New Info Regarding The Lower Illinois

[DaddyO]

This supports what JCW and JWP reported:

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Jim,

I just noticed that the lake elevation hit 632 today. It also looks like we could have a couple of rain events between now and the end of the week. However, without water release, I noticed that the water temps were up in the 60’s over the weekend. I like seeing the DO levels up, but with those high temps, I don’t know how the Trout would fare.

What is reasonable temps for the trout that are stocked in this tailwater?

If you do begin stocking again, will you be doing them two times per week, as in the past?

How long do you estimate that it will take to get the levels and numbers of fish back to pre-drought conditions?

Will you be stocking both Brown and Rainbow trout and if so what will be the mix/percentages?

Thanks,

Phil

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Mr. Curtis, Temps are often in the 60’s and we seem to get by with that. Low 60’s are much better than upper for sure. We are resuming stocking this week on the 16th and an extra stocking on the 18th. We typically do not and have not regularly stocked twice a week. We will be going to our normal schedule the 16th and adding the extra on the 18th. We will then continue with the next regularly scheduled stocking on the 30th. There should be plenty of fish available by the weekend. We do not get a regular stocking of brown trout. The only browns we ever get our surplus that are offered to us as extra fish. All of the regular fish are rainbows. Below you will see what I have requested as a water release plan. IT HAS NOT YET BEEN APPROVED but I think it will be.

**No water requested during generation.

**Tuesday-Thursday…. 75cfs through the sluice tube from 0700 through 1600. (As soon as personnel report to work and until employees leave in the afternoon)

**Friday-Monday….. 75cfs through the sluice tube from 0700 Friday through 1600 Monday.

**Again, No water is requested during periods of generation

Thanks for your interest and good fishing.

Jim Burroughs

[DaddyO]

Jim,

Just checking in to see if your Water Release Plan was approved.

I was able to get out on Friday and fish the Lower Illinois. I got a late start and got to the River about 9am. I parked in the grassy parking lot below the dam. The generation schedule on SWPA website showed that there would be no generation until 2pm. I’m learning to call this the “Web of Deceit” . As soon as I got out of my truck, the siren went off. However, the water did not come up as expected. I began putting my waders on to prepare to fish. The sirens went off about 6 times while I was gearing up. I was able to fish for about an hour before the water, finally, came up enough to prevent me from wading. I was able to fish again about 30 minutes later as the water receded. Another 30 minutes passed and the blew the sirens and the water came up REALLY fast and I knew that fishing was done for the day.

All in All, I was able to fish for about an hour and a half. I was OK with that as I really just wanted to get down there and check out the river conditions and see if there were any fish to be caught. The water looks 10 times better. It is not the Coffee and Creamer tan color that it was a couple of months ago. It is now a murky green color with about 12 to 18 inches of visibility. I was able to land 12 fish in the 1 ½ hours that I fished. For the most part, they were all 10 to 12 inches in length. They were healthy and hard fighters and were all released to, hopefully, grow some more.

Thank you for your efforts to bring this fishery back to life for us.

Phil Curtis

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Phil,

Glad to hear the angling is good!

Yes, tentatively approved. We are supposed to meet with the COE next week to discuss possible release options to better use and conserve the water we have to use. Below is the current release schedule that we have requested. The sluice gates are operable again so “our” water will come from the sluice tube instead of through the turbines. Our release request is outside the generation schedule as we have no control over that at all. You should be able to count on the 75cfs we requested during the hours outlined but generation schedules will continue to be inconsistent as always.

Thanks for your support. I am stressing to everyone that although things are better now that unless water is specifically designated for the stream we will be back to where we were this fall, but likely much earlier in 2012, depending on rainfall. Please continue your urging of elected officials as well as the COE and SWPA to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Thanks again for your support.

Our current release schedule (subject to change as we try different releases to conserve our resources while meeting the needs of the stream)

Tuesday - Thursday 0700-1600 hrs 75 cfs through the sluice gate.

Friday 0700 through Monday 1600 hrs 75 cfs through the sluice gate.

These releases continue regardless of generation.

Jim Burroughs

[JCWolfe]

Do you know at what level the lake is when they will stop running water? I know Jim said at 632 they would let out water.

[DaddyO]

Well, that's hard to say. During the drought we didn't have enough water in the lake, so, they did minimal generation. With all of the rain that we've had, they are able to do more generation. So, they used to run until the lake dropped back down to 632. My guess is that they will keep doing that until a change gets put in place. I use this link to check the lake levels:

http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/webdata/gagedata/TENO2.current.html

[jwpage]

Phil,

Thank you for keeping all of us informed. As you mentioned, we all need to contact officials as long as it takes to take care of the long-term problems. Otherwise, we all loose.

Tight Lines!

John