680 level: Trout CR

[troutcrazy]

Reading the Courier-Journel and a few other articles on the problem at Wolf Creek makes it sound like the trout fishing will be diminished for a while. I hear the lake guys complaining about ramps not be long enough to hit the water, but for us river guys the ramps will be under water. Of course safety is the important thing, but it is still very dissappointing to see all the work that has gone into making CR a trophy river with the slot limit being pushed downstream to TN...

Will this effect the numbers that the hatchery puts in the CR every month? Will this increase the numbers of trout placed in other streams and rivers?

Would like to hear your thoughts....

Troutcrazy

[MMax]

I'm not as interested in the trout as I am with the river striper down around Burksvillle (although I'm interested in the outlook for trout). Any thoughts on the impact to the spring striper fihing on the river. Having recently watched the In-Fisherman piece on C-river striper, I'm on fire.

[sailfish]

in my humble opinion , i think fishing below the dam will remain the same after the lake is stabilized. same amount of water coming in and going out. right?

[MMax]

My thought as well at first, but reading what a rainy spring would do to the lake; i.e. cause the dam to release water 24/7. That would push out a lot of the cold lower level water into the river which would finally be replaced by warmer spring rain water.

[etcfishin]

I agree. A rainy spring or summer could have an impact. We actually saw this happen 2 summers ago when we had all of the rain. I believe there was a walleye kill in the lake as dissolved oxygen levels dropped. They checked the river and the levels had dropped there too. They had to open the sluice gates to get re-oxygenate the water. Oh well. Safety first. If I'm ever down there trout fishing and I start to see a bunch of wildlife take off running then head for the hills.

[mhall]

I to am worried about below the dam, I sure hope everything comes out O.K. on this deal.

[troutcrazy]

in my humble opinion , i think fishing below the dam will remain the same after the lake is stabilized. same amount of water coming in and going out. right?

I thought the same thing, but someone told me that they will continue to run generators to keep the pressure off the dam at all times. Even at 680, they may keep a gate or two open. One is great...two starts to become troublesome for waders.

I think the striper will be fine.