OK, much has changed in the two or so days since I posted water levels. It has been RAINING. It's not at the moment but it's slated to continue off and on at least for the next 5 days. Much like last June, going into May we had a low snowpack and it was looking like a drought year. Well..., with the consistent rainfall and cooler temps our water situation is looking much less dire. I am not an irrigator, and will say our water situation is not dire at all. Spring green is abundant and the wildflower show we had last year is likley to happen again. Here's the river scoop as of now:
Big Wood: 2,310 cfs and rising FAST. The clarity is gone. The snow levels have gone way up and as a result the rain has been pouring on high elevation snow which greatly increases runoff. The historic mean flow is 1,600. The advanced hydrologic predictions embedded within the USGS site have the Wood peaking today. With more rain possible, I think we are likely to see the Wood continue to go up beyond today...
Big Lost: The Lost was sitting at 200 cfs two days ago and fishing well, very well. The reservoir is just about at capacity and the flow has increased to 426 cfs. If you are thinking of heading that way, keep a close eye on the flow as it's likely to keep heading up as the water flowing into the reservoir has gone way up.
Update: The Lost has gone up to 1,100 CFS and is for all intensive purposes blown... Could be awhile before it drops to fishable levels again.
Silver Creek: Less prone to flow fluctuations, Silver Creek is sitting just above the mean flow at 144 cfs and brown drakes are just around the corner... Pmd's and baetis yesterday but the wind may have taken them to the Madison River after they emerged.
Here's a shot of the Lost on Tuesday when the flow was 200 cfs.