Posted
by Scott E. on 2002 PM:
Drought,
Threat Of El Nino And The Impact On Our Fishing
I had to take the wife to
a doctor in
The Wanaque Res. is the lowest I have ever seen, the old road beds and bridges
can be seen and most of the arms of the res. are dry. Monksville
Res. is just above the Wanaque and is supposed to help keep it full but Monksville is about 5'+ below the spillway.
I took a ride today to Harriman to see the condition of the lakes in the park, all seem to be a few inches below normal but not to
the extreme of the other lakes in the area. The only lake in the park that
looked to be in bad shape was Askotti it is used to
supply water to the camps and such around the park.
Now
What will this all do to the fishing?
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Scott E.
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Posted
by HugeFish4 on 2002 PM:
Definitely a bad
situation! I am praying for rain!
Might be a pretty poor spawning year.
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Posted
by ipoppa33 on 2002 AM:
raindance
we need to get this guy and his drum
to bring the rain:
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Posted
by bobn on 2002 AM:
the boats that have to float on and
off the trailer may have problems on the effected smaller bodies of water--it
may be tougher to launch the reservoir boats by ourself-long
haul to the water- forget about shore line fishing-bobn
Posted
by GlennNewYork on 2002 AM:
We do have a problem
up here.....
St Lawrence county has not received any significant snow this year and
neither has most of the other northern counties. Oh yeah, there is some snow on
the ground but nothing near what it should be. Some areas that measure snow in
hundreds inches most winters have considerably less than half of that amount
this winter. There is not much snow to melt. And that effects
most all you folks living down state. With little to no spring run off from
upstate your reservoirs will be seriously low.
Not a good situation for any of us.
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Posted
by Gr8tSacandaga on 2002 AM:
Yea. Thats real bad. Sacandaga
will probalby be REAL low this year since I don't
think they've recieved any where near the normal
amount of snow .. lets hope for a lot of rain from now till may/june
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Posted
by ADKBass on 2002 PM:
For those interested in
the current situation I would direct your attention to today's (February 20)
New York Times. There is an article titled, "Severe Drought On East Coast Alarms Experts", on page A1, continued on
page B5.
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Posted
by patx on 2002 PM:
I need to remind you guys
that Mother Nature has rebounded from worse things than a little low water. She
will always prevail - in some way. Im not saying that
we will not have to adjust - but be damn sure that things like the spawn will
not be affected to any GREAT degree in the end. I was at lake
Mead once, and saw a bass spawning on a pontoon of a floating bathroom (must be
nice to have a state that actually PROVIDES things for their recreational
users) anchored over 100 ft of water. They find a way - period. Perhaps it will
concentrate the fish? My opinion is that it will rain the appropriate amount
(God - I hope its not snow) or the bodies of water
that have spillways and dams will make adjustments. For those that dont - - well, it might be tough for a few weeks until the
spring rains fill them up again.
I will say tht I am a little concerned about the
launch at Mahopac. Its a tough one to begin with, even
when we HAVE water in the lake. I bet its going to be real tough this year
unless we get a rediculous amount of rain between now
and then.
"Its all good boys and girls"
Pat Xiques
Posted
by bobn on 2002 PM:
pat x--maybe nows
the time to make repairs and make the launch better--water is down---bring on
the concrete--make dock repairs etc--maybe not all is lost!!-bobn
Posted
by Munson on 2002 PM:
alright ladies, lets all get our dancing
shoes on and tear up some rug with those rain dances.
Posted
by JOHN G on 2002 PM:
Hey ya
Hey ya....Hey Ya Hey Ya.....okay, I did my rain dance!
LOL! I agree with Pat, I have seen some nasty rainy springs to make up for these
drought winters.....let's see..... JOHN G
Posted
by Scott E. on 2002 AM:
Guys check out this
chart
Here is a chart with drought history starting in 1998 and so far since 98 this
is the worst is has been, now between Dec. 28, 1998 and March 28, 1999 we had
many heavy snow storms with a few nor'easters thrown in and so far this year we
have had no major snow storms or a nor'easter to speak of.
In the fall of 1999 the drought got bad but we were saved by hurricane Floyd
and in no way will we be saved from this drought through a hurricane at least
not this time of year. In the 98 - 99 drought it took
5 months to get the reservoirs to 100% if this year follows that time frame we
will not hit 100% until July one of the hottest months of the summer.
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Posted
by HugeFish4 on 2002 AM:
That is one scary chart!
Uh Oh!
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Posted
by patx on 2002 AM:
Guys,
Although I appreciate all of the research and hard work (I honestly do - I love
the fact that Scott just took the time out of his day to find that chart -
honestly), Im trying to understand why this thread
has the feeling of "doom" or "adversity" when we talk about
fishing in this drought we are in? Unless we are talking about draining the
water systems around here all together, I just dont
see the down part. As a matter of fact, I see a whole lot of upside here.
For instance, while driving to the
As far as how this relates to fish health......Im not
sure its all bad. Bass will just migrate to the main
bodies of the res and use those banks to spawn on. No
big deal. Actually, the spring fed areas will just be better this spring now,
because the only water left is the "channel" portion - not the high
water flats surrounding those creeks. The fish should stack up thick now in the
mouths of those areas, basking in the warmer inbound water. That should make
for some incredible fishing. How about stream fishing for smallies? Can you
imagine how thick those fish are going to be in the major pools of your
favorite smallie stream! "WHOA!" Im getting excited just thinking about it! Scully - I know
you are probably tingling right now!
