Mendo 4/24

On the water around 10am, sightfishing LMB in 1-3ft of water produced 5 fish to 3lbs.  Nothing to get too excited about.  Got blasted by one stripper, but no hook up.   One quick slash of his dorsal across the surface, a big pull, and nothing... DAMMIT!  On a side note, the water seems much too low for this time of year.  It is at least 4-6ft. down from the road along the channel.  The way that place dries up, it seems like they should have it right up to the brim...  In years past I've seen them top it off late, but this seems later than usual.  A park ranger at bu-shay said that it was a full as it was gonna get, but I hoping hes wrong.  I thought we had a fairly wet winter, so I don't understand why the lake is already low... bad management?  Oh well... it will be a mudhole by late summer anyway.   Not always a bad thing... concentrates the fish! 

Oh well... it will be a mudhole by late summer anyway.   Not always a bad thing... concentrates the fish! 

And no PB's for BAM IV!

Z

I thought we had a fairly wet winter, so I don't understand why the lake is already low... bad management?

Its called a dry spring.  Mendo is a flood control reservoir, so the Corps has to maintain freeboard until spring.  If no rain comes in the spring you get the scenario we are experiencing right now and last year, and 2004, and 2002.

And no PB's for BAM IV!

The glass can be half full!

I get that they use it for flood control, but if you have the opportunity to maintain the level until later in the year, shouldnt they take advantage of it?  I just wish they would fill the s.o.b. into the parking lots so that it doesnt run the risk of going dry if we have a dry winter coming up...

It  seems like everyone is fishing the channel on Mendo.  Is this the case?  I'm gonna head out there tomorrow, and would like to get a little action, since it's my first time out in a while.  What are they hitting on this year?  Since I'm from Ukiah, the chances or getting minnows is nil, so I guess I will just spot fish.

Steve

I get that they use it for flood control, but if you have the opportunity to maintain the level until later in the year, shouldnt they take advantage of it?  I just wish they would fill the s.o.b. into the parking lots so that it doesnt run the risk of going dry if we have a dry winter coming up

I'm not sure you get it.  The flip side to letting it run dry is to let it over top and devastate the Ukiah Valley.  Flood control is its PRIMARY mission. It HAS TO MAINTAIN free board until the end of the flood risk season.

uhhh hu... and there is no middle ground... either drown everyone in hopland, or the mudhole we have come to expect... I don't want to argue with you Sean, but like all things in this life i expect this is not exactly a black and white issue... I'm talking about late March or somewhere around there.. let it fill a little...  I have lived in this area all my life, and i don't remember all that much rain too late in the season.  Not enough to bring Mendo over the dam.  (As long as the powers that be can turn on the weather channel from time to time.)  Its always been this way... Late in the rainy season, no rain in the forcast and they are dumping Mendocino like they are expecting Noah's flood any day now... Then late in the summer everyone is worried that the son of a bitch is gonna be empty, and there will be no water for the salmon and steelhead.  Look, I could write a novel on the politics involved in this issue, be it the eel river water intrests pumping less and less in to cold creek, or the fact that Sonoma co. owns most the water in mendo... A few extra feet of water in the lake come march and april isn't gonna spell disaster for the ukiah valley... seriously

Just did a little research... remember the new years flood... that storm according to the national weather service and FEMA dumped 4-5 inches on Nor Cal in about 48 hours... Thats what it takes to create an uncontrollable situation at lake mendo.. along with December rainfall which averages 6.5 inches annually... the rainfall averages for Mendocino county in march and april are 5.75in and 3.00in respectively... When is the last time a storm dumped 4-5in. in 48 hours during march or april?  I don't know the answer and I'm tired of doing internet searches, but I honestly don't recall it myself... Maybe El Nino, but we sorta saw that one coming.  All I'm saying is that there seems to be a little weather window of opportunity, in which that lake could always be full this time of year.

