death of the cumberland river?

[trent colvin]

I Have Property That Lies In The Floodplain Of The Cumberland River Near The Rockhouse. At First I Was Concerned About The Dam Breaking And What The Flood Would Do... Now My Main Concern Is The Loss Of The Trout Fishing The River Has To Offer. Has There Been Any Suggestions That Are Workable ($) That Can Be Done? How Long Will The Fish Last? Will The Fishery People Change The Regulations So These Fish Can Be Harvested And Consumed Before They Die And Sink To The Bottom Of The River?

The Possible Threat Of A Wall Of Water Maybe Coming My Direction Is In The Back Of My Mind, And I Have A Plan To Get Out. But Knowing The River Fishing Is Going To Die Is Something That I Can't Quit Thinking About, Because I Don't Have A Plan And Haven't Heard Of Any.....any Ideas?????

[tracker35]

So, I'm asumming that there is little to no water left in the river??

[trent colvin]

I Haven't Been On The River In Two Weeks To Fishi But The Ramp At Winfrey Ferry Seems Marginal To Launch, Plus Other Threads From Down At B-ville. The Courier Journal Had Two Articles About The River This Morning

[troutcrazy]

Pray for rain. If the lake level comes up then they have run the generators which will produce more water, and hopefully some cooler water temps. With all this warm weather and no rain the strata of cool water is depeleting coming from the lake.

There is not much that can be done except get the dam built quicker which would solve all the problems.

[fishing4kids]

Trent

Great post
Thanks for bringing this to everyones attn.
Eddie

[Jbyrd]

Ok guys, Are you talking about the cumberland river below wolf creek dam? I was thinking in the past summers of the 20 plus years I have fished it that Normally they only release water 6- 7 hours a day at different times to produce electricity when they need it.Heck we would wade and fish below the **** for trout sometimes all morning tuntil 12 noon. Then when they did release water it was for only an hour or two. Been that way FOR YEARS. OF course except 2 years ago when we would get 3 inches of rain about every week . Then they had to release more.
Why all of a sudden do people think the river and lake are dry. Yes they are holding it at a lower level(lake) . But in years past when it got to summer pool they released only enough water to maintain a certain level.......

[Tim_T]

I think the biggest problem is the lack of rain.

[trent colvin]

It Isn't A Question Of Low Water, It Is A Question Of The Temp And Low Oxygen Of The Low Water. The Trout Will Start To Stress And Die When The Temp Goes Up And The O2 Level Goes Down. The Media Played It Up Big That The Lake Was Low And The Dam Might Break, But All The Hype Was The Navy That Invades The Lake Every Summer. There Hasn't Been Much Talk About The Fishing Below The Dam (and The Money It Brings Into The Local Economy) Until Now... When It May Be Too Late! The Trout, Rockfish And Walleye In The River Will Suffer. Big Rains Anywhere On The System Downriver From Burnside Will Have A Negative Effect On The River. Remember A Couple Of Years Age When The Lake Was Down And Big Summer Rains Hit The Area? The Lake Rose About 25 Feet Real Fast And The Rockfish And The Walleye Suffered Big Die-offs. Lake Cumberland Will Benifit In The Long Run From The Drawdown, But I Dont Think The River Has That Long.

I Write This Because I Don't Have Any Solutions To Offer.. I Hope Som Of You Do!

[Jbyrd]

The conditions you are describing would occur if they had to release alot of water. With the small amount that they are letting thru , (and they have to let some at all times or the river bed would be completely dry ) is coming from the bottom of a still very deep lake. All reports from fish and wildlife biologist were that if we had alot of rain the o 2 levels would deplete and the temps would go up if they had to pull alot of water thru the dam.The water wouldn't have time to cool in the depths of the lake. According to the experts the condition you are getting right now are the best for all the species below the dam...

[Chubminnow]

Sounds to me like Jbyrd did his homework. I also remember the "experts" saying that a dry spring would provide the best conditions for all party's either involved in or directly effected by the dam repair work. Can't remember where I read this but I do remember reading it.

[RoadToad]

Sounds to me like Jbyrd did his homework. I also remember the "experts" saying that a dry spring would provide the best conditions for all party's either involved in or directly effected by the dam repair work. Can't remember where I read this but I do remember reading it.

What I remember reading wasn't so much that a dry spring would be good, just that an extra wet one would be bad, because the extra (warm) rainwater would mean that extra (cold) water had to be released from lake, and the resulting decrease in the amount of cold water in the lake would be hard on stripers, who apparently aren't smart enough to move when they're under environmental stress.

Not much has been written about the effects of the draw-down on the fishery below the dam, but there are a couple articles in yesterday's Courier-Journal you might want to read. It's not good. Trout are already dying, and it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

One thing we should keep in mind, though, which the Courier-Journal articles fail to mention, is the fact that this is all temporary! Once the repairs are completed, the level will be raised again, and then they can start re-stocking the river. It may take a long time, and the trout fishery may be decimated in the meantime, but over time, it will recover. The Cumberland River is NOT dead, or dying, it's just lapsing into a coma.

[RiverLew]

As most of you know I live down stream almost to the Tenn. line. I love the Cumberland River and fish it almost daily. I have always taken extreme care of the fishery and the fish. Great care has always been taken when trout were caught and returned to this great fishery. But we have the bottom lined with dead trout now wasting away. I now hope people will travel down here to catch and keep the trout. I feel it is a disservice to put the trout back into 78+ degree water.

I am however, catching largemouth bass now along with other warmwater species of fish in this warm river. Largemouth Bass on a 4 wt fly rod is quite an adventure in moving water.

I hope the trout can make a comeback when this is all over. It is hard for a catch and release trout fisherman like me to say this but, I hope some good fishermen will catch the remaining trout in this area and put food on someone's table instad of the beautiful trout wasting away on the bottom.

Your friend'
RiverLew