Flowage is low - We need Rain

[MuskieRandy]

We're getting close to May now, and the level is about 3 feet below full pool. It's not coming up that fast either. We need rain bad!

You might be interested in this link of drought conditions over the whole country:

http://drought.unl.edu/DM/MONITOR.html

If you want a blowup of the WI area, click on WI.

Other than the West, we are indeed in a uniquely dry area.

[Flambeau dreamer]

what if we have the indians hold rain ceremonies between spearing times.
haha

[St Croix Kid]

i am hoping you get several inches before opener. will be over for that weekend

[MuskieRandy]

I hate to rain on your parade (no pun intended) but check this out:

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/facilities/turtleflambeau/water.html

erg....

[St Croix Kid]

i know. i have that saved in my "favorites". not looking good at all. may be confined to bastine that weekend.

[Mark Benson]

Croix Kid:

Take your time, trim 'er up and work your way from Bastine up to the falls...

Mark

[BlueRanger]

...at least it's better than it was last fall.

If we don't get some rain before opener, the silver lining is that all the people who only visit once or twice a year in spring or early summer will have a chance to see a lot of obstacles they were never aware of. I think it will surprise a lot of people when they see what they've been driving over and through in previous years, and that should inspire more caution on future outings. 3 feet down is actually my favorite water level - with so many of the stumps and rock piles visible, there are a lot more reference points to navigate by, and IF you know your way around, you can still get to just about anywhere you want to go without any real worries. At 5 feet down, things become much more difficult regardless of how well you know the Flowage - there are a lot of places where there just isn't enough water.

But I'm still hoping for rain.

[ptrain86]

You guys get some rain this weekend? We got a ton over here in Oshvegas... hope it helps.

[St Croix Kid]

we got a cpl inches over here in the west central part of sconnie. looked like very little rain fell over the flowage unfortunately

[Tom502]

I live on the TFF, near Springstead Landing.

My rain gauge had just shy of 1/4 inch on Saturday, enough to help a little bit with the fire danger, but not enough to bring the water level up at all.

Tight Lines,

Tom502

[MuskieRandy]

Tom:
My rain gauge said about .1 inch. It was the usual story. The bulk of the storm was to the south. We really need one of those soaking rains that lasts for a couple of days, where you go, "dang, I wish it would stop raining!".

The flowage is actually going slightly down right now. It was maybe an inch lower than a couple of weeks ago. This is the wrong direction for this time of the year :(

[Hot Runr Guy]

if you guys that are headed up this weekend, would pee over the side of the boat A LOT, it would help! I'll be there on the 8th.
HRG

[MuskieRandy]

When you first put in, the weight of the boat and the occupants will raise the flowage level slightly.

Peeing over the side of the boat will not help until you pull your boat out of the water....

The pee will want to increase the lake level, however, it will make you and the boat lighter, and this will cause the boat to displace less water, so the net flowage level is the same!

[Hot Runr Guy]

When you first put in, the weight of the boat and the occupants will raise the flowage level slightly.

Peeing over the side of the boat will not help until you pull your boat out of the water....

The pee will want to increase the lake level, however, it will make you and the boat lighter, and this will cause the boat to displace less water, so the net flowage level is the same!

I agree, but the pee from the guys opening week will help for when I'm there the week after!
Hahahahahaha!
HRG

[MuskieRandy]

OK, I can't stand not knowing how much the flowage is going to come up this weekend with all the peeing that will be going on.....

Here goes:

1 acre= 6,272,640 sq. in.
1 ounce= 1.8 cu. in.
1 fisherman pee=12 ounces
fisherman pees per weekend (from boat)= 5 ? (depends on beer consumption)
# of fisherman on TFF this wekend =300 ??

So, (drum roll):
Rise of flowage = (300 guys * 5 pees * 12 ounces/pee * 1.8 cu in) / (15000 acres * 6,272,640 sq in/acre) =
3.44e-7 inches !!!

For all you non-engineers that is .34 millionths of an inch.

