A Glimmer of Hope

The Connecticut River watershed is slowly (emphasize SLOWLY) returning to a semblance of what it usually is at this time of year. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we need a dry stretch of weather to really get things back to the way we want them.

This past week was generally good weather until Thursday, when we received an unexpected 2″+ of rain. Things were just starting to look promising on the Trophy Stretch, but that blew it out again, particularly below the junction with Perry Stream. Here is where we stand now, and the prospects for the future, barring more heavy rain coming through the area.

Second Lake Dam – flowing at 102 CFS, and will go down to about 50 CFS for the foreseeable future once the lake gets a little lower. I’m not sure what the water temp is in this section, but that flow is a decent level for fishing. Worth a look in other words …

First Lake Dam – flowing at 491 CFS today, which sounds like a lot, but it was at nearly 900 CFS a week ago. I fished one good swinging run at 670 CFS earlier this week and it was good fishing. Tough wading however, but the switch rod helps immensely when trying to roll a cast out there. A heavy sink tip and heavy conehead streamers did the trick.

Presumably at 491 it should be better, but don’t forget about Perry Stream’s influence below the Junction Pool. Also, First Lake Dam is normally running at 150 – 200 CFS at this time of year, so the current level is still a lot of water. Wade carefully and choose your spots (and flies) wisely … That flow should go down further as the level of First Connecticut Lake drops this week. We are hopeful that normal flows will resume in another week.

Murphy Dam at Lake Francis – flowing at 1555 CFS today, which is a far cry from the 2491 CFS that it was flowing at earlier this week. A typical flow for this section is 300 – 400 CFS, so that is still a tremendous amount of water and not fishable. Add in the contributions of Indian Stream and Halls Stream, and it’s a torrent of water heading south. Drifts would be difficult to undertake at this level, but I have heard of a couple of guides trying it.

There won’t be much of an improvement in the flow out of Murphy until Lake Francis reaches a good level – that could take a couple of weeks, so we’re in a holding pattern down there. More updates to come as things improve. Let’s hope we have a dry stretch coming up …