The River is Blowing Out

Sorry for the delay in bringing you this update. Internet has been down in our area this weekend—a blessing and a curse. Warm temps over the weekend have caused a rapid snowmelt that is affecting us downriver. This means the flows have shot up and turbidity has increased. For those of you crazy enough to get out there, I have heard of a couple fish being caught in between the submerged grass hummocks on dry dropper but it’s not ideal to say the least.

Current flows at the dam are reading at 6,650 cfs and holding fairly steady at that level for the day. Current flows at the Moody gauge are reading at 10,200 cfs and still rising due to the current state of the white river. With lower temps to come this week I hope to see flows out of the dam drop down to a more manageable level for fishing. Flows below the confluence of the White River may continue to be a bit more unpredictable as our foothills in the Tygh Valley region are seeing a lot of snow melt right now.

With the rise in flows we are seeing a drop in water temperatures due largely in part to the snow melt that is creating this blow out. The colder temps mean that the stonefly hatch will most likely be delayed a bit. These bugs need warmer water temps than this and we are just not seeing it right now.

Fingers crossed that the conditions improve over the next week. I’ll send out updates as we see how things progress with river flows. In the mean time tie up some big bugs and binge your favorite fly fishing videos.