Additionally, the size of a water molecule is about 1.1e-8 inches, so the flowage will come up a WHOLE 31 MOLECULES!!!!

[sjguzin]

Has the water level come up yet with the rain, or is it still hovering around the -3 feet range? Does anyone have pictures, I would really like to see what it looks like...
Thanks

[Mark Benson]

guzin:

We were lucky enough to get .2 on Thursday and 1.3 on Friday... But to the north and east of us much less rain fell (.5 to .8 is what I saw reported on Ch. 12 ). One of your main contributors of water is the Mannie Chain and I would suspect that they are trying to hold any water they can get before the bitchin' starts cause they don't have enough. I don't think that north of there enough rain fell to get the Turtle side to help out much...

Mark

[ski2313]

Please pee enough so that I can get back into blair in a few weeks. Thanks everyone!

[SLEDHEAD]

Here is a pic from last weekend

[St Croix Kid]

I'm glad I fished opener and not this weekend. looks really wet up there.

[BlueRanger]

I also posted a few opening weekend photos - follow the link below and look in the TFF 2010 Opener album.

[DonH]

Good Morning Blue,

Thanks for the nice Opening Day pictures. How did you do with the fishing? I kind of expected to see a photo or two with fish in them. Looks like it was a tough opener.

By the way, I love the new look. A little humor is a good thing, unless that's your real hair.....

[DonH]

Seems to have been pretty wet up there lately. Has the water level come up at all?

[Mark Benson]

DonH:

nope is the simple answer... during the snows of last week, if 8" of snow is equal to 1" of rain, then we picked up a half an inch. Last nights wet equaled between a .1 and .2 of wet. I would submit that this type of moisture is doing more for the soil water content as it is getting a better chance to soak in rather than runoff.

Mark

[BlueRanger]

I actually didn't fish much. The weather wasn't great, so I laid back and occupied myself with a few good books and public radio. When you can go any time, it's not worth beating yourself up if it's not likely to be productive. Just getting away from TV and the Internet for a couple days was a nice break. l spent most of my time on the water trying to get a feel for how the smallmouth were coming along so I could plan when to schedule the rest of my May outings. I caught a few fish both days, but most of the fish hadn't moved shallow yet and with the wind I really couldn't fish the finesse tactics it would have taken to put more in the boat. But I found out what I needed to know. I spent a lot of time trying out the new downimaging upgrade on my Humminbird and my new Lakemaster card. The smallies should start turning on with the warm weather that's coming in the next few days, and I guarantee the next batch will include some fish pictures.

You didn't like the old hat, and I thought this might help people who had trouble recognizing me on the water :rolleyes:... But I think it might also qualify as a visual distress signal!

[MuskieRandy]

As of May 12th, water level was at 1568.7. :( I think even if we have normal rainfall this summer, the level is going to go really low, maybe some kind of record, who knows. Hope I'm wrong on that.... Rain last weekend was wimpy. That seems like the problem; never get a real strong soaker.

Caught and released a musky yesterday, accidently caught on a jig and minnow. 9", yes, 9"! Had the girth of a bratwurst.

[sureshot612]

blue looking forward to the upcoming pic.i just dont take the time with my 987c that i should .i will be up there next week . ive been to horseshoe a time or two looking for a good safe passage any help. thanks

[Hot Runr Guy]

I'm up here as I write this. So far the TFF has knocked the tranducer off it's mount twice, and I "adjusted" the prop last night. But,,,, overall, it's better than I thought it would be.
HRG

[MuskieRandy]

I found an excellent link for a "departure from normal" precipitation map. It is quite telling to look at the TFF area, all the way back to 2005. To use this as a yearly departure from normal, under "1 Timeframe" at the left on the bottom, click "Archive: Month/Year". Under "2 Product" at the bottom center, click, "Departure from Normal". Then under "1 Timeframe", select a previous year. In the "Month" combo, click "FULL YEAR". You can click on a region to zoom the map. Quite a shock as to how really low the area right around the flowage has been all the way back to 2005.

http://water.weather.gov/precip/