# Clinton River Water Levels



## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)

Has anyone noticed the water levels on the Clinton recently? There has been a steady decline with the lack of rain over the last week or so, but from Saturday night to Sunday morning it dropped allot.

Fishing was great on Saturday with over a dozen fished hooked in my group alone and then Sunday struck and we only hooked up with 5. Still a good day on the Clinton, but the more disturbing part was the ammount of exposed "fresh" redds from Saturday. We had fish working redds hard most of the day Saturday and those same redds were in 2-3 inches of water on Sunday if not completely dry. 

This is completely killing any chances of natural reproduction, which is one of the goals in stocking this river. Who is monitoring this upstream and making the call to close the dams. Not only is it going to push what fish are left back out into the lake fast, it's has now contributed to ruining the chances of a succesful reproduction year. The Clinton has enough other issues to worry about without adding this to the mix. 

Very Concerned.


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## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)




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## The Downstream Drift (Feb 27, 2010)

There is a group that has begun meetings to figure out how to properly control the upstream lake levels and keep the downstream sections of the river at a safe level as well. There are many lake associations that are involved with this as well as communities in the lower sections of the river. Coming to a shared conclusion will be difficult but the issue is being heavily looked at.

I would suggest that all of you who are concerned with our downstream levels to speak up and be heard by your community officials. There are groups from the lake associations that have the support of all of the property owners on each lake. Getting more people involved from the downstream section helps with our point on maintaining river levels.


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## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)

Bad just got worse. 

Since Saturday the river has dropped over 9 inches and continues to fall. For all of you that fished this last weekend and saw fish on redds, downstream from Yates. Those spawning beds are now dry or to warm to support reproduction. 

What does this mean? Well, runs in the next 2-3 years will now suffer and the substainial ammount of money that the DNR has spent stocking this trib to once again estblish a naturally reproducing run of steelhead in now ruined this year.

For those of you who don't care about the reprodutive aspect of this fishery, it also means that the run will be ending a few weeks early this year. Last week we were showing signs it would continue well into the first part of May. Now you'll be lucky to hook fish after this week as they will all be dropping back into the big water due to the warming effect the low water is having on the river.

Please call you local officials and make a complaint! This needs to be stopped.


















http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwisweb/graph?agency_cd=USGS&site_no=04161820&parm_cd=00060&period=7


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Until recently I lived only a couple miles from Yates for 35 years.
The same problem occured back in the mid 80's...dry as a bone for lon-n-g stretches. 
I put it to postive use by going down my regular treks with a Polaroid camera and recording the major holes, major snags and obstructions in them for several long sections throughout the system. That big run under Avon road is an example...also the pockets below the dam. The bridge at Utica Rd...all the way to around 16 mile whever there was access.
I put together a diary/catalog/map and it was very beneficial later when the waters were back up to or over normal. Took over 70 shots, ran out of $ film money.
Nowadays with digital cameras it should be even easier to set up a personal diary of sorts.
The river changes to be sure, and obstructions are always moving, but big features are usually stable for several seasons.

Love to have bottom pics like that up and down here at the PM, LM and BM


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## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)

There are definately advantages to low water levels (River Clean Ups, Log Jam Removal, River Documentation...ect) 

Just not during the spawning period of many species who rely on high and cool water to reproduce. July and Early August are prime examples of these times when the water is at NATURALLY low levels.


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## the rapids (Nov 17, 2005)

The water level issue is one which has plauged the clinton for years. Little to nothing can be done unless groups band together and fight the legal lake levels which were established by the courts years ago when the lower river was devoid of fish and it was probably a better thing that there was no water in it. That is not the case nowadays because we all recognize what a potential jewel we have.

This is why the clinton will never be a thriving fishery or support natural reproduction for coldwater fish. It is part of the reason why there have been trout kills every 3 years on average since the trout stocking program was re initiated back in the middle part of this first decade of 2000's. Every summer the river reaches a point where there is little flow over the riffles and the pools stagnate. Every summer. Obviously for there to be significant carry over for trout and baby steelies there has to be cold water and decent dissolved oxygen levels, and in teh summer the clinton has neither. It is not uncommon to check the gauging stations on the paint and clinton and find that the paint actually has more water in it. In fact, basically 80% of the clinton river's flow below opdyke and auburn rds is water coming from the wastewater treatment plant for pontiac. 

