Madison River

Disaster Averted (9/25/200

September 25th, 2008

The dust is settling. They pulled it off. As the clocked ticked the 59th minute of the 11th hour, PP&L threw the hail mary to the endzone and miraculously came up with the score. Four 12 inch by 12 inch pieces of wood are what finally kept us (and certainly PP&L) from catastrophe. They were able to band them together with steel strapping and lodge them in front of the intake tower structure. This apparently was enough to close off the rest of the 150 square foot hole that they were dealing with. The flow through the broken gates has been stopped and the river is now being controlled by the two ?good? gates on the other side of the tower. PP&L consulted with MT FWP immediately after controlling the flow and came up with a reduction plan to bring the river down to seasonable levels without stranding fish in side channels and shallower holes. They have dropped the flow 20% per day and now have it down to a bit over 800 out of Hebgen. We haven?t been able to get a target level out of them yet but we?re all assuming it will be somewhere near the minimum of 600 cfs at the Kirby gauge. At this point it would certainly behoove them to try and get some net elevation gain in that reservoir before things freeze up here this winter. The inflow reading into the lake was 773 cfs this morning and they should be able to get the outflow under that. If we get some good moisture in the next couple months they could actually end up at the level they are supposed to be at come March. If PP&L plays is right from here forward we should be just fine next spring and summer.

There?s really no worries about the spawn here this fall either at this point. If PP&L drops the flow to near minimum level and keeps it there the fish will be just fine. The worry was that the flows would still be high while the fish spawned and then drop, leaving the redds high and dry. We?re still weeks away from any real activity here so this shouldn?t be an issue.

There is a meeting scheduled for this evening so we?ll update you with the latest information tomorrow.

We?re still in the midst of what looks to be an extended stretch of indian summer. With the flow dropping dramatically the fish are a little discombobulated at the moment but when it stabilizes again we should be right back in business. We did actually have a couple of our guides out there yesterday. One floated from Storey Ditch to Varney and reported decent to good fishing with hopper patterns. Another floated from Varney down and did well with streamers and had a few fish to hoppers. The water looks absolutely gorgeous now. Once the fish resettle into more seasonal holding spots and as long as the warm weather holds we should see some great dry fly fishing return. There are still a lot of hoppers near the river particularly down form Ruby Creek. The fish have also had somewhat of a ?rest? here for the past three weeks as the angling pressure has been almost non-existent.

Source: Madison River Fishing Company