Powerhouse to Reregulation Dam canoe trip

[tsfarling]

 Being that I have all sorts of power due to the luxury of science, (more than you know  ) along with my crew, we are probably the first people to ever canoe from the Powerhouse to Rereg dam. Thanks everyone for spreading the word. I had only had a few incidents with people not really knowing what was going on. A fly fisherman below OPD was on his phone probably wondering what a canoe was doing headed toward the dam and calling authorities. Two maintenance guys yelled at us from the banks and yelled back that "I have permission from the Corps of Engineers" (they replied, okay!), and then the Corps park Ranger, Adam Miller (Park manager Jim Millers son) approached us as we were loading up saying we weren't allowed but I let him know his boss approved it. Adam is very nice by the way. I hear his a fly fisherman as well! Needless to say, you can tell nobody communicates with each other so next time I'll have to call everyone and their mum to let them know so I am not bothered while conducting research. We canoed up to the riffles by Powerhouse down to OPD. Then we put in above Rereg dam and canoed up to OPD. Once we were at OPD we scanned the river bed back to Rereg. It was quite a trip! 10.1 miles round trip! The water above Rereg is basically a reservoir that goes to 27' deep and stays that way for several miles. Lots of submerged forest down there. Accessible by boat but I wouldn't take your nice boat. Lots of water to fish. So a huge fish signature on that section too! I never knew that there were zone 2 rock gardens well below the islands. There is really a stretch of two and one that is upstream of the other is fishable right now, well it was a few days ago at least. Some of you probably already know about this water but it has a lot of deeper runs and huge boulders with slack water behind them that looks inviting. The water from Powerhouse to OPD had some fish that I won't mention because nobody is allowed to fish there anyways. I assume the fish in these areas move up to spawn in the fall and spring. Most of the water from PH to OPD was 5-8' deep with lots of bedrock ledges and some submerged logs. Any questions, feel free to ask and I will see if I can answer them. Also saw some neoprene wading socks, a paddle, life jacket, and part of the fly shop above OPD. I wouldn't recommend trying to get them, however, the neoprene wading socks are just hanging in a tree like a christmas ornament still attached by the T-bar tag. One last note, I had the Corps turn off the power generation that day so I could do this research, they call is Special Ops (pretty cool) and then they called me that afternoon to ask if they could generate. Yep, I'm on a power trip. Ha!

[hoss]

Wish I had your job! Anyways, I'd like to get your opinion on the water just above re-reg. I've bass fished it a few times, (canoe w/ electric trolling motor) but wonder if this could be developed into more of a sustainable trout fishery for kayakers. I'm sure there are a few trout in the deeper waters but wonder if more attention and stocking if this would have potential to develop into a sustainable trout fishery? Or if the trout would be bait for the bass. I like the idea of one more option such as a reservoir style trout fishery above Re-reg.

[Fenwick]

Most excellent Tyler! You had unique close up views that not even the guides get. You could prolly drive a hard bargain getting the fly shop to buy your silence if you were to casually mention "Ya know, I discovered this about that which no one has ever known before..." while handling some of the more expensive gear in there that you've longed to acquire. Then you add on a whole bunch of accessories as supplemental insurance.

Looking forward to more research findings that you can share publicly. Everyone's curious.

Thanks!

[golferjeff]

The water just above re-reg got to 80+ degrees this summer - lethal for most trout. At 27 feet deep its best for bass on lures anyway.

I have met Tyler and his crew a few times now - they are doing amazing work. We won't even talk about that 5-6 foot echo above re-reg.... I saw his assistant catch her first two trout on the fly later in the day as well. Cool stuff.

So now we know who to call when we want to fish Zone II.... call Tyler and ask him to call the corps to shut down generation.

[dainw]

Sounds like there's at least one really big blue catfish down there.

[jonbo]

Does anyone know if there's hiking access to the shoals that Tyler mentioned down in the middle of Zone 2?

[dainw]

Jonbo I'm sure there is. The trail goes pretty far down there, probably at least to the rereg lake if not all the way to the dam. We should probably ask the admins to delete this thread and all comments associated with it. There are very few well guarded spots anymore, a lot of them have been hot spotted on this board. The islands might as well be the evening hole at this point. We all but printed up maps to that hole. People have no problem rolling up shoulder to shoulder with you a mile into zone II at this point. Looks like the secret is out on the day use area too. If there are anymore spots that aren't heavily fished, let's try our best to keep it that way. Sorry for the rant, but it's a 4 hour drive down there for me. Last trip down I pulled up on a Thursday morning and it was shoulder to shoulder in the evening hole. It's getting harder and harder for me to make that drive knowing there's less and less water to fish.

[tsfarling]

Oddly enough, when we canoed all the way up to OPD, I didn't run across a single person fishing. Last week was quiet I assume because the weather front that was supposed to move in. I saw some really nice fish throughout. We did get a huge echo above rereg. Probably a big old gar or maybe a state record brown trout...nah, probably not but then again, who knows? Ha!

Jan 16, 2017 15:36:23 GMT -6 golferjeff said:

The water just above re-reg got to 80+ degrees this summer - lethal for most trout. At 27 feet deep its best for bass on lures anyway.

I have met Tyler and his crew a few times now - they are doing amazing work. We won't even talk about that 5-6 foot echo above re-reg.... I saw his assistant catch her first two trout on the fly later in the day as well. Cool stuff.

So now we know who to call when we want to fish Zone II.... call Tyler and ask him to call the corps to shut down generation.

[tsfarling]

I am very fortunate that is for sure! I love my job! I assume that there is some really good bass fishing going on down there. So many submerged trees as well. 27' deep could help trout from upstream come down and survive during summer if it got to warm. I also saw several of the spring fed streams dropping into those areas. I have sampled some of those tributaries and it is cold water but who knows what is happening below it. I would have to take a boat shocker there and sample to see what is going on. It was definitely a reservoir at that point.

Jan 16, 2017 13:04:37 GMT -6 hoss said:

Wish I had your job! Anyways, I'd like to get your opinion on the water just above re-reg. I've bass fished it a few times, (canoe w/ electric trolling motor) but wonder if this could be developed into more of a sustainable trout fishery for kayakers. I'm sure there are a few trout in the deeper waters but wonder if more attention and stocking if this would have potential to develop into a sustainable trout fishery? Or if the trout would be bait for the bass. I like the idea of one more option such as a reservoir style trout fishery above Re-reg.

[hoss]

Well if you do ever schedule a time to shock and sample the reservoir area, let me know if you need a volunteer. I'd gladly take a vacation day to check that area out!

[panchoandlefty]

If hoss isn't available that day if you do get to sample, put me in the reserve role