There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot" - Steven Wright
Here are the numbers for today and where they were last Wednesday, the day with the highest flows this year.
Millers (today) 1670 cfs, last Wednesday 3000 cfs
EB (today) 1080 cfs, last Wednesday 1830cfs
Swift (today) 650 cfs Last Wednesday 716 cfs
Ware River (today) 690 cfs Last Wednesday 841 cfs
Don't start fooling yourself that it's safe wading because it isn't. Give it a week!
Ken
5 comments:
Do you have any idea why the Swift was so high this winter? It wasn't the most precipitation I've experienced recently and the Swift stayed super high ALL winter/every single day, not just for a few days after rainfall or snow.
Was there something going on with the dam that was different this year? Something other than rain that prompted more release from the Quabbin?
Some USGS Flow data from the last few winters from the Swift:
2019-20 - stayed around 50 fps
2020-21 - stayed around 50 fps
2021-22 - stayed around 50 fps, got to 200fps toward send of march (500fps in May)
2022-23 - stayed around 50 fps
2023-24 - CRAZY!- has been well over 200 since a spike up from 50 in the beginning of January, Over 300 for all of feb, and is now over 600
Very interested if anyone has heard any explanation other than more rain/snow?
Andrew, Rain and snow for the last 2 months have brought Quabbin to about 98% of capacity. They probably have to dump water at that point. I question some of your 2019-2023 numbers because on one of those years the Y pool was almont unfishable. We had smallies and pickerel coming over the top of the dam. Review my notes on the blog!! It's just Mother Nature playing games.
Ken
Dear Ken,
It's possible that we will lose most access to spring fishing on the Swift this year. A custom query of the USGS Water Resources database confirms what we all remember: a disturbingly similar pattern of high discharge rates on the Swift in the spring of 2022. The Swift's flow began to increase on February 18th 2022 (61.6 CFS), rose inexorably to its peak on April 28th (505 CFS), and did not subside to a (barely) fishable flow until June 8th (142 CFS).
Of course much depends on precipitation totals over the next 45 days and decisions taken by the MWRA; hopefully history does not repeat itself!
-Mike
Mike,
I think you are going way over the top on this. I've seen monster flows on this river in the past but because it's a CONTROLLED flow it can be managed. And it was! Also remember that Quabbin exists because it is a public water supply first and a FISHERY SECOND! High water at this time of year is better than later in the Spring because you don't have the smallies, pickerel and perch coming over the top as in previous high water events. It's only March. I have listened to flyfishers moaning about high Spring flows only to moan about low flows a few months later.
Ken
Dear Ken,
Again per the USGS Water Resources database, in the past fifteen years there have been seven episodes of Swift River discharge rates in excess of 500 CFS; two occurred in 2009, and single episodes occurred in 2010, 2012, 2019, 2022, and now.
The database permits accurate measures of elapsed time as flows fell from 500 to 150 CFS during each past high discharge episode. The longest elapsed time to fall from 500 to 150 CFS was 82 days, beginning January 5 2009; the shortest elapsed time was 27 days, beginning May 11 2009; and the median elapsed time for the six past episodes was 42 days. Elapsed times were proportionately longer to achieve endpoints of 100 CFS or 50 CFS, flow rates which most Swift anglers prefer.
As I write this the flow rate on the Swift is 577 CFS. Since in the past it has taken the Swift a median time of 6 weeks to subside from current flow rates to a barely fishable level, I'll stand by my earlier comment (and hope that I'm wrong).
-Mike
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