Dam!

[adam]

I'm working on a bit about Dams.

I fish the Colorado River and there are two huge damns on it that I frequant. The Glen Canyon Dam and the Hoover Dam. Both make tailwaters that huge trout live in...

Any of you guys out there, tailwater fishers?

Any interest in dams?

I'm on the fence whether I like them or not. I do know that I enjoy the energy that they produce, the water they provide us. The other part of me says let the water flow...

[greendrake]

Within a 45 min. drive of my home there are 4 dams on the Potomac River.Nearest to me is Dam #5 in Clear Spring.Great tailwater fishery below it for channel cats and smallmouth bass.Tremendous fly hatches through this stretch.Dam #4 near Downsville,Md. has excellent tailwater fishery for walleye and smallmouth.Dam #3 near Harpers Ferry,W.Va. is one of the best areas for smallmouth.None of these dams are like the behemoths you mentioned Adam.I would guess the biggest dam on the Potomac stands maybe 15-18' above the water.They all create some outstanding fishing for quite a way below them.
Will

[adam]

Eric right?

You are totally on track.

I have a personal beef with the Glen Canyon Dam and the adjustment of the flows that are seemingly utilized to wipe out and or inhibit the trout population that the government planted in the first place.

The indigenous fish to the Colorado are being protected?

Did we make a mistake when we planted the trout and made the dam because we didn't have the impact study or we didn't know the future?

I remember days when the river had guide boats on every bar for 15 miles and spin fish drifting, it was a zoo and everyone was hooked up. Life was good, there was a fishing economy and then something happened about the time the airliners smashed into the buildings...

For me, I was always amazed that I could drive up in a boat so close to the base of the dam...

Anyway.

I like the points you raise.

I love tailwaters but if the dam is not supposed to be there, I'm not going to not fish it, I'll just support it's removal.

I'll be crossing the Hoover Dam tomorrow and I'll take some images. I have a bunch of good images of the Glen Canyon Dam that I want to post here, I'm going to go ahead and post them all together.

They are amazing.

[jdm5047]

adam, is it true they are building a huge bridge over the hoover dam for the highway to pass over? I seem to recall I saw some pictures somewhere...I'll look around

[adam]

Hoover Dam and the bypass bridge under construction (photographer unknown)

Hoover Dam




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From the Lake Powell side

Glen Canyon Dam



wikipedia links in the titles

I don't want to spend too much time on this but here is a pretty good overview of the two dams. The first photograph, I can not find the person's name who took it, the rest I took. It's such a great photograph that I'm going to go ahead and use it to illustrate where the construction is at this point. The wire suspensions will come off once the road is in place, it will look like the overpass at Glen Canyon Dam in Page.

I am intrigued by these two dams. I didn't get a chance to take a tour of Hoover but I have been through Glen Canyon Dam. At the bottom, you can feel the "humm humm humm" resonating. It is the turbulation in the generators exceeding the reynolds number. The tubes are "floated" in loose soil/gravel where you see the grass in the pictures. Very intense and a marvel of engineering. You can drive your boat very close to the bottom of the dam and it is fish city...

I've always wanted to post a few pictures I've collected over the years of these two dams, what you see here is a collection I've gathered here and there and there you go.

...a dam song I wrote.

Sing it in your head to the Red Hot Chille Peppers song, "Give It Away"


There's a place in,
Northern Arizona,
a desert river,
come from Colorado.
The Mormons crossed there,
at Lees Ferry,
then they built the bridge,
and it was easy


Chorus

Glen Canyon Dam!
Hoover Dam!
Mar de Cortez,
all the way to Mexico,
Marble Canyon,
the Grand Canyon,
Anasazi,
don't forget the Navajo.


We drive our boats up,
the curvy river,
to the sand bars,
then we park there.
Unpack our kitchen,
pile up the wood so high,
start a fire,
then we cast our flys.


Chorus

Glen Canyon Dam!
Hoover Dam!
Mar de Cortez,
all the way to Mexico,
Marble Canyon,
the Grand Canyon,
Anasazi,
don't forget the Navajo.



Just like Zorro,
lay the line down jiggly,
when the yarn dives,
lift the rod quickly.
The river rainbows,
fat and ultra wiggly,
6X works the best,
land 'em very gently.



Chorus

Glen Canyon Dam!
Hoover Dam!
Mar de Cortez,
all the way to Mexico,
Marble Canyon,
the Grand Canyon,
Anasazi,
don't forget the Navajo.

[trout-nut]

I personaly like the Frying Pan Where it comes out of Rudi Resivoir and down stream in Basalt Colorado.

[Kollman]

I was fishing the Frying Pan this summer with my wife, we got into a little wild water down stream near the corner, so moved up a couple miles for some nice fishing. Normally we work the White River system and fish Taneycomo and below Bull Shoals for our semi-local tailwaters. Both of these are heavily stocked, so you don't have to work too hard, but they don't jump in your net either. This October I came close to a grand slam twice in back to back days. Don't know what my problem was the other two. ;)

[flytyer187]

boy tail waters are a double edged sword. The fishing is great, adn that bring crowdes, I live in Colorado. The fryig pan A.K.A toilet bowl -- Dream stream below Spinney Res. The tailwaters below Stagecoach, the Blue below Dillion Res. & so on are the life blood of most outfitters. & their guides. Most tail water fish are big, but tame [ catch & realse a nother double edge] sometimes. I hope not to offend, but vary eazy fish to catch. many such as the frying pan & the Blue require no match the hatch, cause the hatch is mysis shirmp, I no that both rivers have some wonderfull dry fly action as well. the greendrakes on both are SICK!!!!!! guess I'm rambling. So my point would be that the tailwaters provide alot fish, but to much preasure on the fish & fisherman, I make a point to fish the Wild rivers of the Wind Range in WY. every year to get back to FLY FISHING, drop the crowdes at the border and catch fish that don't get caught a million times a year, Fish that get pissed off when a hook grabs their jaw, fish that can't read what brand of waders you use. O.K. last off the ramble I just saw a show about dams on Discovery chanel. The gist off it was that dams are not well designed and are begining to fail all over the U.S. I would hate to be fishing for mild fighting fish when the levy breaks :sunny: :D

[trout-nut]

Another river I fish is not a tail water even though its below the dam at Estes Park I fish that part around January and Febuary and begining of March because everything else is hard water is the Big Thompson. Its close to home and I catch alot of fish there. In fact going up there tomorrow going thru withdrawls haven't been out for about two weeks.

[flytyer187]

Trout nut do you go to the willams Fork tail water. It's a goody threw the winter.
I've heard the Big "T" has great BWO hatshes in the winter. I 've never put much time in on it