correct river flows for fishing

[buzzardbait2]

how about having the correct river flows on this website for fishing every river posted. set the highest level it would be fishable, the lowest level it would be fishable and the premium level that would be the best to fish.

[skagit510]

that's the stuff of experience, and guarded. I'm in no way trying to offend you when i say this but here goes. i will share my tactics, gear, local beta, know how, even my beer. yet i will never ever share my holding water, or levels i like to fish it at. in a crowded world the margins of fishable flow are the only time solitude can be found. that being said i would gladly provide you with ballpark flow data privately.

[buzzardbait2]

would rather other guys know that kinda info than where, what and how. just letting them know the right flows does not do much for them but put them closer to catching a fish. a lot of that info about river flows is already given on this site so all it would do is consolidate the info.

[skagit510]

I'd rather give ideal than the margins. I'd give more on the qt. pm me and i would gladly help.really would hate to see an online key at all though to the flow range.

[buzzardbait2]

well how do you feel about lake maps, same kinda info? what about hotspots, same thing?

[Mike Carey]

This information would be fine to share with other anglers, however, it's not something we could create for the site itself. In other words, in the main web site fishing report/river information pages vs. the forums. That would be a pretty daunting amount of work to create. In the world of river fishing, timing certainly is everything. Unless you're retired, independently rich, or have an amazingly flexible work schedule, you're kinda stuck with fishing when you have available time. Which is probably a good thing as you'll gradually develop the personal knowledge of when a river is "just right". It's also why guides become so much more knowledgeable amount rivers. They fish a system so much and see it at so many different levels throughout a season. The rest of us just get our "every weekend" fix or whenever we are lucky enough to have a free day.

As to hot spots and the rest, the whole point of a fishing web site is to A) share experience and knowledge, and B) Create Community and Entertain.

I have no problem with people that don't want to share information, and I have my own reservations about sharing some things. But I do have a problem when people that don't want to share information then use the site to harass guys that do. I'm not pointing out anyone in particular, I'm just stating our web site general policy. Aaron and I don't spend dozens of hours running this site every week just so some intolerant person can harass people that want to share information, on any level.

So, back to your original request, I'll add a sticky to the river forums, maybe not aimed specifically at river levels, more a "catch-all" for people to share tips, etc for river systems.

[natetreat]

What would be REALLY cool, would be if you could pull the USGS data base for a given river system in real time to attach it to the report for the date you posted it. You can pull real time data, it would be better to get the high and low for the day and then average it out. After a while, you would be able to have a repository of river levels and the corresponding report ratings so you could have another filter for the database. That way you could search best flows with best ratings. It's possible, they have a whole developer kit with the USGS data, I used it to work a rudimentary wordpress plugin in some of my downtime a while back. It would be a lot of work though.

[natetreat]

What would be REALLY cool, would be if you could pull the USGS data base for a given river system in real time to attach it to the report for the date you posted it. You can pull real time data, it would be better to get the high and low for the day and then average it out. After a while, you would be able to have a repository of river levels and the corresponding report ratings so you could have another filter for the database. That way you could search best flows with best ratings. It's possible, they have a whole developer kit with the USGS data, I used it to work a rudimentary wordpress plugin in some of my downtime a while back. It would be a lot of work though.

I do not see how this would do any good. Water levels are nothing without temp and turbidity levels. And most rivers on the USGS show neither of those things.

Because information and knowledge of what to do with it is the difference between being skunked and going home with a stringer full of chrome. For instance, I live in Lynnwood. I watched the gauges rise this week on the Wynoochee, I knew from my past experience what 5,000 cfs and rising on the Black Creek gauge looks like, and I rescheduled my trips for this weekend. The correlation between gauge height or CFS and fishing success is a very important piece of information when planning your trip for a 2 hour drive on a day off or sick day. It could be the most important piece of information for a person to know. Being able to sort through past reports based upon this correlation would then allow you to investigate further based upon the date of report, and then the hot spots, or location described within the report, to look at the pictures that may have water quality illustrated, then cross reference that data with the latest WDFW escpament and creel check data, and you have a great picture of what to expect after the long drive. I fish nearly everyday, I know where I need to go, but for a guy with a 9-5 planning is very important. It's no fun to book a hotel, fill up the tank arrive at 10 pm check in, get the boat ready and show up to the launch to find the river is a creek, they have no fish at the hatchery and you can't even safely drift.

That's what the site is for! Information. I go back through my journal and look at all of these variables when I book my trips, when I choose my spots and which drift I'm going to run. It would be an awesome addition to the site to have the correlating gauge data attached to the reports. Maybe even a drop down with a visibility descriptor, 6" 2' 10' etc. That could address your issue. Sorry I talk a lot, but I type really fast

[Mike Carey]

agreed, it would be another nice piece of data to add to the report forms. Aaron monitors this thread so he'll see it. I will say, he has a lot on his plate, and one more coding request may just make his head explode.

