Dam!

[trout-nut]

flytyer187

Its been quite a few years since I've been up to williams fork. Yes there's a nice blue winged olive hatch on the big T. I'm going there today to check it out. I've been laid off for almost a year now due to budget cuts so I stay close to home for now. I was on the river here a couple of weeks ago thinking a nice cloudy day would have a bwo hatch but they were very finnicky. They took some bwo on size 20 &22. I had a fly that was trash and that was the only one they would hit that day.

[Ernest]

We have dams in the Upper Midwest. Our experience is different than that of the West. We are at low elevations, have very distinct cold and hot seasons, and most years we have plenty of rain.

Most of our trout streams are small, and dams are often detrimental to trout fishing. In the summer the low head dams, with a surface water discharge, will warm the water to temperatures beyond which the trout can stand.

The River Alliance of Wisconsin provides some good information at http://www.wisconsinrivers.org/index.ph ... view&id=5#

Excerpts:

“Wisconsin has been building dams on rivers since before Abraham Lincoln became President. Our state was a national leader in dam building; in fact, the world's first hydropower project was built on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. Today, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources estimates that there are over 3,800 dams in Wisconsin, from small millponds to giant hydropower facilities. Less than 200 of these dams (or about 5% of the total) are currently involved in hydropower production. Similarly, about 200 dams provide a flood control function.”

“Many of Wisconsin's dams were built during the 19th century to power grist mills or to provide flood waters for logging operations. Almost all of these century-old dams were built of timber and rock. Even though most have been rebuilt with concrete, they have been gradually deteriorating under the twin pressures of water and time. DNR dam safety engineers are discovering that many of Wisconsin's dams are in danger of failing, threatening life and property.”

“We recognize that in many cases dams provide important societal benefits. However, by their very existence, dams have a detrimental impact rivers and streams. For example, dams:
• Alter natural flow patterns
• Fragment habitat
• Block migration corridors
• Degrade water quality, altering temperatures and oxygen levels
• Fluctuate water levels, either stranding or flooding fish and wildlife”
The River Alliance is frankly a special interest group in favor of removing dams. Some of their results have been stunning. I have enjoyed trout fishing in cold streams that run across what was once the bottom of silted warm water ponds. I have also cursed dams that have caused trout streams to decline.

We don’t have much tailwater fishing, unless it’s for fish that are trying to move upstream to spawn and is blocked by a dam. Mostly those are warm water fish. For much of the spring and summer, the water coming out of a pond above a dam is too warm for trout, and the trout don’t stay until more spring water comes in downstream.

[flytyer187]

Yep pretty much the same boat. I've been out of work for the past ten months. I feel lucky to live in Summit-- at least I have the Blue, but really want to be on the dream stream. There are risen fish year round--- but that's a half a tank of gas. but hay we get to fish right :sunny:

[trout-nut]

flytyer187
A couple of more weeks it will a year for me.
Big T almost froze over in spots about done for the year. Went up to Estes Park at the fishing was slow fish are real picky from so much pressure. It doesn't freeze up there. :D

[Chef]

We'll have to make a run to the San Juany Adam to get you properly baptized. In my best Val Kilmer voice from Tombstone, "Say Whaaaaen" :geek: < that looks like me now.

[adam]

I will fishit, one day, not in a hurry.

LF is still my home.

[grayling]

I fully understand the need for management waterways in the world we live in ... and support reasoned contruction solutions that consider all uses and values in a balanced, long term manner ... and would really like someone to point me to a situation where that actually happen. That's why much prefer to live and fish with the rhythms of nature in Alaska ... where there are no (or at least few) dams, ditches, dikes, screwgate, diversions or watercontrol structure in the rivers, creek and smallstreams i fish. Having said that some of my highest trout count days have been on lower 48 tail water fisheries ... just not the hightest "quality" fishing experiences. To each his own ... it all good with the rod in my hand and my toes are in water.

[MichiganTrout]

Here's my nomination: Navajo Dam in northwestern New Mexico.

The San Juan River (the place of the famed San Juan Worm) is it's tail water and is a surprising overlooked high quality trout fishery. Fished there twice last year (March and October) and landed multiple 20"+ rainbows and browns. I not only love to fish that river, but love to stand knee deep in the water an look up to see eagles circling, and heron's wading along side of me.

Did Lee's Ferry on the of trips this year, Navajo Dam and the San Juan well worth the trip across to NM.

[Brooktrout]

Lots of good info above, and some nice pics adam. I especially despise dams that block migrating fish. Of course we need power and in some places flood control but the Corps of Dam Builders, er of Engineers got a little out of control.
I have fished the SJ a lot (and several other tailwaters including the Colorado below Glen Canyon) and it/they can be a lot of fun. But the SJ can also be a crowded, tempermental, unpleasant combat-fishing experience.
Wild trout, wild water. That always seems the best to me. Nature has done just fine over the last, oh, 50 million years without us and our "improvements". If left alone and taken care of free river fishing will always be the best of all worlds. It is a shame there is so little of it left. Maybe that is why many of us like small streams so much.

[Satoshi]

Japanese rivers are fragmented by dams. Even in small streams or creeks, they build dams like this. These small dams are not for water diversion but built (officially) as barriers to control soil erosion or against debris-slide. However, many people believe this is actually one of many ways for politicians of the government party to distribute money to local construction industries, which, in return, help election campaigns for them in a great deal. In fact, construction of infrastructure, such as dams, roads, or public buildings is the only major industry in many local areas in Japan, and some politicians officially declare that such construction is a kind of social welfare. These small dams only do harm to fish and river ecosystem that live in the river; Such dams cause habitat loss by stopping delivery of rocks or sand downstream and revealing rocky bottom of the river and inbreeding problem by inhibiting fish migration. The trend has only recently begun to change, though there are already too many dams in rivers in this country. I think it’s time to remove dams. So, I am very interested in how they remove a huge dam (or two dams?) from the Elwha River in Olympic Peninsula, WA, and in what happens after that.