The river dropped over 1.5 feet overnight (sat-sun) in the stretch that i fish.

So, in a watershed which is actually rich in groundwater resources in the headwaters and middle segments and should be relativley stable we see very little water in the summer, and that starts when the lakes upstream (cass, crystal, sylvan etc) hold back water to keep the lake owners happy. During the winter when the lakes upstream are not holding back this excess water we see a clearer picture of the clinton's normal flow, and it is around 110 cfs (instead of the 20-30cfs during summer). Again, for this to be a "thriving fishery" we need to fight the lake levels. But the water resources commissioner himself has said that it is unlikely anything can be done about these court-established legal lake levels.


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## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)

Se lets build a case.

1st - lets pull stream flow data over the last several years
2nd - Lets document the from available reports and information (Michigan State Biology Dept. may be a great starting point and outline in detail what our fishery needs for successful reproduction.
3rd - Let take the water data and temperature and apply them to our specifics case during these high and low water level periods. 
4th - We bring factual information to out local conservation agencies such as CRWC and TU and gain their support.
5th - present our finding to the state as they have been investing substantial amounts of money into this plant every year, with the hopes of stimulation natural reproduction.

We know we have a good system, we know we have good monitoring, we know stocked fish are moving back to reproduce each spring.Now we need to jointly assemble these facts and create business case to support our objectives.

WHO IS IN???


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## GaryFisherman (Jan 9, 2009)

Sue the homeowner associations....look for precedents and go to court to put an injunction on them....


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## supermetallogic (Jan 18, 2010)

Somebody correct me if Im wrong but isnt Pontiac lake the last lake on the chain to influence controlled water levels on the Clinton?If so that lake asscotiation would be who I would take action with.


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## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)

I believe Pontic is the last, but this must be a unified effort with all the lake associations, fisheries biologists and the DNR. This effort is not meant to sue the business owner or homeowners or lake associations. We need to educate them and estiblish a controlled release plan which everyone can live with, especially during spawning times and low water periods when the effects of holding water could be detrimental to the watershed.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Without trying to sound like a jerk, if the lake associations are holding water back, where does it go? Why don't those lakes flood from all that additional water? I am thinking that the actual flow of the river is less in Summer, for whatever reason. Perhaps not as much runoff as in Spring? I am sure it is very low in winter, as well. 80 - 90 cubic feet of water/second will add up pretty quickly. I would think it would flood those lake shores.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

The real root of the very fast rises and drops of the Clinton Rivers levels lies with the development within the watershed. Paved roads, roofs, parking lots, fewer fields and trees. The water doesn't get into the ground to slowly and steadily the river through springs. After each runoff event it runs off the hard surfaces, races to the river in ditches and pipes, the river rapidly rises and falls. Even in my lifetime there has been a huge increase in the speed and severity of runoff events.


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

The main problem is with mother nature. Lets see what you can do with her? Betcha won't get too far.

Clinton is getting filled up today.


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## supermetallogic (Jan 18, 2010)

In other states where I lived the army coorps of engineers monitored and controlled all water levels being released or held back by dams not home owners lake associations .Not that they always did what was right but improvments were made,better than whats happening here.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Not that the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't do lots of things well, but they created the system of canals that is likely to allow Asian Silver and Bighead Carp into the Great Lakes. They are not the omnicient entity they may seem to be. I am sure they do not monitor all rivers flowing past dams in MI. It sure is great when the dredge the sand out of the mouth of the Ausable river, though. Well, at least it used to be.


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## Maverick1 (Jan 28, 2009)

Severe spikes in the water levels downstream can be directly linked to water retention upstream... especially when water levels and rain flow levels hold steady and such incidents occur. 

That being said, if we could have the lakes filled in upstream first during excess flow periods and maintain typical flow rates during dry periods, we may have a chance to do something and improve the fishery. When this post started we were experiencing a dry time and water levels dropped 8 inches in two days then rose again. Why... Dams. There was no rain, no excess flow, no outside events. Just the raising of lake levels. 

I'm not saying this is the only issue, but it is one that could be easily corrected.


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