Water Level and Current

I’ve looked at the NOAA page as well as rivergages.com to see stage charts of pools 2,3, and 4. It seems to me that the current and water level is a bit higher than the last 3 fall seasons on the river. Do you think it will be a stronger current all fall/winter or will the corps suck some water out and reduce the cfs coming through the locks and dams. Me and some buddies have a fall walleye outing in november every year on pool 4 and just trying to predict whether we’ll be jigging, dragging, or trolling based on water level and flow. Thanks for any predictions from those who have more experience on the river than me.

I’ve been down on pools 4 and 5 quite a bit lately and can say for sure that water levels and current are far smaller factors than the wind. When the wind is out of the equation, fishing is pretty decent. The water temps have come up and the bite has softened some due to that but fish can still be found and caught.

crawdaddy wrote:

Do you think it will be a stronger current all fall/winter or will the corps suck some water out and reduce the cfs coming through the locks and dams.

Predicting the river flow rate is like predicting the weather. If we get a lot of rain on a saturated water shed, then we’re going to have a lot of flow in the river. If we continue with this dry spell, then the flow will continue to drop.

I think some people think the U.S Corp of Engineers has a lot more control over the flow on the Mississippi than they do. They don’t have reservoirs on the Mississippi for Pools 2 or 3 to store any significant amount of water thereby reducing the flow, or release water to increase the flow. Basically all they have is a series of dams to create deeper water upstream of the dams. But once they obtain the desired level, they basically let out just as much water below as that which enters the pool from above the dam. They can control what that level is to some extent but they can’t control the flow.

The dams have been in place so long that I don’t think a lot of people realize how shallow the river would be in times of low flow.

Boone

What is “low flow”?
Less then 1500 cfs?
Less then 3000 cfs?
Less then 5000?

On a side note I asked a lock operator his thoughts on this years higher and faster water:

It’s a bit of a mystery to us operators why there seems to be so much water this year. I’ve heard tales that it is because so much ground is being covered with concrete and asphalt that it all runs straight into the river. That doesn’t seem to cover the full difference though.

I could put your question to the water control guys and see what they have to say. That’s where we’ll get the best answer. The trend though is for lower flows than present.

Personally I think the farm field tiling has as much or more to do with our rivers as the parking lot do.

The Mississippi river north of aitkin was still about a foot higher than normal a few weeks back. Im sure that is not the only river that is up a little. The croix was darn near to flood level about a month and a half ago.

“The croix was darn near to flood level about a month and a half ago.”….per Mike W

I don’t think a lot of MN people realize how much water comes out of Wisconsin that influences the pools 3, 4, and 5. Minnesota might be high and dry while north central and northwestern Wisconsin can be hammered with rain and raise all kinds of heck on the river. Kind of an “outta sight, outta mind” type of thing.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

“The croix was darn near to flood level about a month and a half ago.”….per Mike W

I don’t think a lot of MN people realize how much water comes out of Wisconsin that influences the pools 3, 4, and 5. Minnesota might be high and dry while north central and northwestern Wisconsin can be hammered with rain and raise all kinds of heck on the river. Kind of an “outta sight, outta mind” type of thing.

and we still have water running pretty high for this time of the year up here in Northern WI, so its still a comin’!!!

Mark