PA DEP Drought Watch

[Mike]

Salmo makes a fair observation, but it also happens quite frequently in SE Pa that we don’t have much rain until the 20’s of October unless we get the remnants of a tropical storm, but that usually seems to be in Sept. These observations come from my decades of SMB night electrofishing at that time of the year on the lower Susquehanna and Delaware in late Sept and all anytime in October. Sampling some sites was very flow dependent, such as Accomac on the Susky and Yardley on the Delaware. We just had to wait for a storm of some consequence to get the flows that we needed for good catches. That was particularly true at Accomac as it could be the difference between catching 5 SMB or 125 SMB in 2.5 hrs of electrofishing. Accomac often did not have the appropriate water levels until the last week of October or more commonly, the first week of November.

 

[Swattie87]

More water definitely makes it into the water table once the greenery is done for the year.

Good news, it looks like a good part of the state is gonna get a good soaker…2” type deal mid-week. Not enough, but that’s a start.

 

[CRB]

Old saying," All signs of rain fail in dry weather".

 

[wildtrout2]

More water definitely makes it into the water table once the greenery is done for the year.

Good news, it looks like a good part of the state is gonna get a good soaker…2” type deal mid-week. Not enough, but that’s a start.

Two inches on the right stream could be enough for a good day's fishing if you can get there right after it stops. They drop fast though.

 

[wildtrout2]

The way these storms are shaping up, it seems we might wind up in better shape than we originally thought. Some spots could see several inches of rain. That would be awesome!

 

[tomgamber]

They got water now! Lots of it. None of the rocks you could see Sunday in the pic below are visible today and it's still rising. Didn't get a pic today cuz packing a car in the rain is bad enough. Just chocolate milk, every creek the whole ride home.

 

[BradFromPotter]

the brook trout fishing ought to be pretty good for the next couple of days here in Potter

 

[wildtrout2]

Yes indeed. Kettle is over 300cfs, so all the tribs should be good to go. Good fishing coming up this week!

Update: Kettle @ 426cfs. With the rain to continue into tomorrow, it'll now be a matter of waiting for some of the streams to subside. When it rains, it pours.

 

[tomgamber]

yeah, just a little. cfs was 185 on Friday I think.

 

[Swattie87]

This is exactly what we needed. I fished today, got drenched, and loved every second of it. I deliberately went to a watershed that was among the lowest, if not the lowest, comparatively speaking, prior to this rain. Gauge on the mother stream was in the red, as in the bright red, lowest all time for the gauge.

Fished about 3/4 mile each of two different streams. They both fished well, and had plenty of happy, healthy fish, that were surprising spread out. Caught over 2 dozen on both streams. If the fish in this watershed are ok, I’m pretty confident they are pretty much everywhere else in NCPA. Good stuff.

 

[Sylvaneous]

looks like the water issue has been ameliorated for the time being.
Syl

 

[wildtrout2]

Couldn't come at a more needed time. Fish on!

 

[salmo]

Rain. Blessed rain.

 

[salmo]

USGS Current Conditions for USGS 01473169 Valley Creek at PA Turnpike Br near Valley Forge x

Notice how the water temperatures jump up with the runoff from the rain.

 

[Schaefer406]

USGS Current Conditions for USGS 01473169 Valley Creek at PA Turnpike Br near Valley Forge x

Notice how the water temperatures jump up with the runoff from the rain.

Urban runoff sucks. That is why I hate seeing new developments going in near streams!

 

[salmo]

There’s not a lot of undeveloped land left around Valley Creek. However all of those parking lots in the office parks near King of Prussia get very hot and unfortunately there’s not much buffering or detention/retention from those office parks.

 

[wildtrout2]

Looking forward to some great fishing towards the end of the week! Runoff isn't much of an issue on mountain freestone streams.

What a difference a couple of days can make.

 

[Schaefer406]

There’s not a lot of undeveloped land left around Valley Creek. However all of those parking lots in the office parks near King of Prussia get very hot and unfortunately there’s not much buffering or detention/retention from those office parks.

Yeah I was more so referring to the impermeable surfaces that cause excessive thermal pollution in runoff. Ideally, every parking lot would be surrounded by buffers or detention basins for the runoff! Wildtrout2 I agree fishing will be hot for the rest of this week, it just sucks how fast flows drop without consistent input for a period of time - damn freestones!

 

[wildtrout2]

it just sucks how fast flows drop without consistent input for a period of time - damn freestones!

They really do drop surprisingly fast.

 

[Swattie87]

Splurged on a short notice day off to fish today too. Gotta take advantage of these conditions after three months of searching for water. Chose a stream in NE PA. Ended up being darn near blown out! I caught fish, but it was honestly too high to fish effectively. Enough with the rain already! (Kidding 😛, keep it coming.)