I know next to nothing about Mendo and the Corps. that operates it but it sounds like they are proactive rather than reactive.  They want to be one step ahead of good ole Mother Nature and if she shows up come spring, they are prepared, but if she doesn't show her head, well the fish suffer later in the year.  Looking back over the thread, I pretty much said what Sean said in his first post, just not as eloquently.

about late March or somewhere around there  let it fill a little

If only it was that easy.  Water input must exceed water output in order for the lake to fill and it sounds like it takes a storm for that to happen.

Don't know if I said anything of value or if I added anything that wasn't said already, but I thought I'd put my spin on it.  Probably should have just kept my 2 lips closed, but who knows, maybe it helped.

Michael

and there is no middle ground... either drown everyone in hopland, or the mudhole we have come to expect...

Pretty much.  You have to remember, the money that was spent on the dam was for flood control...it is THE priorty as far as the Corps is concerned, they don't care about our fun in the fall.  The 05/06 New Years Flood resulted in releases that flooded parts of Ukiah...but without Mendo all of Ukiah would have been toast...it works for the job it was intended to do.

When is the last time a storm dumped 4-5in. in 48 hours during march or april?

You'd have to all the way back in time to 2006  ...here's flood stage TWICE in the month April ...http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jspPlotServlet.jsp?sensor_no=683&end=04%2F28%2F2006+20%3A28&geom=medium&interval=28&cookies=CDEC02

Heres 20 feet at Guerneville in May of 05 http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jspPlotServlet.jsp?sensor_no=683&end=05%2F28%2F2005+20%3A28&geom=medium&interval=10&cookies=CDEC02

We have had major storm systems in May and June in my time at SCWA...it happens.

heh. sigelvictory MOWED by scwafish. or maybe that is STEAMROLLERED. or maybe PULVERIZED. hee-hee.

sigel, you need to pick you opponents better.

Not trying to mow anyone.  I hear this kind of Lake management stuff all the time and am just trying to get folks to understand its not as simple as it might seem.  The biggest problem with Mendo is its size...tiny.  No rain in the spring and it dries up...no carry-over capacity.  Hold in too much and it will spill, which has also happened and is no bueno.

I'm just teasing sigel cause he's a self-proclaimed argumentative type that uses way too heavy line.

might even say an uppity young'un knowitall newbie... 

of course he could have been paid by sean to be the straight man here....

scwafish, it's great that you take the time to edumacate us. thanks.

Man... I'm trying to start sh** here or anything, and I think Sean realizes that.  Jmairey, do you have a pen and notepad next to your computer or what?? JEEZ... Truth be told I don't know a damn thing about water management, I just pissed because my go-to spot for stripers this time of year is about 20ft up on the damn bank... I understand that sometimes the water is there to keep her full and sometimes it isn't... I was still working is Ukiah when it flooded last time, so I am not totally ignorant when it comes to this subject... I was helping a friend sandbag on st. marys and macmillan in hopland that day.  A lot of people's houses got messed up.  *SIGH*  what to do?  They keep on blabbering on about raising the damn... Any real chance of that happening Sean?  In the vein of remaining argumentative however, you have sighted two times in the last three years that the lake hit flood stage in spring... Yet still, they let out more water than they needed to, and the lake was a mudhole by late summer... hee hee. JK  Seriously, is there any shot of the damn getting raised, because we all know the value of water these days.  Someday it will be more valueable than gasoline, so letting it all go down the drain so to speak seems awful wasteful.

Raising the dam will in all likelyhood not fix the issue and/or cost too much dough.  The real answer will likely come in using a more sophisticated series of criteria for releases and flood forcasting.  When the dam was built and the manual was written things like satellite imaging, telemetry controls and computer models didn't exist. 

Unfortunately getting the rules changed requires an act of Congress, and as soon as the answer involves even the most minute increase in flood risk NOBODY will vote for it...especially post-Katrina.   Rest assured, we are working on it, but its not a simple issue.