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#1009755 - 06/03/19 01:26 PM What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee
bobrr
Unregistered


Melanie and I went up to the lake to try out the "Evie Kay" for the 1st time on the lake. We have fished it a 1/2 dozen times in the canoe but hadn't taken the actual boat yet. Imagine our surprise at the low levels which obviously have been that way since at least last summer. Spillway problem? I imagine that has to be detrimental to the river during drought conditions, when added flows would lower temps. And what about the folks that recreate there? Water skiing with stumps! Melanie thought we were at Lake Shasta or something. Fishing was great, I caught a 28 1/2 inch steelie trolling with ultra-light kokanee rod, chrome in good shape, a hatchery fish. Jumped totally out of the water, tail walking, never had a steelhead come out of the water like that.Also caught a gorgeous 22 inch one. Melanie caught a nice cutthroat, I'll stuff that with crab tomorrow. Smaller rainbow was really nice on the grill last night. Bob R

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#1009762 - 06/03/19 01:51 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
FleaFlickr02 Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/28/09
Posts: 3314
Pretty sure the lake is low because there was very little snow in the mountains that feed it last winter. All the Peninsula rivers are already at summer low and really didn't get a runoff this year. The lower river is already lower than it usually is in September. Water's still cold, but I doubt that will last much longer. I've never seen the like in 20 years of living round these parts. Forget the Cascades. This year, the Olympics will be on fire (and I don't mean the fishing).

As an aside, it sounds like this may be an unusually good year to fish Wynoochee Lake. Less power boat traffic, increased structure, and two steelhead caught all sound like positive indicators to the angler in me....

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#1009774 - 06/03/19 05:47 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: FleaFlickr02]
bobrr
Unregistered


It sure looked like it was low last year from the vegetation growth, hopefully someone else with more info will chime in. Bob

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#1009776 - 06/03/19 06:01 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Rivrguy Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/03/09
Posts: 4393
Loc: Somewhere on the planet,I hope

As I recall the power generation is allowed XXX with a shut down window for smolt passage. I imagine it is about min / max water for power and the low flows got the level down fast. Now a question I do not know or recall hearing is if there is a minimum height for the lake. Best I can do Bob.
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#1009777 - 06/03/19 06:54 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Eric Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 3513
I watch this every year closely as it effects my summer fishery to some degree.

I don't think it had as much to do with windows of power generation as it did USACOE blowing the spring runoff/rain predictions. Back in Feb/March when we had the different snow storms things looked ok. 2 things didn't happen thereafter:

1) The snow pack wasn't as much as first thought.

2) We didn't get our usual heavy spring rains. April and May were pretty damn dry from a significant rain standpoint. By my observations, most years, they top off the lake with the spring rain drenchings......well before snow runoff starts. Didn't happen this year because we didn't get the rain. The only remedy would have been to curtail flows even earlier to rise the lake with the last of the rain runoff. Of course, no one knew of the dry conditions to come so this wasn't done. This also happened in the "Blob" year of 2015 or 2016.(don't remember which)

I does seem the lake is even lower this time around which ain't good. If the lake goes dry by August/Sept there will be no steady outflow to maintain river levels and you think the river's low now? Long range forecast for June is drier than usual so I don't see a remedy anytime soon.

Looking ahead, I'd get in the habit of topping off the lake near the end of March on the heals of the last big storms. From there, keep outflow up as needed until things stabilize in June.

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#1009778 - 06/03/19 07:25 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
I think Wynoochee was, initially, a flood-control dam. As such, they have to have the space to put water when it shows up. So, when it didn't rain, the flood pocket did not get filled. As with ocean salmon, the water manager's will base action on forecasts and this year's failed.

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#1009786 - 06/03/19 08:37 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: Carcassman]
fish4brains Offline
Dah Rivah Stinkah Pink Mastah

Registered: 08/23/06
Posts: 6866
Loc: zipper
It was initially a flood control dam. I worked there in the late 80's for the Corps of Engineers. I used to know about the levels but that was a long time ago and definitely not relevant now.
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Propping up an obsolete fishing industry at the expense of sound fisheries management is irresponsible. -Sg



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#1009799 - 06/04/19 05:55 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
DrifterWA Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 04/25/00
Posts: 5074
Loc: East of Aberdeen, West of Mont...
Here is the web address, for just the Wynoochee Dam, to check, Rain Fall, water level, Temperature


https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv/?site_no=12035380&agency_cd=USGS


I forget what the water level is "when completely full" but after more than 50 years here, Wynoochee River is about as low as I can remember for the "opening of summer run"....hip boots are the norm....


