Is this year going to be another washout?

[salmonoid]

Canoetripper wrote:
What a great weekend for me to avoid the Poconos. The water is blown out from all of the recent rain. On top of that, it is the NASCAR Pocono 400 race, which will fill up all of the hotel rooms and restaurant tables/bar stools.

I am not convinced that me driving a SUV is really the reason why the climate constantly changes. I learned a long time ago taking a course in Environmental Geology at Juniata College in the late 70's/early 80's is that the planet is geologically 4.6 billion years old and there have been 9 ice ages, which were long before humans inhabited the planet.

I am always going to drive a 4X4 with my with my fly rod vault on top. I don't think that I am the problem since I know that I am an environmentalist who never litters. If I pack it in, I can pack it out.

Good for you for picking up your litter, but you lost me on the "I drive a SUV but I'm not part of the problem". We're all part of the "problem", in that we all impact the earth by our consumption. The extent of our consumption and choices of how we live determines the extent of our impact. The fact that there has been multiple ice ages in the past does not negate the fact that humans have exacerbated the warming during the latest interglacial period.

2016 was a drought year. Last year was a wet year. Anyone trying to point out a trend from that is only safe in saying weather changes each year. Two wetter years may crimp our fishing, but it's overall good for the fish.

 

[MD_Gene]

Check out my recent post about finishing the flow plot for Penns.

 

[Canoetripper]

It is my fault that I didn't do a better job of clarifying in my above post.

I don't want to turn this into a political post, but I am just not convinced that the science is settled about "Climate Change."

Not too many years ago it was called "Global Warming." I am not a scientist, but I am very apprehensive about an ever expanding government telling me or anyone else what we can and can not do.

I think that all of us want to do our best to leave the planet as best we can for our children and grandchildren, and future generations down the line.

I work in the automotive industry for a living, and see everyday that hybrids, and electric vehicles are potentially a lot more problematic for all of our day to day transportation necessities as we live our lives and raise our families than the internal combustion engines.

They overly complicate what currently works(internal combustion engines) and burn even more fossil fuels to charge them to full capacity. Also, these "environmentally friendly" vehicles are not less expensive for routine maintenance.

Every member of this board is a concerned environmentalist since we all know that the trout that we love to fish for need a more pristine environment than warm water species to survive. I know that we do what we can to help make this happen as we live our lives.

 

[Dave_W]

Regarding rain and flows. . .

Looking at the USGS map in recent days almost feels strange. In recent years, it so often seems like SEPA and the SC counties are the ones that are always flooded and "black and blue." Recently, to see so much black and blue in western PA looks almost strange (to me at least). I know it's more complicated than this, but it just seems that, in recent years, that SEPA and eastern PA seem to get the flooding.

 

[troutbert]

Canoetripper wrote:
What a great weekend for me to avoid the Poconos. The water is blown out from all of the recent rain.

On top of that, it is the NASCAR Pocono 400 race, which will fill up all of the hotel rooms and restaurant tables/bar stools.

If people don't want to go fishing, no one can stop them.

 

[sgrim]

Canoetripper wrote:
It is my fault that I didn't do a better job of clarifying in my above post.

I don't want to turn this into a political post, but I am just not convinced that the science is settled about "Climate Change."

Not too many years ago it was called "Global Warming." I am not a scientist, but I am very apprehensive about an ever expanding government telling me or anyone else what we can and can not do.
...
I work in the automotive industry for a living, and see everyday that hybrids, and electric vehicles are potentially a lot more problematic for all of our day to day transportation necessities as we live our lives and raise our families than the internal combustion engines.

...

Every member of this board is a concerned environmentalist since we all know that the trout that we love to fish for need a more pristine environment than warm water species to survive. I know that we do what we can to help make this happen as we live our lives.

Canoetripper - while I can agree your statement that hybrid/EV technology still has shortcomings that need to be addressed, you make other statements here that are textbook Denial-ism. The science IS settled that the earth is warming. The science is further settled that CO2 emissions are increasing at a rate that is incomparable to any preindustrial period of the earth's history. The science is settled that greenhouse gasses have a warming effect on the planet.
The absence of governmental leadership has exacerbated the problem for nearly half a century.

It's actually not difficult to find good sources of data, scientific articles, and explanations of the established scientific principles on which the understanding of climate principles are based. It just takes a willingness to look beyond biases and skepticism.

 

[DanL]

Did my spring trip over the last week, from Wednesday May 29th through Sunday, in State College. Couldn't make the jam dates work so was best I could manage this year.

While Spring was high due to the rain, was able to catch some fish on the edges each day, and also nymping deep with 3 to 4 split shot. Also drove up to Black Moshannon for a bit since that one takes rain a lot better and the flows were a bit high, but clarity was good.

Rain sucks, but it's better than drought...