Here is my only concern. If for some reason if we get a very dry spring, and
that follows by a very dry summer, we could have a problem with heat and fish
kills due to low oxygen levels come the end of July
and August. That scares me. But understand, before we ever get to that point,
our lives would be changed by drought in so many other ways (rationing water -
no swimming pools - no washing cars - no watering lawns - etc.) that we
probably wouldnt care much about going out side and
fishing (well.....). Kind of a "Mad Max" scenario.
I highly doubt we would ever get to that point.
Its going to rain - and its going to be fine. And if
it dosnt - we will be in for a real treat when it
comes to fishing some of the massive areas that we all look at while driving
down the roads of NY state saying "Wow - I bet the fishing there is
awesome - but where do you start?" Now the fish will be more concentrated
in areas that will allow us to get to them. BINGO!
So the long and short of it is, we are in for a very different, exciting spring
this year if we dont get much rain, and if we do (and
we will), things will be as fantastic as they always are.
Pat Xiques
Posted
by OnceBitten on 2002 AM:
Back in 1998 or '99, the
DEC issued an excellent article in regards to the low water levels we were
experiencing during that time. They stressed that in the clear water, the lower
water levels allowed sunlight to reach the bottom in areas that previously
never had enough sunlight to stimulate plant growth. This "new" plant
growth provided additional cover for bait fish and sport fish, and more then
offset any loss of habitat that the low water may have caused. It was also very
good for the lakes to have their "bottoms rejuvinated"
for lack of a better term.
Shallow water areas that are now exposed to the air will experience a quick die
off of all of the "underwater" species of plant life, and the tangled
mess of weeds, lilly pads, etc, will quickly rot
away. These plants will decay and provide nutrients to the soil, which is now
exposed to air and sunlight and has experienced a radical "natural
cleaning". When water levels rise again, this soil will easily provides the nutrients and soil for plant life to once again
thrive.
All in all, the DEC wrote that times of low water levels were a healthy and in
fact necessary part of nature's cycle. I agree with Pat, the danger is O2
levels in July and August, and getting boats in and out of the ramps.
Otherwise, don't worry about it. Take advantage of it while you can.
Fred
Posted
by Charlie on 2002 PM:
This is a great post for many
reasons, but the most important is "what will it do to the breeding
season?"
If water levels are down and the beds are "off" their usual areas, it
could make the eggs vunerable to predators. More so
perhaps than in the past when the "shallows" really were shallow!
Losing a year or maybe two of fingerlings will effect the fishing seasons in
the years to come, reducing the population of bass, and may make them a less
dominant predator in the environment in which they live, be it a river, pond or
lake. When bass breed, they thrive, but if they get low in the food chain, the
reports by DEC and other agencies speak for themselves, the fish DIE!
I firmly believe that if this keeps up, fishing as we know it will change
forever.
I have to believe that with all the technology we now have at our fingertips,
that the conversion of salt water to fresh may be the answer to the human
consumption problems. While this does little to help waters that are not used
to supply drinkable water
it is a start in the right direction.
Global warming of course is our own fault, so we cannot say too much about
that. The useless "lake effect snow" up north is the fault of the
damn Canadians, mainly due to all that beer they drink and the gas that
follows!
Seriously though, short term I think we have to be mindful as anglers and lead
by example with the use of water in our homes and places of work.
Long term its anyones guess..... It's a scary world!
Tight Lines!
Charlie
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Posted
by bobn on 2002 PM:
charlie--as far as using treated salt
water for drinking etc you create new problems-big time expense and can the
existing water delivery/purification systems deal with it? the next step was to
pump out fresh water out of the hudson -i read somewhere that if you start to pump fresh water out
of the hudson you will raise the salt/fresh water
line--it will begin to creep northward--i think i remember something about foreign freighters filling their
holds with hudson fresh water for ballast and
bringing it to their home land for resale--this actually began to effect the
eco system of the river over a period of time--i
believe this practice was stopped--for every action there is an opposite and
equal reaction or something like that--we have a serious problem-before the gov will build huge distilling plants i
imagine that the fresh water resources in other areas will be exploited---bobn
Posted
by Scott E. on 2002 PM:
Guys,
I am not trying to be the barer of doom and gloom but I have been thinking of
the many detrimental effects such as low oxygen levels and fish kills like we
have not seen here in the Northeast that I can ever remember and as Charlie
said this could possibly affect the spawn, less shallow water cover and no
place for fingerlings to hide.
What about parasites and viruses that will also be concentrated in smaller
areas due to the extreme low water, that may either affect bass or prey fishes who may already be stressed due to these conditions.
Don't get me wrong there may be some good that may come from it, such as the
weaker fish being thinned out for stronger healthier fish to survive and grow
to trophy size.
Yes, we will get rain sooner or later but if we get to much rain too soon we
get flooding and possibly many other problems, if we don't get rain soon though
we may be dealing with drought conditions into next winter.
__________________
Nothing sets a person so far out of the
devil's reach as humility.
Jonathan Edwards
---
Scott E.
scotte@pikeonline.net