - need a release to flush that shit out. Nymphing with that crap sucks.

consumnfire1229

Quote from: gamatt53 on March 05, 2012, 11:49:45 AM
I was out there Saturday around midriver. I could tell there was a little more water than usual but the fish were still in their normal places - not much bug or surface activity until I had to leave at 3:00   b'; The thing that I did notice however was that the Didymo was much worse than normal down there - need a release to flush that shit out. Nymphing with that crap sucks.

Are you the one that left this on the tracks that spooked me on the way in and on the way out?  I don't think you were considering your description of what part of the river you were fishing.

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"Thou shalt know thy waters and be wise about those things upon which thy prey doth feed."  4th Commandment of The Eleven Commandments from the Curtis Creek Manifesto