Fishing Synopsis and Forecast by Terry Gunn 6/15/07

All the Lees Ferry Angler guides agree: This spring and early summer provided the best and most consistent fishing that we have seen on the river since 1999. The trout are in great shape (growing rapidly), strong and eager to eat!

That being said; the AZ Game and Fish Department recently detected whirling disease in a small percentage of Lees Ferry trout that were collected for a random sampling. This is not good news nor is it necessarily terrible news. Whirling Disease has infected many of the Western State’s fabled trout streams with greater and lesser affects. The Madison comes to mind as one river that was severely impacted while the San Juan suffered little notable impact from Whirling Disease. Lees Ferry has more in common with the San Juan than the Madison…both Lees Ferry and the San Juan are Tail-Water rivers with clear, cold water that is a consistent temperature year-around. Consistent cold water temperatures are believed by most experts on the disease to keep the spread and severity of the disease in check. I’ll be sure to keep you informed as more data becomes available. In the mean time when you do come to Lees Ferry be sure to clean your wading gear thoroughly before you leave to prevent the spread of Whirling Disease. For more information visit: http://www.whirling-disease.org     

The water flow changed June 1 and so did our “style” of fishing. Most likely the midge fishing will be finished until we see lower water flows. Our focus has shifted to drifting out of the boat and wading only in lower water flows (early morning, weekends, and holidays). We have been drifting “heavy” nymph rigs consisting of a long tapered leader, 2 large mymphs and a split-shot.  July should bring Cicadas and the best dry fly fishing of the year. Our cicada fishing rivals that of any other river in the country and happens most years. The summer drift fishing is often the best and most productive fishing of the year and this has certainly been the case recently. The high summer flows will also be great for the trout by providing more drifting food. I can’t wait to see what our fish look like this fall; my bet is that they are going to grow all summer and be fat and sassy this fall.

Glen Canyon Dam Operations
Releases from Glen Canyon Dam in June 2007 will average 13,400 cubic feet per second (cfs) with a total of 800,000 acre-feet scheduled to be released for the month.  On Mondays through Fridays in June, daily release fluctuations due to load following will likely vary between a low of 9,000 cfs (during late evening and early morning off-peak hours) to a high of 17,000 cfs (during daylight and early evening on-peak hours). On Saturdays, release fluctuations will likely vary between a low of 9,000 cfs to a high of 15,500 cfs. On Sundays, release fluctuations will likely vary between a low of 9,000 cfs to a high of 15,000 cfs.  Releases from Glen Canyon Dam in July and August 2007 will be similar to June. A total of 804,000 acre-feet is scheduled to be released in July and August of 2007, which is an average flow of 13,100 cfs.  Reservoir storage is currently 12.74 million acre-feet, or 52 percent of capacity. The current elevation of Lake Powell (June 6, 2007) is 3,610.1 feet, 89.9 feet from full pool elevation of 3,700 feet. The elevation is now likely near the peak for the year. The elevation of Lake Powell is likely to increase until mid-June and then begin to decline. The projected elevation of Lake Powell on July 1, 2007 is 3,610.4 feet. 

Upper Colorado River Basin Hydrology

The water supply picture in the Colorado River Basin weakened in March 2007. March was a warmer and drier than normal month. Normally, basinwide snowpack continues in increase during the month of March. This was not the case in 2007 as warm temperatures resulted in net loss of snowpack above Lake Powell. While inflow was above average during March 2007 (unregulated inflow for the month was 795,000 acre-feet or of average.120 percent of average), the resultant is a significantly reduced April through July runoff projection. The National Weather Service in their April final forecast is projecting 4.0 million acre-feet of runoff into Lake Powell during the 2007 April through July period. This is only 50 percent of average.

Toll Free 1-800-962-9755