It's Thursday, September 1st and I've taken a drive to check out the EB. First - the road is closed (see above photo). So I parked at the top and walked down. The river looked great at it's flow which I guessed was around 300 to 400cfs except for it's cloudy condition. This branch runs clear but not at this moment. I walked past the first turn off (on the right) and saw the condition of the bank side vegetation. It looked dead, stripped of all greenery (see above photo)! My real concern was the condition of the road over the next hundred yards. There have always been two fairly deep ditches which you had to drive over carefully. The storm has leveled them out! It is easier to drive this stretch of dirt road than before the hurricane. I walked past the swimming hole stretch which looked unchanged and walked half way to the Bliss Pool. The river looked the same as it was when I walked it this past Saturday.
Some observations - First, I stood 50 feet from the river and looked UP at flood debris that was caught in a tree (see above photo). The debris was about a foot over my head. I'm six foot two!! Needless to say the river was beyond flood stage. Second, the road didn't have much of any blow down litter that one would expect from this tropical storm. There certainly were not any trees/branches blocking the road. It was a rain event and not a wind event.
Summary - You will have to walk to fish the EB until the road is opened to vehicular traffic. The road seems to be in good shape. The river seems unchanged, just cloudy at this point.
The Millers - As I write this the Erving flow is at 2540cfs!!! Kiss the next two weeks goodbye!! There's always the Swift where I spent a lovely three hours this past Monday evening doing what I love to do in the late Summer: fooling trout with dry flies!!!!
Ken
9 comments:
what fly was successful? And where did you fish?
Ethan
Ken,
Thanks for checking this out. Question, is the main entrance closed or can you get into the Trustees of Reservation lot and walk in. Also, any idea what the bottom of the C&R is like (up by Rainbow Pool)?
Sounds like it may be fishable in a week or so as conditions clear, though I wonder if the fish are all now down by the dam!
Browntrout,
I parked in the non Trustee lot ( I don't like them) across from the Trustee parking area and walked down the road.
The section from the Gorge downstream IS FISHABLE now as far as the flow is concerned. It was still a bit off color on Thursday but ok.
The fish - I think that the heat and drought of July did more to hurt the trout than this past weather event. Here's my reasoning - I live on the banks of the Mill River in Northampton. It went from 50 cfs at 1:00 am on Sunday (50 cfs is high, it should of been around 20 cfs) to 6400CFS by noon on Sunday. They wanted us to evacuate!! By Wednesday I saw schools of minnows that were taking the ants that I threw into the river. Fish somehow survive! If the EB bows made it through July they would survive this flood. That' my opinion.
Ken
Just got back from fishing at Yellowstone. Not to rain on anybodies parade, but while everyone was battling through the floods back here, I had tight lines out west...the cutt-throats were fantastically huge (20+). If you go, Lamar valley is where it's at from late July till the end of Sept. Had my run in with a grizzly (coincidentally in the same area where they found the mauled hiker a day later)...bear spray is a nice confidence booster for holding your ground. Best part was that my goto flies for the EB and Millers were killing them out there as well. The hoppers were pretty good but the streamers I typically use back east were producing 60+ fish days. The little tribs in the valley were especially fun to fish. Everyone has to make this trip once in their life.
I'm hoping the EB pulls itself back into shape soon. Its my favorite water to hit in the fall.
Kozman,
I'm about to shed a tear!! I would love to cast to those waters sometime soon. Good to see that the local flies held their own out West. Grizzly Country - That is a concern for me. Our local black bears like to run and hide. That other breed is another question. Are they a REAL concern or just a chance encounter??
How was the surface action?
Some day I'll fish Montana, bears or no bears!!
Ken
Ken
Grizzly bears are a real concern in Yellowstone and surrounding areas. The good news is that they don't like being around people so they will do their best to avoid an encounter. They say banana boat is a good bear repellant...I guess bears don't know what to make of the smell of coconuts. Sounds like folklore to me, but interesting nonetheless. Its just $500 to get out to bozeman,mt. Food for thought.
Kozman,
How'd you get out there & back for $500.00?
I went in late July and it was $1100.00 with reservations made in February.
Harold
Back to the EB...Ken, were you out there tis weekend and how did it fish? Might do a recon out there next week if (egad) rain holds out...
-BT
BT,
I'll have an EB update tonight. It's not good news.
Ken
Post a Comment