The big picture …
The weather has been a ruckus. Strong winds and heavy rain caused what is now adding up to millions of dollars in property damage—some of that damage occurring within The Chronicle’s coverage area. Not to overlook the human tragedy, the flooding rains also damaged boat landings and other infrastructure in a number of riverside parks. In some locations, boat landings were silted in; in others, tons of woody debris now blocks access to the water.
Reservoirs did much better regarding the silt bogs, but much woody debris from tributary streams has washed in. Leaving huge log rafts on a lot of your favorite local lakes. In the near future, debris rafts will obviously be a hazard to navigation, so keep an eye open as you motor around. Fortunately, most of the affected facilities and waterways are in Oregon state and county management. So, it may take a while, but the accumulation of woody debris and silt blocking boat landings will eventually be removed.
Local conditions, Siuslaw & McKenzie
While preparing this week’s Angler’s Log, both the Siuslaw and McKenzie rivers were running bank full. Or at about 8,500 cubic feet per second – far above the levels where a quality fishing experience is likely for a novice boater or overenthusiastic bank angler, that could quickly become a hazard to life. If you were to accidentally slip off the bank or, in some other way, end up in the water, the high water would now recede, and river levels would begin to fall slowly. The bad news is the Siuslaw; the river doesn’t look like it will fall fast enough before winter steelhead season wraps up at the end of March. My personal high-water threshold for fishing on the Siuslaw is about 7 feet at the Mapleton River gage (https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mplo3). The Siuslaw will flirt with that 7-foot height for a couple of days at the very end of March. But at best, the conditions will only be marginal.
Collateral damages
Sadly, the March flood also badly damaged both of the all-volunteer-staffed steelhead capture and hatchery facilities on the Siuslaw River. The fish trap on Whitaker Creek was badly twisted up in the flood event, as was the trap at the Letz Creek hatchery, causing the managing STEP groups to cease their efforts for the season. I’ll have an update on these all-volunteer facilities in future columns.
Up on the McKenzie River
The McKenzie has its own list of problems; both fire and ice in recent years have altered the larger river landscape and habitats. The massive Holiday Farm Fire burned down the river bank and swept across many of the river’s wooded islands. The mid-March floodwaters set tons of that debris free, floating thousands of cords of wood into the river. Now, as the McKenzie begins to fall, the larger logs, suspended in the current, will begin to accumulate in shallow shoals of the river. Logs stuck in the river are social in nature, always recruit more wood, and can quickly block a river channel. High water can also rearrange the river bed, causing the river to shift around on the flood plain.
A hard rock bank and river bed define the river from Leaburg Dam. Below Leaburg the McKenzie takes on the more transient nature of a valley stream with a much larger floodplain. That makes the river below Leaburg far more prone to logjams and shifting gravel bars, as the section directly below Berlinger Boat Landing is notorious for its sifting channels and accumulations of woody debris. Several miles upriver on the run from Deerhorn to Hendricks Wayside Park & Boat Landing, there are also a couple of runs that are prone to a shifting river bed. Collections of debris should always be approached with care.
Absent an early high-water event, similar to what we now have, generally speaking, fly fishermen have already begun to sample the start of the McKenzie River’s “dry fly” season, casting their feathery offerings to the river’s big and wild rainbow trout.
But the high water has put that “on hold” for now. My high McKenzie River water threshold is 3.5 feet at the Leaburg gage (https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/VIDO3). Above that height, the river is “pushy,” difficult to fish effectively, and a real workout for the oarsman. The bad news is that the McKenzie will likely not reach a fishable level until the first week of April – but well before the first of the season’s hatchery trout releases that begin in the last week of April.
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