Current Level

[Patrick Bauer]

Hey guys

Im considering fishing around Welch’s Spring sometime this week (Monday Or Tuesday) I was curious if anyone knows if the water levels are safe for wading? I know you can check USGS but I don’t know what is safe and what isn’t on there. 

Let me know! Thanks!

-Patrick

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[bkbying89]

I am not sure how well this pertains to the Welsh Spring area but the levels at Akers look wadable as did the Montauk gauge. I imagine the water flow will be quick and with murky clarity.

 

Bill

[Al Agnew]

Couple things...first, if you don't already know this, you can tell how close to normal the river is for this time of year simply by comparing the flow in cfs to the median flow for this date.  Median for right now is 436 cfs, present flow is 608 cfs.  You can then look at the graph for flow in cfs, and compare it to the graph for level in feet, and kinda guess at where the median flow would fall on the level in feet graph, and thus tell how many inches or feet above normal it is.  I'd guess from looking at the graphs that it's about 6-8 inches above normal.  Now...if you are already familiar with the river, just picture 6 or 8 more inches of water flowing through the riffles.

This is for the gauge at Akers, which is just a short distance DOWNSTREAM from Welch Spring, so it's pretty accurate for the area BELOW Welch.  However, Welch Spring is a BIG spring, and adds a lot of water to the river.  So go to the gauge at Montauk to see what the river is doing up there, and thus get some idea of what it would be like if you're just above Welch.  It's flowing 157 cfs, which is just a tiny bit above normal.  So I think from those readings that you could probably wade it okay above Welch Spring, but maybe not as easily downstream from Welch.  Just in my experience, anything over about 400 cfs is getting pretty pushy for wading in fast water, except for wide, shallow riffles.

[Gavin]

1.1 at Akers is dead low, up to 2.5 easy wading mostly.  Dicey above that if wading. NPS will close access points at 4' at Akers. Not much wading around Welch. Still fish able at 4' and a tad higher, but you aren't gonna cross w/o a boat. They won't be in their low water spots at high water though. Fish the slower moving water in the 3-5' range that is normally 18" deep.