River Flow Update

More rain fell today, folks – nearly another inch of it, which is making it difficult to not only fish, but to predict when the river might get back to normal. There’s good news however, as it looks like things are headed in the right direction in the next few days.

The flow remains unchanged at Second Connecticut Lake Dam and First Connecticut Lake Dam (both at approximately 300 CFS), but the flow was raised today at Murphy Dam at Lake Francis to 400 CFS again. This was done because the high water from Indian Stream dropped a little today to around 700 CFS (total flow below the confluence of Indian and the Connecticut is ≈ 1100 CFS, as of this moment). This is a fluid situation (no pun intended) however, so the flow below Murphy could be dropped again if the gauge below Indian hits the 1600 CFS threshold.

Indian Stream is likely a little larger than Perry Stream, so Perry is probably not sending the same volume of water downstream at the Junction Pool on the Trophy Stretch, but it’s still a sizable amount of water. 300? 400? 500? Your guess is as good as mine, but there was a lot of water down there today (likely anywhere from 600 – 700 CFS below the Junction Pool, when you factor in the 300 CFS coming out of the dam). Still a few salmon were caught and released down there today, one by myself on the switch rod, but it is challenging to say the least. Certainly no way to cross the river down there either.

Fishing upstream of the Junction Pool is probably best, but still the options are limited and nymphing or streamer fishing the edges might be best. Be careful out there and hopefully we see a reduction in the flow this weekend …