 

[Fredrick]

May I recommend a good fly fishing kayak
http://looknfishy.blogspot.com/2017/02/jackson-kayak-mayfly-review-with-video.html


https://www.orvis.com/p/orvis-edition-jackson-kayak/2ttx

 

[outsider]

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html

 

[raftman]

This year's different, I can feel it.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

God is being generous with giving us weekends with little to no rain.

 

[afishinado]

Propelled by a two-week siege of widespread severe weather and heavy rain in late May, the contiguous U.S. has once again broken its record for the wettest year-long span in data going back to 1895. According to the monthly U.S. climate summary released Thursday from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, last month was the second-wettest month in U.S. history, with the nationally averaged total of 4.41” just behind the 4.44” recorded in May 2015. All other months in U.S. precipition annals have been no wetter than 4.24”.

The year to date also ranks as the wettest January-to-May period in U.S. history. The nationally averaged total of 15.71” is well above the previous record of 15.13” from Jan.-May 1983. In fact, the difference of 0.58” is almost twice as big as the difference between any other two Jan.-May periods in the 125-year dataset, when arranged from dryest to wettest.

Wet patterns this widespread and strong are often surprisingly resilient, in part because the soaked landscape and vegetation continue to pump moisture into the overlying atmosphere to support subsequent rain. The weak El Niño also remains in place, which supports continued wet conditions over much of the nation. With all this in mind, persistence may be as good a forecast as any, and I won’t be shocked if we’re reporting on another 12-month precipitation record about a month from now.

link to source

 

[troutbert]

The trout fishing conditions right now are excellent, and should also be excellent this weekend.

 

[Dave_W]

afishinado wrote:
Propelled by a two-week siege of widespread severe weather and heavy rain in late May, the contiguous U.S. has once again broken its record for the wettest year-long span in data going back to 1895. According to the monthly U.S. climate summary released Thursday from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, last month was the second-wettest month in U.S. history, with the nationally averaged total of 4.41” just behind the 4.44” recorded in May 2015. All other months in U.S. precipition annals have been no wetter than 4.24”.

The year to date also ranks as the wettest January-to-May period in U.S. history. The nationally averaged total of 15.71” is well above the previous record of 15.13” from Jan.-May 1983. In fact, the difference of 0.58” is almost twice as big as the difference between any other two Jan.-May periods in the 125-year dataset, when arranged from dryest to wettest.

Wet patterns this widespread and strong are often surprisingly resilient, in part because the soaked landscape and vegetation continue to pump moisture into the overlying atmosphere to support subsequent rain. The weak El Niño also remains in place, which supports continued wet conditions over much of the nation. With all this in mind, persistence may be as good a forecast as any, and I won’t be shocked if we’re reporting on another 12-month precipitation record about a month from now.

link to source

Wow!
I don't think any of us are really surprised to hear this.

Well. . . at least for now, the answer to this thread question is "yes." :-(

 

[Dave_W]

troutbert wrote:
The trout fishing conditions right now are excellent, and should also be excellent this weekend.

This is the good news - at least in my neck of the woods, for now.

SCPA trout streams are in very good shape flow wise and quite cold. Stocked ATWs are fishing well with plenty of fish still around, especially in streams that are float stocked.

Even the Susky and Juniata, although still well above normal, are getting back down around the 5' level.

 

[franklin]

troutbert wrote:
The trout fishing conditions right now are excellent, and should also be excellent this weekend.

For the first time this year I'm debating which stream to go to tomorrow. Not because I'm trying to find one that's fishable. But because they all are.

 

[joebamboo]

Attempted to fish the Breeches yesterday. Attempted because the current was way too strong for my old bones. Lasted about 15 minutes before bagging it. It was on the fly fishing section in Boiling Springs.

 

[dryflyguy]

Most of the streams I like to fish are in pretty decent shape right now.
And the local forecast is predicting no rain until Monday.
That would be about 3-4 dry days in a row if it happens - and likely one of the few times all year that's happened.

Anyway, this should be a decent weekend to get out.

 

[SteveG]

This Spring was a bummer, but things have been decent lately. While conditions were not ideal most of 2018, the fish from the 2017 spawn are looking great, as well as those from the most recent spawning. I've been getting some great dry fly action in, so I'm happy.

 

[Canoetripper]

I was looking forward to this weekend since the weather forecast and water levels looked to be perfect all week long. What could have possibly gone wrong?

Murphy's Law. On Friday at work I could feel a cold(Rhino Virus) coming on strong. I've had two other colds in the summer and they were terrible. As soon as I got home I started with my remedy of ZICAM and Cold-Eze, and drinking plenty of fluids, and hoped for the best.

Saturday I felt so bad that I only left the house to pick up the newspaper and get my mail. I would have been miserable driving to the Poconos and dealing with a tough cold all day.

The ZICAM and Cold-Eze are doing their thing and I do feel better and think that I will be close to 100% for work on Monday morning. The last two times I had summer time colds, they kicked my a$$ for the better part of a week and I was a lot younger back then.