Black Canyon of the Bear

[cpierce]

I don't know how many of you ever fish this area, but I thought I would give a heads up on the high flows that are scheduled for kayakers. They start at the end of this month.

The water comes up very swiftly and it would be a tragedy if anyone was in the middle of the river. The regular flow is at 100 cu ft/sec and they ramp it up to 900 very quickly. The information on it is here:

http://www.pacificorp.com/content/dam/pa...hedule.pdf

Here is the schedule as it now stands.
During 2012, boater flows are scheduled for the following dates:
 April 28 and 29
 May 5 and 6
 May 19 and 20
 June 1, 2 and 3
On scheduled days, flows of 900 cfs or inflow, whichever is greater, will be provided on each
day. Releases will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. Between adjoining release days, night-time
flows of 200 cfs will be provided.



Also be careful below Oneida dam. They change the flow there with no warning just about daily! It is according to the electricity demands.

Their regular flows are here for both areas:
http://www.pacificorp.com/es/hydro/hl/wr/br.html
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[windriver]

Thanks for the info.

WIndriver
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[gstott]

Thanks for the info, that's later thank usual. Maybe I can make it up there one more time before that.
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[thebug]

I fished it friday of last weeek and the bwo's were everywhere till about 5 then the hatch and the fishing died. in the 4 hours i was there i netted more than 20 fish on dries which is always fun to watch them hammer your home tied offerings. Ive been suprised this year by the number of cut bows i am pulling out of there i would guess that probably 1/2 the fish have there throats "slashed" with a few that looked "pure" cut
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[cpierce]

They are probably pure cutts. F&G planted the area with Bonneville cutts last year.
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[cpierce]

While I was messing around on YouTube I looked up what the Black Canyon kayaker flows looked like. It is definitely an expert section of water. Here is one where one of the kayakers gets stuck in a hole and comes out of his yak.

I am not sure on the video embedding process, but I will give this a try.
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[gstott]

Well that looks terrifying. No wonder the trout are off during the week even after the flows are reduced. It's kind of frustrating that they do that for a very select few people and screw things up for many more. I would venture a guess that far more people fish there than kayak it since it's expert level only. Not to mention the fact that they want the Bonnevilles to take hold in there but they blow it out right when they're trying to spawn.
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[cpierce]

The American Whitewater Association got a guarantee of some (I think about 9) white water flows as a part of Pacificorp's relicensing process. Unfortunately they have the weekends wiped out for fishing just when all of the other rivers in the area are blown out.

F&G are trying to get the flows to stop earlier so as not to interfere with cutt spawning. They did succeed in part already, and the last flow is in the first of June. I still think that is a little late. Last year the last day of potential kayak flows was mid-July. If F&G can prove that the cutts are moving into the area now to spawn there, it will give them more leverage.

In one way the flows are good for the canyon area. The high water provides a "spring flush" that is more natural in removing some of the silt .... and the trash people leave!

It used to be the Black Canyon was about the only place you could fish in the area during winter and the spring run off. Winter is still ok, but spring is a washout!
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[cpierce]

I thought I would bring this up one more time.

I noticed that even though the white water level release was scheduled for Sat 28, they drastically changed the water level starting on Wed the 25. It went from 100cfs to 300 cfs. I know to some 300 doesn't sound like a lot, but this area is really different. The amount released from the dam is only about a third of the water on regular days. Because of spring inputs the lower river is at about 300 already on a 100cfs release . So if they increase the dam output more it can drastically affect the clarity and depth of the water. Clarity there is vital to wade safely as usually you wade on rock ledge tops.

Anyway, I don't know if that is regular practice before a white water release, or if it was related to the higher than normal temperatures. Either way if you notice the water level getting deeper or if you see sediment coming down..... GET OUT.

Time to quit fishing this area....... hope the fish can get up to spawn later.


I forgot to put the chart in.

[inline "BC Water.jpg"]
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