Potomac turbidity

[Barracuda]

Does anyone know what's going on with the upper Potomac? The gage at Little Falls shows a gradual, sustained frop fro about 7 feet in mid-May to around 3.7-3.8 currently, with occasional small spikes before resuming the drop.

But the turbidity hit bottom around the last week of May and has been rising ever since, and is now over 150, far higher than at any time in the last 30 days.

I ususally see these things move together -- rains wash mud into the river and also raise the overall level. But not this time.

Any ideas?

[Tom Steeley]

Was wondering the same thing....

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/66b87154-5bf6-47c9-b27c-b23f95c4b241%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Owen Williams]

All I know is that I got blanked yesterday above Riverbend at the pipeline; it's still about a foot or more too much water. Also, no signs of fry, which surprised me since I thought the bluegills would be at it by now. 

On Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 1:02:08 PM UTC-4, Tom Steeley wrote:

Was wondering the same thing....

On Sun, Jun 9, 2019, 11:05 AM Barracuda <omar...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anyone know what's going on with the upper Potomac? The gage at Little Falls shows a gradual, sustained frop fro about 7 feet in mid-May to around 3.7-3.8 currently, with occasional small spikes before resuming the drop.

But the turbidity hit bottom around the last week of May and has been rising ever since, and is now over 150, far higher than at any time in the last 30 days.

I ususally see these things move together -- rains wash mud into the river and also raise the overall level. But not this time.

Any ideas?

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Lane Thurgood]

I think for whatever reason the turbidity gauge is not working.  The river color has been good.

[Barracuda]

I think Lane nailed it. I emailed the contact on the USGS website. Didn't get an answer, but the gauge page now shows that the trubidity info from June 1 on is "affected by equipment malfunction." So for now, no turbidity readings. Thanks for figuring that out.

Owen: did you try to wade at the pipeline or were you in a kayak/canoe?

[Barracuda]

And an update from Sarah Queen at USGS:

"My apologies for the delayed response. My colleagues have agreed that the turbidity data does not look accurate. It is likely that some bio-fouling has occurred on the sensors and caused the data to read artificially high. A site visit was made today in order to fix the equipment, and turbidity values after about 1:30 pm today should be more accurate."

Hopefully we're good to go now.

[Scott Stankus]

“Bio-fouling”  =  💩💩💩💩

Sent from my iPhone

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/c56da342-98d9-4a2c-9749-7118027bfd18%40googlegroups.com.

[Andrew Sarcinello]

Snakehead poop

On Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 3:20:54 PM UTC-4, Scott S wrote:

“Bio-fouling”  =  💩💩💩💩

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 11, 2019, at 3:04 PM, Barracuda <omar...@gmail.com> wrote:

And an update from Sarah Queen at USGS:

"My apologies for the delayed response. My colleagues have agreed that the turbidity data does not look accurate. It is likely that some bio-fouling has occurred on the sensors and caused the data to read artificially high. A site visit was made today in order to fix the equipment, and turbidity values after about 1:30 pm today should be more accurate."

Hopefully we're good to go now.

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Owen Williams]

Now I’m just glad I didn’t drink much of it 😀

[Owen Williams]

Waded, but just up to my knees since there was so much flow

[October Caddis]

Seems like the turbidity gauge is still down?

[william garrahan]

Is anyone catching any fish on upper Potomac?   I've tried River Bend and Lock 8 and haven't had any success - not even sunfish.  Did not see any fish either.

On Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 11:05:33 AM UTC-4, Barracuda wrote:

[Barracuda]

I've been out a couple of times with very little luck -- one small SMB, one small sunfish. I'm hoping maybe lower water level will help, but have no real idea what's going on.

[Edward Chu]

On Sunday I floated a tributary of the upper Potomac near Frederick, MD. I did not have any success fishing larger flies, but after downsizing my flies I started getting into a good number of smallmouth and sunfish.

[spst...@gmail.com]

Edward, I fished the Upper Potomac on Saturday near Hancock, MD and wished I had been somewhere else. Were you on the Moncacy? Catoctin? Conococheague?

-Sean

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/1de0c8f9-5ec8-458d-80ef-33f9e90038ee%40googlegroups.com.

[Edward Chu]

I was on the Monocacy

[Chris James]

I’ve been to Harpers Ferry as well as Violettes lock a few times and I haven’t had much luck on smallies, just a few little guys. Figured the rain pushed the spawn back or something?

[Jamie Carracher]

Could be water level? Little Falls gauge is at 3.5. I haven't waded the Potomac since 2017 at this point. I normally get in when it's around 2.5, but I've never had that much luck on the main river. It's beautiful but frustrating. I feel like I spend most of my time trying not to float away, even when the water is low. I've been focusing on the tribs where it's easier to cover more water. I like to hit an appealing location with a few casts and generally I get something right away or nothing, then I move on. I'm not hauling in smallies hand over fist, but I've gotten a few so far this summer. 

[Owen Williams]

Looking forward to seeing you out there when the level falls, Jamie.

Best,
Owen

[darbrewe]

The river is off this year. Way off. My catch rates for smallmouth are at an all time low. Maybe I just suck but I don't think so......

On Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 11:05:33 AM UTC-4, Barracuda wrote:

[Tom Steeley]

It was pretty much ghost last time I fished Chain Bridge area about a week ago, though I will say there were two guys hand lining w bait off the edge of the faster current and they were pulling up one catfish after another.  Note to self - sink tip.  I will take anything at this point...

Nothing at Burke in the past week, but I killed it out there one night a couple weeks ago.  Bass topwater...

--

http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/c2bd4ee4-068a-48dd-a489-0affa46f3317%40googlegroups.com.

[Barracuda]

Brief Trip Report from Sunday, June 30
Floated a well-known stretch of the UP with a newbie in a canoe -- as a result, all spin fishing, no fly fishing. Probably 5.5 hours of fishing time.

Water level: gauge at 3.6 ft. at Little Falls. I was expecting the water to be nicely stained, but

Water clarity: More murkiness than I expected. Lots of what looked like suspended particles, particularly on the Maryland side.

The bad: my partner hooked two fish, didn't land either. I only caught three fish.

The good: one of the fish my partner hooked was a nice hefty smallmouth that jumped and threw the hook back at him, smacking the side of the canoe. Bad that he didn't land it, but good that it was a nice fish and seeming it jump like that probably "landed" another SMB fan. My three fish were 14", 16", and 17.5". All healthy and strong.

So I'm sorry we didn't catch more fish, but I won't give up on the Potomac this year. At least, not yet.

Barracuda