Yough Dam??

[ryanh]

We drove today down into Maryland. While driving past the Yough dam I noticed that it was near empty. Whats the deal. It has been a few years since I have been to Yough lake, but I NEVER remember it being that low. And we have had wet years back to back. It should be full! I imagine that this does not bode well for the yough's thermal stability. If it doesn't refill over the winter and we have a dry summer next year we could loose a primo fishery.

Any info on this would be appreciated.

 

[dryflyguy]

Even though I fish the yough river frequently, I don't get up to the lake much. I'm not surprised to hear that it's low, though.
It was a fairly dry summer, even though we've been getting rain lately. I remember the weatherman talking about the rain deficit for the year we were in a few months ago.
But typically, I'm sure the lake is at it's lowest level of the year in late summer and fall.
Just wondering - where did you check it?
During one of the bad drought years about 5-6 years ago, I went up to where the route 40 bridge crosses the lake - but there was no lake!
Just the river flowing in it's original bed at least 40-50 below normal pool level.
There was a beautiful stone arch bridge exposed over the river that probably hadn't been seen since the lake was first filled.
My wife and I went down and walked over it - still perfectly intact!
It was quite a sight seeing all that exposed lake bed.
If I remember correctly, the lake was only about 25% filled at that time.