EW flows

[beachbum]

Water rights are a very delicate subject. Most have been decreed for years, and only recently have fisheries been included in the equation. The EW is a great fishery, and it seems back on it's way to it's former glory. The fish there adapt to changing conditions, including warm water, and lack of flow. Minimum flows are the key.

Just to be sure, I will fish it next week.

[Eric]

If everyone on this post agree with Mark then they too are ill-informed and hypocrites.

Rick why is the flow down to only 19 cfs?

Andy

Rickster answer me that I am waiting
Eric

[stanbery]

Water rights are a very delicate subject. Most have been decreed for years, and only recently have fisheries been included in the equation. The EW is a great fishery, and it seems back on it's way to it's former glory. The fish there adapt to changing conditions, including warm water, and lack of flow. Minimum flows are the key.

Just to be sure, I will fish it next week.

Bill
What day? Ray and I will be there on Tuesday.

Jon

[beachbum]

It's looking like we will fish the Truckee on mon and tues, and the EW on weds, but if that changes, I will let you know. Will you be fishing the CA or NV side?

[Rockstar Fisherman]

Did this really have to turn into a measuring contest !!??? Simple observation is all it was cuz it was A SUDDEN drop. We're all thankful for the min. flows to prevent disaster from happening again.

All politics and farming aside another month of lower flows (50cfs) instead of trickle flows(19cfs) would be nice from a fly fisherman's perspective.

Mike

[209er]

Hi beachbum,
The EW is alive and fishing great! Fished late Tuesday, Wednesday, and a little this morn. Nasty weather is coming in but should be gone by next week. It will be cold as normal. The flows are indeed 19cfs and more would be welcome but they are set. I fished everywhere the fish were rising which was everywhere. There were enough 14 to 16" browns rising that I didn't need to drag bugs under an indicator. Yes even went four miles down, still rising. Small midge emergers and dries satisfied the dry fly urge. Whatever you do, don't eat at Micheala Mexican food, yuck. 09er

[beachbum]

Good report, 209! We are going to fish it a couple days, I think, splitting the time with the Truckee, which has a good Baetis hatch going. My buddy fished it the other day, and fish were rising when he got there, and were still rising when he left. Can't wait. Wish the EW was the usual 50 winter flow, but hope whatever it is, sure hope the flow has been constant for a few days.

[anacrime]

If they manage the outflow of the dam in a way that is harmful to the fishery below it, they are breaking the law. Even if said fishery did not exist before the dam did. Not an opinion, just the law, and one that is often broken.

[beachbum]

That's where the minimum flow rules come into play. Here is the agreement spelled out, from 1923 to the present.

http://www.calwater.ca.gov/Admin_Record/C-064511.pdf

[209er]

Hello Eric,
Does beachbum's latest post answer your question to Rickster? You know it's not up to you or me to set the minumum, fisherman always want more. I fished it early this week and sure 40-50cfs would be nice and more productive and protective for the fish. But apparently the resources can't handle these higher flows through the winter months. Ask them not us fisherman. We don't know squat, although it's quite obvious some of us think we do. I don't, I just know WHAT they do. After that being said, with these low flows, wading really isn't an issue. And when we do fish these late fall forays, the browns are spawning so be on the lookout. Cliff

[Eric]

Hello Eric,
Does beachbum's latest post answer your question to Rickster? You know it's not up to you or me to set the minumum, fisherman always want more. I fished it early this week and sure 40-50cfs would be nice and more productive and protective for the fish. But apparently the resources can't handle these higher flows through the winter months. Ask them not us fisherman. We don't know squat, although it's quite obvious some of us think we do. I don't, I just know WHAT they do. After that being said, with these low flows, wading really isn't an issue. And when we do fish these late fall forays, the browns are spawning so be on the lookout. Cliff

Thanks for the reply Cliff and the reminder about the spawning Browns. Looking forward to giving the Ew a visit two weeks.
Eric

[midger]

That's where the minimum flow rules come into play. Here is the agreement spelled out, from 1923 to the present.

http://www.calwater.ca.gov/Admin_Record/C-064511.pdf

That was an interesting read on the EW and its flow development. Doesn't really seem like much scientific study went into it, but then, way back when, not much forethought was provided for the fish............This isn't meant as a criticism, rather it is an observation of the way things were done back during the earlier part of the century, and this mindset wasn't exclusive. I grew up on a ranch in Idaho, and similar water issues were handled in a similar manner there.

The part I found interesting was:

"To help insure that these released fish will survive to be
potentially caught again or reach trophy size, it is further
proposed that an artificial lures restriction be used in support
of the 2-fish limit. While properly released bait-caught fish
have been shown to survive in numbers comparable to fish taken on
artificial lures,¯ our heavy.reliance upenthc ,catch andrelease
portion of this program strongly suggests that the angling method
should be restricted’to artificial lures."

This was in the discussion of regulation changes for the stretch below the dam to the Nevada. border. I've never seen studies reflecting that bait caught/released fish had the same survival rate as those caught/released by artificial lures, unless you are comparing those caught with treble hook lures vs bait. Fly caught are generally not as likely to die as those bait caught. There are mixed results on studies comparing barbed vs barbless catch/release survival, but it is definitely easier to get a debarbed hook out of the fisherman, so I suspect that getting it out of the fish more quickly would lead to an intuitively higher survival, no?

Thanks for sharing the flow info. Looks like they are meeting their minimum flow requirements, albeit, it would have been nice to see a more scientific method employed for establishing said min flows.