Pultite-Jerktail

[GloryDaze]

So I have found several reports on what water levels are good for the upper,upper section of the river. With some possible thunderboomers moving through the next few days, I was wondering what gauge and maybe what levels I should be looking for if floating the Pultite to Jerktail section on Friday and Saturday?

What might be too high to float and when might the fishing smallie fishing(catching) might be out of the question??

[Al Agnew]

The first gauge I'd check is the upper Current River above Akers. If it's somewhere above 450 cfs or so it's getting pretty high. If it's well below that it's a good sign. Then go to the Jacks Fork at Eminence gauge and see if the Jacks Fork is high or has gotten a significant rise in the last few days. Although the Jacks Fork comes in below Jerktail, there are streams that come in above Jerktail but below Akers that head up in the same area as the Jacks Fork, so it could mean that they had gotten a rise as well. Finally, look at the Current River at Van Buren gauge and see if the river there has gotten a significant rise in the last day or so.

Mainly, though, it's a bit of a guessing game. If the river is more than two feet above its normal level, it's going to be fast and dangerous. Between a foot and two feet above normal, it's questionable. Less than a foot above normal, it will probably be okay. But the problem is putting a number on the stream height graph that corresponds to "normal". I'm going to go to the gauge and see if I can help you with a "normal" water level to work with.

Edited: Okay, I went to the gauge and did some exploration. You can change the graphs from the seven day period shown up to 120 days. I went back 90 days, looking for a water level that was close to the "median" flow (the little triangles on the flow in cfs graph) but the river has been consistently higher than the median throughout the period. However, since this gauge hasn't been recording all that long, it's probable that the median shown is a little lower than "normal". So I'm guessing a good normal level for this time of year would be about 1.7 feet on the graph. The river is now at 1.77 feet. I'd say that if it was much over 2.7 feet it would be rather high and fast. At that level it would be starting to get difficult to fish.

Keep in mind that Current River takes a pretty good rise to get too muddy to fish. But higher water levels make the fishing either from a canoe or by getting out and wading much more difficult.