# low water



## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

I like to hit the A when the run is on, which will be sometime in April. Even at it's most crowded, it's still not Tippy or the Mo or 6th St. It used to get pretty close, but not so much anymore. I fished it somewhat Sunday afternoon, and seen a couple 2 yr old skips on ropes at the dam. I didn't see anyone else with any fish, and didn't touch one myself. The next morning(Monday), I got a late start and there were already people all over the place, so I dropped south and fished. I hooked a couple fish there, and seen another landed by the only other 2 people I seen. It's still early for the entire East side, but I've seen good fishing in March before. When the flows are inconsistent, so is the bite. And the 90's might have been great, but the early 2000's were not bad at all; 2005 was the last good spring run. I thought last spring was pretty good, I hooked 29 fish in three trips at one point.


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

Did you know that Consumers ALLEGEDLY dropped the flows last weekend? 

I sent a letter to the editor of the Oscoda Press and The Iosco County News stating what happened last weekend and when they printed it they added the word allegedly all through it. They even changed the title from "Consumers does it again" to "Contends river was not flowing", they said they, "allegedly dropped the water level to a point were fishing was non-existent".:banghead3 I have come to believe that these papers up here are afraid of Consumers and are afraid to make them (consumers) mad :gaga:. I thought opinion pages in the paper were for opinion's but what good does it do if they are going to edit your opinion to suit themselves? 

I guess I'm lucky they even printed it.....


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## Cedar Swamp (Oct 8, 2004)

Slodrift said:


> Did you know that Consumers ALLEGEDLY dropped the flows last weekend?
> 
> I sent a letter to the editor of the Oscoda Press and The Iosco County News stating what happened last weekend and when they printed it they added the word allegedly all through it. They even changed the title from "Consumers does it again" to "Contends river was not flowing", they said they, "allegedly dropped the water level to a point were fishing was non-existent".:banghead3 I have come to believe that these papers up here are afraid of Consumers and are afraid to make them (consumers) mad :gaga:. I thought opinion pages in the paper were for opinion's but what good does it do if they are going to edit your opinion to suit themselves?
> 
> I guess I'm lucky they even printed it.....


Like "Slodrift allegedly had a hole in his waders last week" :lol:
Both you and I know it was in fact true, just like the flow this past weekend. 

Seeing as the DNR officers were cruising the AS all day Saturday, they can justify what we know was true and not *ALLEGED*.


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

Cedar Swamp said:


> Like "Slodrift allegedly had a hole in his waders last week" :lol:


That's how I keep track of the water temp and trust me it's still quite cold, I wouldn't want to spawn in it.:lol:


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

Get ready for your Daily adjustment in 45 min. Smack dab in the middle of the afternoon!
Consumers just Can't wait to do that into the early evening when the day is almost done? We've asked nice NOT TO DO THIS! but it doesn't matter they need a kilowatt or two...
It better step up again today....









[email protected] 08:00- 1710cfs 
Red Oak Is climbing nice, Foote should follow the trend. And NOT IN 15 Min. Please! we've asked Nice about that also!!


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## Cedar Swamp (Oct 8, 2004)

Ron Matthews said:


> Get ready for your Daily adjustment in 45 min. Smack dab in the middle of the afternoon!
> Consumers just Can't wait to do that into the early evening when the day is almost done? We've asked nice NOT TO DO THIS! but it doesn't matter they need a kilowatt or two...
> It better step up again today....
> 
> ...


Ron, what's the flow at ?


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

850? 2day's ago, Today is 1200. That's a large increase for up there..


That graph shows what the river should be doing, If? Consumers will follow the rules like they're supposed to do you should see the flows in a mirror fashion within 14-16 hrs. is the time delay in the re-regulated regulations, from Alcona to Foote.


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

9:45am-1710 cfs
10:00am-1730 cfs
11:30am-1830
12:30 Pm-1910 cfs and rising qiuck!!

Gee, sure am glad They saved all the water last weekend with low flows in the river. Da! What a bunch of fugging Idiots.


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## tommy-n (Jan 9, 2004)

Big companies

The only way to get some serious leverage on them is to use the media to your advantage. It's pretty safe to say the sportsman of michigan do not stick together enough to get it done. I know, it's sad but true.


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

Slodrift said:


> Did you know that Consumers ALLEGEDLY dropped the flows last weekend?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Cedar Swamp (Oct 8, 2004)

Ron Matthews said:


> 9:45am-1710 cfs
> 10:00am-1730 cfs
> 11:30am-1830
> 12:30 Pm-1910 cfs and rising qiuck!!
> ...


 
2150 as of 04:45 this morning...

If this keeps up, we may finally get to use our waders. :lol: 
But, I'm sure everyone's are dry rotted by now. :evil:


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

The frost is mostly out of the ground in southern lower peninsula, so the runoff has peaked in this part of the State. But up there the snow is still melting, and the ground is still frozen. It makes sense that the flows increase during the day, as water enters the river from meltoff and tribs pouring excess water into the mainstream. That makes it all the more questionable that they lowered the flows last weekend (allegedly), but makes sense for what is happening during the daytime, right now. Not sure if our ground is completely thawed, but I heard nightcrawlers popping the other night, and saw their castings, so I imagine it is. Another 3-4 weeks and the ground will be thawed in Oscoda, too. Then the changed in water flow should mainly be caused by rain events. 

