FISHING REPORT

It seems so odd how people forget how things used to be. For the
last couple of years we had below normal rainfall.  Everyone got
used to it. In fact I think they kind of liked being able to play
golf or actually fish the Russian River in January while the rest
of the world struggled under normal precipitation amounts. Today we
have normal, albeit slightly above normal and everyone wants the
rain to stop. We have in fact had almost three times as much rain
as last year but this is normal folks. You are going to have to get
used to it.  Not a bad thing really.
And as fishermen, we are going to have to get used to the fact
that the Army Corps of Engineers controls our destiny, of sorts.
Once the rains come and the water supply pool hits the 100% mark in
our reservoirs, the Sonoma County Water Board releases control of
the dam to the Army Corps. Anything in excess is summarily dumped,
released from the muddy bottom of the dam, into the river which in
turn screws up the water clarity and our fishing opportunities.
Rarely does the Army Corps care about the recreational aspect of
the river even though the hatcheries were provided to the fishermen
as mitigation to the adverse effects the dams have on the
fisheries.
So Monday, Warms Springs was releasing 1500 CFS and should taper
off by Tuesday as it gets closer to the 451 elevation. The release
will end up being right around 200 CFS which matches the inflow. On
Monday Coyote was encroached a couple of feet above the 737.5
elevation and they will start releasing water. It will take them
approximately 4-5 days at 1500-2000 CFS and then they will slowly
back it off.  The really frustrating part is that they will release
200 CFS and that will be just enough to really screw up the entire
length of the river for 60 miles. Why they can’t hold back an extra
100 CFS? This would allow us to fish the entire length of the
river. But they can’t, because then they would be encroaching in to
the flood pool again and they don’t want to do that. They are held
by law to have only 1 foot of elevation change.
So remember, this is what it is like to fish the Russian River.
Come on. It hasn’t been that long. Get used to constantly looking
at the releases and trying to figure out what the Army Corps is
going to do next. The bottom line is that it will be a couple of
weeks of no rainfall until the river is really fishable. Oh there
will be guys plunking below Dry creek but for good steelhead
fishing you will have to go elsewhere…just like you used to.
But I suppose the real issue on the Russian isn’t the rainfall
but the lack of fish. When the river was low, guys were plunking in
the clear water fishing over  trapped fish in specific pools and
there were some fish caught. And then the rain came and between
storms, guys were able to get out but the results have been less
than stellar. The Hatchery numbers bear out the lack of success.
Warm Springs to date has only 281 fish. Compare that with last
year’s 151 for the same period and you’d think it was a good thing
but if you look at years ago when normal rainfall was, well,
normal, we had counts in the thousands by now and the fishing was
pretty good. Try to remember the good old days when we had 40
inches of rainfall and 5000 fish return to the hatcheries. It
wasn’t that long ago.
For more information and or reports, please contact Hunt
Conrad at Prospect Mortgage in Healdsburg, 431-9715.