SNP Water Levels this Weekend?

[Andrew Chaney]

I plan on hitting a stream or two this weekend, but I'm a little skittish because of all the rain. The last time I went after several days of rain, the streams had such high, dirty water that they were un-fishable. The best resource I could think of to check water levels without physically going out there was the USGS data for the Rapidan River near Culpeper. Based on the data, I can see that current water levels are more than twice their historical average, but since average water levels taper off throughout the spring anyway, I have no real frame of reference for what the threshold for fishable water levels are. Can anyone provide some insight?

[Lane Thurgood]

I believe if you go in from the top and fish the headwaters, you'll be fine.  I wouldn't fish any from the bottom right now.

[Andrew Chaney]

I wound up staying home on Saturday and fishing on Sunday. The water was still too high in a lot of spots, but I actually had a pretty decent day in SNP, all things considered. I even caught a chunky 10" brookie in an otherwise small pool!