Edited by DrifterWA (06/04/19 01:08 PM)
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#1009801 - 06/04/19 06:42 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
bobrr
Unregistered


I would have posted fish pics, but have issues posting them on this site. Can anyone help? Bob

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#1009802 - 06/04/19 06:53 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
NickD90 Offline
Shooting Instructor for hire

Registered: 10/26/10
Posts: 7260
Loc: Snohomish, WA
The whole OP is dry. We've been humping and bushwhacking the backwoods Elk scouting and all of the feeder creeks are very low. Trails are dry, swamps are dry, seeps are dry. Did a river crossing that shouldn't have been possible this time of year. Have put 10 days in over the past month and we've been lightly sprinkled on once. It's mid summer up there. It's going to be a long, hot summer & fall.
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#1009804 - 06/04/19 06:55 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
before jumping too hard on the USACOE for missing the weather, one of the problems on all predictive models (like salmon) is that they look backwards to predict forwards. If the (climate, survival, etc) is changing you are always predicting from behind. So, even in a reasonably stable situation you are playing from behind. Throw in some sort of anomaly and you get way off.

But, if you are managing for flood protection just how much hell are you going to catch if you go out on a limb, predict a dry spring, and have no flood pocket? You'd get crucified for all the resulting flood damage.

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#1009807 - 06/04/19 07:13 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: Carcassman]
bobrr
Unregistered


Originally Posted By: Carcassman
before jumping too hard on the USACOE for missing the weather, one of the problems on all predictive models (like salmon) is that they look backwards to predict forwards. If the (climate, survival, etc) is changing you are always predicting from behind. So, even in a reasonably stable situation you are playing from behind. Throw in some sort of anomaly and you get way off.

But, if you are managing for flood protection just how much hell are you going to catch if you go out on a limb, predict a dry spring, and have no flood pocket? You'd get crucified for all the resulting flood damage.

There has to be a middle ground, it seems that this forecast was WAY off. Thanks for all the input, Bob R

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#1009812 - 06/04/19 07:41 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Rivrguy Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/03/09
Posts: 4393
Loc: Somewhere on the planet,I hope
https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc/

Take a look at the levels. If you click on a river it pulls a drop down that shows not just flows but record lows. Kinda a eye opener. Nooch is near record low & Satsop is below the record.


Edited by Rivrguy (06/04/19 09:19 AM)
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#1009817 - 06/04/19 08:48 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
WDFW X 1 = 0 Offline
My Area code makes me cooler than you

Registered: 01/27/15
Posts: 4549
Don't worry WDFW and Gov. Inslee will fix it.

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#1009821 - 06/04/19 09:44 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: Carcassman]
FleaFlickr02 Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/28/09
Posts: 3314
Originally Posted By: Carcassman
before jumping too hard on the USACOE for missing the weather, one of the problems on all predictive models (like salmon) is that they look backwards to predict forwards. If the (climate, survival, etc) is changing you are always predicting from behind. So, even in a reasonably stable situation you are playing from behind. Throw in some sort of anomaly and you get way off.

But, if you are managing for flood protection just how much hell are you going to catch if you go out on a limb, predict a dry spring, and have no flood pocket? You'd get crucified for all the resulting flood damage.


You're right about the dangers of prediction, but I'd argue it's a heck of a lot easier for humans to draw down a reservoir in an emergency than it is to fill one up. This was an exceptionally dry spring (I was crossing the Queets all month in March... Almost unheard of), so I do think the USACE should be spared too much criticism. A potentially big mistake, but an honest one.

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#1009822 - 06/04/19 11:25 AM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
The emergency for a flood control dam is a flood. If a lot of water suddenly shows up it is because of a flood. So, instead of holding it back you let out more?

There does need to be more hands-on, what's happening today action. Basically in-season management rather than pre-season models. As things dried out (faster) it would be time to reduce flows and fill up the reservoir. Takes a lot of effort, on a daily basis. Auto-pilot is so damn much easier.

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#1009836 - 06/04/19 04:46 PM Re: What's with the low water levels at Lake Wynoochee [Re: ]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13520
Wynoochee has minimum flow requirements for the river as well as a reservoir refill curve. Exceptions are made when approved by an inter-agency committee that I used to be a member of. I don't know if it is still used or not. Sometimes the preferred options are not on the menu of choices, and unusually dry or unusually hot conditions can leave the managers with no good options, only the least bad.

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