Thunderstorms can have a huge impact on our water levels whether you are planning on fishing a mountain trout stream, stocked trout stream or smallmouth bass river. Case in point–we had numerous thunderstorms roll through the area yesterday evening. Some areas receiving 2+ inches of rain and high winds. After these storms you always think the streams will be high and muddy and you will not be able to find any fishable streams. That is not always the case.
Even though the storms caused the South Fork of the Shenandoah River to be high and muddy, I checked the North Fork of the Shenandoah River this morning and was amazed that it was clear and fishable. It just depends on how these thunderstorms run through the area as to how it affects the water levels.
Each year as we conduct our smallmouth bass fly fishing schools we will run into the problem of finding the right water levels after a thunderstorm goes through. Sometimes we just have to switch from the North Fork to the South Fork or vice versa. Sometimes the thunderstorms will affect a feeder stream that runs into the Shenandoah River causing everything downstream to be muddy and high. If that is the case, fishing upstream of these feeder streams will get you above the high and muddy water.
So just because a heavy rainstorm rolls through the area don’t assume it has impacted every stream or you might miss a great day fishing!
A useful resource we use daily in season for tracking the water levels is the WaterWatch website which is maintained by the USGS. Another useful resource is one emergency managers use to warn of flash flooding, it is the IFLOWS network.
The Murray’s Magnum Hog Sucker has been the most productive fly for us this week.
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