Sunday morning September 4. The above photo says it all for the access road along the EB. Just a 100 or so feet beyond the Bliss State Park sign the road gave way during Hurricane Irene. There is a ditch, actually a sink hole, that is appox 50 feet long, eight feet wide and up to four feet deep. The road beyond is in rough shape too. The Town of Chesterfield, which added more material to the road blockage since last Wednesday, appears to be dumping fill in the large parking lot at the top of the road. Maybe it's to fix this road, maybe not. In any event, fishing the EB will be a walk in affair until things are fixed.
The River - it was STILL cloudy a week after the deluge even though the flow resembled the third week of May!! In fact, it's cloudier than early Spring!! That is very disturbing since this river usually clears up very quickly. There's a lot of sand/clay material along the shore. It's safe to say that it's still suspended in the water. A major flow will expose sand or clay (worse)deposits which can discolor a river for weeks. To make matter worse I saw "NEW" rocks in the Bliss Pool!! I know that spot pretty well and know that the large, flat rocks leaning on end against larger rocks are new arrivals. I wonder how the trout did.
More rain came today and sent many rivers into flood stage. More rain comes tomorrow. What a difference a year makes.
Yes, I took some casts but fishing silty water in September........
13 comments:
As I earlier stated, I suspected the river would have severe damage. Thanks for the update Ken.
Between the past storm, present rain and new silt and clay conditions it sounds like the EB may need the fall and winter to heal from its wounds. Highly doubtful I will visit again until 2012. Please keep us posted on any "positive" developments.
I went to the gorge on sunday,fished for a couple of hours. lot of holes changed a lot,plus there are some new ones. I caught one native brookie ,he was jumping out of the water like a marlin. bbd
Anonymous,
Good to see a brookie caught that survived this dry to overly wet Summer. Actually, I am totally amazed!!
Ken
We have exterminated the Atlantic salmon runs south of the Canadian border, are well on the way to finishing off striped bass, shad and herring. But the brook trout has managed to survive since the end of the last ice age, though we have tried very hard to exterminate them too. A bit of high discolored water from a rain storm is not going to harm these guys.
They are as resilient as they are beautiful.
Al
Judging by the flow rate increase this morning, it looks like there is water being released down the spillway at the Quabbin.
It looks like there will be a few weeks to get those unfinished summer projects done.
Al
Ken,
On the Lowerforty fishing report I noticed a description of a flyer saying that if the lower Bondsville dam is removed the Swift River will be destroyed - four feet wide and 5 inches deep. About 10 days ago I was there and a lady whose back yard overlooks the flat-water pool above the crib-dam told me that if the dam is removed the entire stretch of river behind her house would be destroyed. I didn't want to get into a p-ing contest with her, because it was clear that facts were not going to sway her opinion. Have you run into this hysterical misinformation in your travels? Is anybody trying to counter this BS with facts?
Gerry,
I have met these people. They are misinformed. They claim that the upper Swift (above the pipe) will be de-watered. This notion cannot be backed by anything near an engineering study. Blowing the dam out in Bondsville will not effect that ladies back yard just like the removal of most of the obstructions at the "duck pond" didn't create the promised "riffle sections" above the obstructions that TU promised. Removal of the Bondsville Dame WILL effect the shore line property of those property owners along those calm upstream sections. Removal of that dam could create more trout habitat. The battle is on!!
For the record, if someone says that the removal of the Bondsville Dam ( a very expensive structure to maintain) will effect the C&R sections than it is easy to say that they are full of it!!!
Ken
Al (Anonymous),
And then the Swift flow goes down. Like I said in an earlier post, it will take the Quabbin "Pond" to reach overflow status before the river rises for an extended period. It is a delayed reaction which can cause the Swift to run into the 300cfs or above range for weeks. Today was, probably, a blip.
My Summer projects are done. Time to FLYFISH!!!
kEN
As I consider the flow of the Swift, the first real riffle that occurs above the Bondsville dam is at Cady Lane. It is from this point and downstream that the effect of dam removal will be visible. I suggest that the pool above Cady Lane will remain (as its impoundment is caused by the riffle dam), and that all water above this point will remain essentially unchanged. What will happen is: there will be additional runs and pools created downstream from this point.
Bob O,
You are right! The removal of the Bondsville Dam will not effect the C&R sections of the Swift. What it MAY effect is the slow moving waterway above the Bondsville Dam. Property owners may see a drop in water levels next to their stream side homes. It is very doubtful that kayakers will have their sport diminished by the removal of the dam because this section will always be navigable by kayak just as the section from RT 9 through the PIPE section is navigable now and this section is NOT effected by the Bondsville Dam.
The dam should come down! The pro dam people do not present any engineering/environmental evidence to support their claims. In fact, the one dam supporter that I met above the PIPE said that the section of river that I was fishing would be ruined if the dam came down. I asked where was his evidence to support his claim.
He had none!!
Ken
EB has been running over 3,000 cfs for several days. Must have been a ton of new water in the gorge since the last report.
BT,
They must be draining the "pond" behind the holding dam at Knightville which is just above the EB gauge. Hence the high 3000cfs flow. That was the same flow on 9/1/11 when the Gorge (far upstream) was flowing at between 300-400cfs. The Gorge is probably flowing at 300-400cfs as I write. All the local rivers in that area have come down in the last few days.
God to know. I hope the state still plans to get in there this fall for a last few end-of season hurrahs.
-BT
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