It is strange, because when Consumers began running the dams as run-of-the-river, which moderated the flows a LOT, everyone complained that they ruined the fishing. Before that they practically shut the dam down every night, and opened it up around 10:00AM each morning. The fish would really go on a bite when the higher water came, then the high water would shut them down. We used to fish around the dam first thing in the morning, then head downstream as soon as the bite slowed, and fish the Scout Camp, then would head further down and hit the Trestle. As the higher water made its way down, the fish would turn on, then turn off. 
Now the opinion is that running the water that way is killing the fishery. I cannot tell which way works best, but you can't catch fish if there aren't any around, and you cannot catch fish if you aren't fishing. Dat fo sho.


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## Kelly Neuman (Apr 12, 2007)

Fishndude said:


> It is strange, because when Consumers began running the dams as run-of-the-river, which moderated the flows a LOT, everyone complained that they ruined the fishing.


This is very incorrect statement!! Peaking was the most disgusting form of operations at Foote Dam and those that cared about the Au Sable were glad to see it gone in 1992. That river was a eroded out mess and thank god that it will never happen again. Since run of river there have been many years of excellent steelhead fishing. So far 2009 has not been all bad either! Those that were looking for high water it is here - the river is flow very nice right now.


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

Streamside Custom Rod said:


> Those that were looking for high water it is here - the river is flow very nice right now.


ALLEGEDLY!!!!:lol:


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Streamside Custom Rod said:


> This is very incorrect statement!! Peaking was the most disgusting form of operations at Foote Dam and those that cared about the Au Sable were glad to see it gone in 1992. That river was a eroded out mess and thank god that it will never happen again. Since run of river there have been many years of excellent steelhead fishing. So far 2009 has not been all bad either! Those that were looking for high water it is here - the river is flow very nice right now.


Don't get me wrong, I like the moderate flows a lot better. All the erosion that has happened in my lifetime amazes me. Even now there is a ton of sand covering lots of gravelly spots which used to hold lots of fish. Many formerly good holes are filled in, and simply don't hold fish anymore. And while there may have been tons of fish in the 70's and 80's, the bite would shut down quickly once the high flows of a peak were maintained for a little bit. Seems like the channel along the piers used to run about 4 feet deeper, too. That might be because the lake level was higher by about 4 feet, but there is no denying that there is a lot of sand making its way down the river. When they drop the water quickly, it can be very dangerous for anyone boating the river. I had a bit of a problem one day, and hit a bunch of logs trying to get off the river when they shut it way down suddenly. I was lucky I noticed when I did, and made a move, because another 20 minutes, and I might have been practically stranded.


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## wyldkat49766 (Apr 21, 2007)

Ron Matthews said:


> 9:45am-1710 cfs
> 10:00am-1730 cfs
> 11:30am-1830
> 12:30 Pm-1910 cfs and rising qiuck!!
> ...



Where are you finding the times at? I've got the USGS site but I dont know if thats it or if I need to 'set something up' on there.


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

Graph 
Graph w/ stats 
Graph w/o stats 
Table 
Tab-separated 
[SIZE=-1]*Days*
[/SIZE]
(1-60) [SIZE=-1] 

[/SIZE] 

put how many day's you want to review in the days box, 
Check the tab-seperated button in output format
Click go, This shows the 15 min data listed by times.
If you need help feel free to pm me..


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## herb09 (Jan 11, 2009)

No comparison between now and then, now I can sit in the same hole all day  and not have to chase the water down river That is as long as consumers doesn't get pissed off about somebody sending them an e-mail and retaliate by lowering the flows. Anyways be happy and go fishing 5 for 6 tues and weds. wife says I'm grounded for the weekend. *Go fishing!!!!*


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

I'm confident they'll be no low flows, because they are at the +2 headwater hieght and cannot lower flows without going out of bounds on the agreement.:lol: = recordablity w/ferc

Nice fish herb


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## 4lbtest (Feb 28, 2007)

herb09 said:


> No comparison between now and then, now I can sit in the same hole all day  and not have to chase the water down river That is as long as consumers doesn't get pissed off about somebody sending them an e-mail and retaliate by lowering the flows. Anyways be happy and go fishing 5 for 6 tues and weds. wife says I'm grounded for the weekend. *Go fishing!!!!*


You only sent 4 fish pics I question this "5th" fish. Sounds like a mortgage backed credit defalut swap security to me, a mere fabrication of truth, the only 5th you have sir is that of Seagrams 7. I finally got louies gift for you and your not going to be there...


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

If anyone would like to make a point Make It to DNR
Express your frustration-
Tell Them how concerned you are....

We're all concerned alot about what we see happening, It's about telling them to make Consumers AT LEAST do what they're supposed too.
Run of river
constant flow
moderate peaking 
full peak operations are sticky tough subjects and Draw lot's of emotion from Lot's o people..

That License Is good till I'm Dead.
I aint changing THAT!
No One can...

They need to follow the rules as the license states. Not headwater 3/10ths band width in winter when upstream dams are Not in peaking mode, Everything else has been tossed.. This is the only factor in If Foote will rise or fall. 
Weather isn't a factor
Ice hasn't been the "factor"
The Factor is +2/-1 from zero on headwater!
There's NOTHING else being taken into account..
Finally that's what they admit after all this time.


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## NEMichsportsman (Jul 3, 2001)

Fun time is over. Gotta play nice gang.

My suggestion would be if you dont have anything vested, or anything to contribute....stay out!!!



BTW I never edit posts. Some posts were unapproved for being off topic, some were because they were either off topic or derogatory towards other members, some were removed because they directly quoted posts that were no longer visible to the public, some were removed because users asked me to.....bottom line is we cant treat each other like c r a p. The NE rivers forum is usually among the most civil ones here-lets keep it that way!


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## Cedar Swamp (Oct 8, 2004)

Shawn, Ron, Kelly, Herb or Aaron,

Didn't get a chance to get up there this weekend, how was the water ?

Todd


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

cold, But at least I could get around.


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