[natetreat]

agreed, it would be another nice piece of data to add to the report forms. Aaron monitors this thread so he'll see it. I will say, he has a lot on his plate, and one more coding request may just make his head explode.

I hear that! It would be a bit of work on a long list of to-dos. It would be really cool though.

[Bay wolf]

As a river fishing Noob, I'd like to cast a vote of concur. I'm not adverse to trial and error. And I believe every angler who is worth his bait needs to put in his time on the water trying out what they learned. But more and more it seems that fellow anglers are guarding information, which makes learning an uphill battle.

I've spent many hours watching Youtube (thanks WA lakes and Nate) gleaning information, and I try and fish with experienced people as much as I can. But I can tell you that as the fishing gets tougher it is darn hard to learn the finer points that mean the difference between fish and no fish.

Of course, I've been told, go with a guide. But for many of us on fixed incomes, just being able to fish pretty much exhausts our funds, so hiring a guide is not always an option.

Any additional information like what Nate is requesting would, of course, prove invaluable to us Noobs.

Thanks.

[skagit510]

most folks are guarded especially via the net because fishing has become so crowded that its competitive in regards to finding solitude. its not a,personal issue normally.

[buzzardbait2]

hey skagit,

as you can see by looking at the website mike created, River Fishing Tips and Techniques Grab Bag, you can teach people stuff without giving away the store. the number of sport fishermen in our state is dwindling which leaves less fishermen to fight to keep fishing open for the sportsman. if the right people become interested in sports fishing it will only help the cause, maybe one of the noobs who learns from this site will become a congressman or judge or high up in the WDFW where they can heip the cause, ya never know.

[jd39]

most folks are guarded especially via the net because fishing has become so crowded that its competitive in regards to finding solitude. its not a,personal issue normally.

I blame this 100% on the wdfw and their management decisions. Just look at the recent Green and NF Lewis decision. License sales are down year over year but we're still being crammed into fewer and fewer "viable" fisheries. Wish I could get paid to be as intentionally incompetent as they are. In the meantime anglers will blame one another for the crowds get tight lipped when the wdfw is the culprit. There is plenty of room in this state for everyone to fish if our fisheries were managed better!

[skagit510]

both the above have good points. i agree you can teach without giving up the store. an old book rings true for me when it stated the following when concerning steelheading, "talk about how, anytime, where and when never."

[natetreat]

most folks are guarded especially via the net because fishing has become so crowded that its competitive in regards to finding solitude. its not a,personal issue normally.

I blame this 100% on the wdfw and their management decisions. Just look at the recent Green and NF Lewis decision. License sales are down year over year but we're still being crammed into fewer and fewer "viable" fisheries. Wish I could get paid to be as intentionally incompetent as they are. In the meantime anglers will blame one another for the crowds get tight lipped when the wdfw is the culprit. There is plenty of room in this state for everyone to fish if our fisheries were managed better!

+1

The amount of anglers hasn't changed. The amount of fish sure has. One of my pet peeves is the guys on the river complaining about WashingtonLakes and other report websites. People have been complaining about crowds for years, the internet just creates a nice scapegoat. The way our "fisheries" are timed means that the rivers will be hit in succession. When all of Puget Sound is closed, we're going to end up convening on the other rivers. The fact that there are secrets is almost laughable. The world is changing, and I for one, am not going to discourage people from fishing or sharing anything. Location is one of the only things that I'm reticent to share, because what happens there is everyone will show up there at once. Not out of selfishness, but if someone posts a five star report where they caught a ton of fish in the sherman hole, 20 guys will be there the next time that guy goes out. The fishing be good everywhere, but they'll go straight there, and I'll avoid it. But I'll share the location of the Sherman Hole to anyone that asks.

Really people start to complain when it comes to steelhead fishing. Steelhead fishing is not difficult. They're the easiest fish to catch! There just aren't very many of them. They shoot straight back to the hatcheries, where anglers are forced to stand shoulder to shoulder. It is what it is.

[mizm05]

buzzardbait, I'll give ya a couple freebies on the two rivers that are closest to me.

Green River (King co): I've had the best results between 600-1200cfs (700-900 were optimal)

Puyallup River: 1800-2500cfs (right around 2k was optimal) has produced the best for me. Anything over 2500 starts to get dangerous.

[buzzardbait2]

now that's what i was talking about, mizmo, if this site had that kinda info on all the rivers posted in one spot that would be very cool.