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Kicknstang wrote:
Pictures I took...
http://s176.photobucket.com/user/kickns … 0Reservoir
Do any of these pictures show the old bridge people talk about?
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Nice pictures! Did you find any of my lures??
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Bruce wrote:
Kicknstang wrote:
Pictures I took...
http://s176.photobucket.com/user/kickns … 0ReservoirDo any of these pictures show the old bridge people talk about?
21 and 22
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A cop I know says it' been drained even more now.
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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.
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how long can the fish survive in such a small area of water? They must be stacked on top of each other. Easy for the bass to get to food, but not much oxygen. Seems like, if the reservoir is left this way for a period of time, there will be a major fish kill. Can anything be done to move them or prevent that from happening?
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Water is still being drained.
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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.
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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.
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I went out there yesterday. Accessed it at Alford Rd. Walked around in the now dry dirt as far as I could to get some more pics. They are on Photobucket under the same link posted above.
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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)
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I just emailed John Odenkirk at VGDIF about this. They may have been the ones who initially stocked the res. I will report back.
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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.
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The Bridge
Compare that to my sonar images of it.
http://pacemakerfishing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5646
Last edited by T. (Oct-27-14 12:57PM)
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Cool pic...
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I just communicated with John Odenkirk....
He said it would be to say how the remaining fish will do given the unknown duration and current capacity (storage in acres and max. depth). He said, "if they ever decide to open it; we will conduct surveys to determine what and how many need to be stocked. It will probably take several years after the stockings to allow fingerlings to recruit". It will be a while before we get good fish if we have a total loss on this extreme drawdown.
I do have some similar experience with Cedar when they drained it. We were able to fish it soon thereafter by stocking and transporting (NOT recommended).
LoWa is doing their due diligence as it pertains to a reservoir. We (fishermen) want the fishery to remain and reopen at some point. The paddlers want the same except when they get water back (and it reopens), they can use it immediately. We will most likely have to wait for some fish to grow up.
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jaw dropping.
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This breaks my heart
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Draw down is done...there is still water in res. Now we hope for the best.
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Thanks for the great reporting and communication with LoWa Ernie. I know everyone here really appreciates it. Forward on to your point of contact that we all appreciate the prompt responses you have been receiving also. As for the res, Heartbreaking is a great descriptor as bass hunter used. I've been fishing it for 15-20 years now and it is gut wrenching to know, that while necessary under the current conditions, we are now facing a very damaged eco system. There is still a lot of water at the big end so we can only hope that a fair amount of fish survived the draw down. And it's promising to know that VDGIF will take on surveying and stocking if/when it reopens. Kudos to the bridge pictures T. That is amazing and eery all at the same time. Every time I drive down Belmont Ridge rd and look over to see brown dirt where I'm used to seeing water is depressing.
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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.
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Not sure I want "amnesties"....is that the new term for illegal aliens?
But I hope it has better ammenities!
Have a great day Ernie!
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Note to self- don't type stuff on Forum while on technical conference call.
Thanks for the catch!!
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If they discharged the water/fish into goose creek, will all those white perch survive or would they thrive?
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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)
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