DENTRY: Trout rivers running fast with runoff

By Ed Dentry, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 9, 2008 at 11:17 p.m.

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Low bridge, everybody down.

Trout rivers are flush with runoff, although not entirely unfishable to those who have a knack for creeping along shore and making short casts to mini-eddies.

The standard runoff alternative is to fish harnessed tailwater below dams, but many of those clear currents are higher than normal, too.

Flows in the Fryingpan River and the Blue River below Green Mountain Dam have been boosted to deliver higher flows to the lower Colorado River to help endangered native fish spawn.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had anticipated drawing on naturally high flows from abundant snowmelt in the Colorado River Basin, but cool weather has slowed the runoff.

To provide flows needed for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Species Recovery Program, the agency started stepped-up releases from Ruedi Reservoir on Wednesday, from less than 400 cubic feet per second to 861 cfs Monday.

BOR announced Monday evening, however, that the augmented flows no longer are needed. It plans to step down the Fryingpan flows in 50 cfs increments until Saturday, when the river should have dropped to 361 cfs.

The Blue River below Green Mountain Reservoir currently has swollen to 757 cfs from a short recess Sunday, when BOR dropped flows to less than 300 cfs. The lower Blue hit a plateau of 1,200 cfs last week.

At Silverthorne, the Blue is cruising at a more manageable 500 cfs, which is high enough to put trout on the feed for mysis shrimp, which have been pouring through Dillon Dam, but not prohibitively high for fishing.

A sampling of other waters:

* The Colorado River is rolling along at its muddy finest at Parshall and Kremmling (1,460 cfs), at Dotsero (8,320 cfs) and Glenwood Springs (13,500 cfs).

* The Roaring Fork is a big 1,150 cfs at Aspen and a hearty 4,580 cfs at Glenwood Springs.

* Taylor Park Reservoir is releasing 716 cfs into the Taylor River, which is far above average flows of less than 250 cfs for early June.

* The Gunnison River is flush at 3,260 cfs near Gunnison, or about 1,000 cfs above average. In Gunnison Gorge, however, flows have dropped from 7,000 cfs a week ago. The Gorge now is running about average for early June, at 3,360 cfs and clearing.

Cool weather has reined in runoff in the Arkansas River, but currents remain high and muddy (2,800 cfs at Wellsville). River edges, however, have been clear enough to fish.

In the midst of all this heavy water, the close-to-home Cheesman Canyon and Deckers stretches of the South Platte River have been Old Reliable, burbling at a mild 156 cfs. Elevenmile Canyon also is angler-friendly at 150 cfs.

Of course, all this is written in snowmelt. A return to warmer weather could quickly bring muddy rises and even rampaging floods.

Warm and dry weather on the Eastern Plains also could boost those South Platte River flows overnight in response to greater irrigation demands.

Anglers headed for rivers would do well to check river currents to avoid disappointing trips and waste of precious fuel. The flows are posted at the Colorado Division of Water Resources Web site, www. DWR.State.CO.US/ SurfaceWater/default.aspx.

So far, the colder-than- normal weather has measured runoff out in only moderately heavy doses. But rivers and streams are cold, with water temperatures averaging in the 40s.

Taking a plunge can result in rapid hypothermia and inability to swim, so anglers should be cautious when scrambling over shoreline rocks.

Even better, this might be a good time to give the casting arm some exercise over flat water on a relatively tame lake or reservoir.

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