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Has anyone been out to owyhee reservoir this spring? I know the water levels are down to about 25 percent of full, and was trying to see if anyone has put a boat on the water out there?
Also, does anyone have any info on how they may manage the water out there? I know owyhee snowpack was well below normal, and that has to be a problem this year with no inflow and the levels already being so low. Talked to a rancher last summer that uses the res. for irrigation and said if there wasn't a good snowpack there would be trouble this year. In years past owyhee was one of my favorites, but haven't been out for a while. Hoping it will hold up this summer.
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The water is owned by the irrigation company, and they will use every drop. I hear it will be completely dry by early-mid July. The river will be a write-off, and the ODFW is still trying to figure out a recovery plan for it. Unfortunate, but a fact of life when you live in a desert...
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Turns my stomach to think about it.
It has really been a perfect storm scenario for owyhee the last few years I hope the fish in the reservoir make it but that feels like wishful thinking at this point.
I would appreciate everyone keeping me informed as this year goes on.
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Thanks for the info mojo, that's true and terribly unfortunate.
Elkmagnet I feel the same way, hard for me to swallow that info. It really has been a perfect storm. Seems like in the past when it would get low, Mother Nature would hit the owyhees hard and things would balance out.
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Losing th lake is a tragedy. Losing the fishery in the river is also an epic disaster. It will likely never be anywhere as good as it is know... The lake will likely recover with a few years of good precip, but the Owyhees have been trending down for the last 10 years, and the el nino that is setting up now in the pacific could really screw us up.
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I agree with you there. I have never fished the river myself,but know it is an amazing fishery, and I also realize that restoring a reservoir with warm water species is probably much different than achieving a blue ribbon brown trout river.
It isn't looking good, is it? Just need to hope that things can turn them selves around. That El Niño is definitely not a nice word around here, and I hope that pattern doesn't stick around long.
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[quote Mojo1]The water is owned by the irrigation company, and they will use every drop. I hear it will be completely dry by early-mid July. The river will be a write-off, and the ODFW is still trying to figure out a recovery plan for it. Unfortunate, but a fact of life when you live in a desert...[/quote]
I was up there about 6-8 weeks ago, and the ramp at the park was almost in the water. At that time there was just a trickle in the river below the dam. But there were a lot of people fly fishing it.
I don't think they are capable of "draining it dry", but I do expect it to get obscenely low by mid July.
When I was growing up, the Owyhee would overflow the banks almost every spring down below. More than once they had sandbags around the corner store.
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I was there on Saturday. Tried to put in at the day park ramp, not good, there was only about 6' of ramp in the water w/ big boulders off the end of the concrete. Have to use either the county ramp or head all the way back to Indian Creek.
Lots of crappie everywhere, but the ones I caught while bass fishing were small.
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Was doe island an island? Any water at the parking lot? How much water at the elbow? Our clubs voted not to go this year because of the lack of water. I might sneak over, I know of no other place you can catch a 4 lb smallie and the next cast to the same spot catch a 4 lb bucket mouth. Kinda gets an old fat guys heart pumping.
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Didn't run past the airport due to the rain/sleet/snowstorm hovering in the area above that, but saw picts of the ramp at Lesley Gulch yesterday and it is just river there so I would guess there is not too much water around Doe Island. The cut across at the Elbow was ~ 6' out of water I would guess, no cutting.
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Hasn't changed much from when I was there last august. I think the fish will be fine, the low water will keep the pressure off. If this continues for a few more years they may be in trouble. It's that damn al gore and his buddy el Nina. Never fished Anderson so low this time of year either. Magic valley open this Saturday at Milner, you coming?
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A link to the details of the owyhee project.
http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp...ee+Project
I found this info to be particularly interesting- "The total capacity of Lake Owyhee is 1,120,000 acre-feet (active 715,000 acre-feet)."
I can't seem to find a definition for (active acre feet) but I'm guessing it is the actual usable amount of water in the res.
1,120,00 - 715,000 =405,000???
Is it possible for owyhee to have 405,000 acre feet left in the bottom after the canals will no longer flow???
Being a river canyon with the dam at the low point would make you think otherwise.
Any enlightened minds care to weigh in on this.
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[quote jb_SRB]Didn't run past the airport due to the rain/sleet/snowstorm hovering in the area above that, [/quote]
When that storm hit my house I was wondering if anyone had gotten caught in it they sure sneak up on you in the canyon. Especially during those warm August afternoons.
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Active acre feet is the usable storage, so yes I would assume that the rest is reserve pool. It depends on where their intakes are on the lake side.
Here is a glossary of hydrologic terms:
[url "http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hod/SHManual/SHMan014_glossary.htm"]http://www.nws.noaa.gov/...HMan014_glossary.htm[/url]
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I've seen pictures of the dam while being built, the intakes are quite a ways up from the bottom.
There's a crane in the lake, somewhere near the dam. It wasn't feasiable to drive it out (via Dry Creek, iirc), so the just left it. So, if you see a chunk of steel sticking up in the middle of the lake, you know it's low.
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One of these days I will find some time to get back over there and try to get some Walcott time in too but we have a club tourney on Owyhee Saturday so that will be where I am at.
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Thanks, that's encouraging.
It sounds like the fish above the dam should be OK as long as the oxygen levels stay up when the water gets low.
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