Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Kicknstang wrote:

Pictures I took...

http://s176.photobucket.com/user/kickns … 0Reservoir

Do any of these pictures show the old bridge people talk about?

Bruce wrote:

Kicknstang wrote:

Pictures I took...

http://s176.photobucket.com/user/kickns … 0Reservoir

Do any of these pictures show the old bridge people talk about?

21 and 22

In these pictures the water is about 16ft below normal.   The top of the bridge is usually about 15ft below the surface.  Still over 20ft of water left at the drain tower.

Water is still being drained.

gonefishing wrote:

Buddy of mine was recently at the reservoir and walked up on a Loudoun Water Authority employee to talk about the fish situation.  His response was that they forced the fish out the creek leading to the Potomac.

If that's the case, that creek leads to Goose Creek where it is dammed. I have the question in to the LoWa folks.

I walked around a bit this past weekend and left very sad. When I came to the area in 2007 the reservoir was down around 16 or 17 feet give or take a couple. While very low, the water drew down naturally and there was still water on the south side of the old bridge and a little bit in a couple of the coves. While not ideal, the fish still had some cover and a lot more space to survive. The result is when it filled back up it didn't take long to re-establish itself as a thriving ecosystem.

Contrast that to today where the water will be drawn down (at least) 25 feet. The south side of the bridge is already empty except for a small creek and that will be dry soon too. The water this weekend was already below the old bridge structure and that will likely be dry in the next few days. In addition, if gonefishings buddy is right,

gonefishing wrote:

Buddy of mine was recently at the reservoir and walked up on a Loudoun Water Authority employee to talk about the fish situation.  His response was that they forced the fish out the creek leading to the Potomac.

the reservoir is in big trouble. There is nothing natural about this. They are forcing fish out of their environment and hoping they survive this:



If the fish survive that outflow, and make it to Goose Creek or the Potomac, they will be gone for good. So in order to restore the ecosystem they will have to artificially stock the reservoir or allow what's left to naturally reproduce. The problem is you're talking about largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bullhead catfish, channel catfish, carp, perch, bluegills, crappie, golden shiner, shad, redear sunfish and white sucker that all live(d) there and we have no idea what % of each are being removed, thus the entire balance of the ecosystem disrupted. It could take years for it to return to its former state. Given that the smaller baitfish are more susceptible to being sucked out, I don't have a lot of hope that it will return anytime in the near future.

I sure hope I'm wrong. So much for finding my 10 pounder there. :-(

Last edited by Paul Naj (Oct-27-14 12:28PM)

With the way things are going, even if we're allowed accessed it certainly won't be the same for fishing anytime soon even with well-managed re-stocking.

Cool pic...

jaw dropping.

Draw down is done...there is still water in res. Now we hope for the best.

Kicknstang wrote:

Every time I drive down Belmont Ridge rd and look over to see brown dirt where I'm used to seeing water is depressing.

Agreed...went by yesterday. Let's hope that in the future, we can get an even better fishery with better access and amnesties. I am an optimist by nature so I will keep passing that along to the folks at LoWa.

Note to self- don't type stuff on Forum while on technical conference call.

Thanks for the catch!!

Sharing a few pics that Tim S. posted on FB.  They are from last weekend.  I was out there weekend before that and it looked even lower than the pics from above.  The place just looks bizarre.

Last edited by dan (Nov-14-14 6:43PM)