Picture the scene...
You find some free time in your schedule and decide to go wet a line for a few hours down at the river.
There was a hard rain a few days ago but you assume everything has cleared up by now.
Without realizing it until you get to the boat landing, the river still looks like chocolate milk and is flowing about five times faster than normal.
Ever had this happen to you?
It's a gut wrenching feeling, that's for sure.
Thankfully, with the help of the internet and a pretty awesome environmental surveying site, you can figure out some key information about a river to ensure conditions are right for fishing.
This is where the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) comes in to help out.
Please understand, the USGS does a WHOLE LOT more than just help provide individuals with information about local rivers.
However, for the purpose of this article we're going to focus on river water levels, flow rate, and how to navigate the USGS site to obtain such information.
Using USGS For River Information
Our focus for this article is within the Water Data subdomain of the USGS site.
Using the above link you should see a page that includes a map of the U.S. with a bunch of dots on it (see below picture).
Each dot represents a water monitoring station that provides information pertaining to a specific body of water.
Using the map, click on the state you plan to fish.
Using Virginia as an example, you should now see a web page similar to the one below for the state you clicked on...
Each state page should include a drop down box titled "Predefined Displays".
Locate that box and click on the drop down box and select the "Streamflow Table" option for your state
(Mobile on left, Desktop on right)
Next, choose a sorting option from Major River Basin, County, and Hydrologic Unit and click "Go".
**Note that for this example we are using the "County" option.
(Mobile on left, Desktop on right)
From here you should now have a list of monitoring stations that are used throughout the state to track water data (discharge, height, etc.).
To give you an idea of what the water levels and flow rate are of the area your are fishing, find a station that is close to the area you are fishing and click on the monitoring location ID.
You should now be seeing a graph of charted data depicting the monitoring location's water gage height over a span of 7 days. This is the default graph view.
TIP: In case you thought "Gage" was misspelled, gage and gauge are kind of interchangeable words. In this essence, "gage height" is the height that the water is above the monitoring station's stream sensor.
If the monitoring site where you fish provides flow data readings you can check that box a little bit further down the page.
**Note that not all sites will have flow/discharge data available
Regardless of which you use, flow/discharge rates go hand-in-hand with height readings so if your site doesn't include it it's not the end of the world.
Think of it like this... when a river receives a bunch of rain and water runoff the water levels rise AND the flow rate increases.
Normal vs. Not Normal
This is where the USGS data really shines since allowing a person to compare a long-running average of river data with current conditions.
To get a better idea of what is "normal" choose a longer time span (1 year) and click the box for "Display median" (see below picture).
To give you an idea of what you're looking at, the sharp jumps are rising waters and flow rates which is typically a result of a rain storm or similar event whereas the gradual decline is a rivers recovery.
As seen above, the display median (dashed line) is a great tool since providing you with an average of conditions over a long period of time (1926-2022 for this station).
This will help you determine how high, how low, how fast, or how slow the river is compared to normal conditions.
If 7 days, 30 days, or 1 year is not a suitable time span for you feel free to use the drag handles (the grey graph below the main one) to focus in on a custom time range.
Know Before You Go
Thanks to these monitoring stations located throughout the nation we have access to daily reports of how rivers change based on external factors.
No more biting your teeth on whether or not the river looks good enough to fish after a storm.
USGS does the guess work for you so you can have an idea beforehand on what to expect.
Things to note...
Generally, monitoring stations in flatter regions will have less profound jumps whereas more mountainous regions may see larger spikes in water levels and flow rates because of water runoff being more common.
Also, monitoring stations near areas with a means of water management, such as dams, will not portray as extreme jumps in water levels and flow rates since being able to better control water levels and flow.
The main takeaway here is to provide you with an online tool that helps make you more aware of what to expect when it's time to plan a fishing trip on the river.
Time to go catch em'!
If you ever have specific questions to topics covered in our articles feel free to reach out!
Connecting with us is easy!
Go to the Home Page
Subscribe so you never miss an article
Respond to the subscriber email with your question
or you can head over to our Contact Us page and send us your question from there.
Comentarios