This is the flow gage on the Rogue River at Grants Pass. This past Wednesday I was fishing a bit below where this is located. The 'triangles' are the historic flows:

USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 14361500 ROGUE RIVER AT GRANTS PASS, OR

Rain it did around here yesterday .... but I had no idea it rained that much.

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
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Fred , it doesn't really mean much to me. Have you got any pics or webcam addresses which might give us a better idea of what the conditions are like.

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Tight Lines. :)

What CFS range does it fish best with, Fred?

The triangles are the averages, but a lot of times the average in the spring is way too high to fish well.

We get the same thing here in the early spring. Rain on frozen ground or on top of snowpack runs off superfast. I've had a lot of spring fishing that ended at noon when the runoff hits.

Grouse

Best fly fishing flows on the Rogue are 2,000 cfs or less. Above that you have to start picking and choosing where you want to flick your fly. Above 3,000 and you're pretty much toast using a fly rod. The 1,400 cfs from a few days ago would equate to the flows in late summer.

Our area is classified as 'high desert' so the average rain fall is less than 20 inches per year. Now the mountains around us .. another matter. They average over 200 inches of snow over the winter months.

BD, for the river to jump in volume that fast (24 hours) would take the (roughly) equivalent of 4-5 inches of rain falling on already saturated soil. As Grouse notes above, with this type of situation .... any rain fall is turned into instant run off.

fae

Edit: There is (only) one river cam, here's the link but not sure if its active as I type. The commentary below the 'load screen' suggests it was 'operational' just a few days ago. http://web.thedailycourier.com/web_cam/

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

Did I miss something or did the flow rate go up approximately 4.25x in the space of one day?

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Right on Roll Cast, right on.

Fred

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
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Hi Fred
No that means nothing to me either however have a look here at what happened to our local river in North Wales!

Forum - River condition

Wasn't that basically what happened in quite a few states from the midwest to northwest last year-some of the heaviest snows in many years followed by heavy spring rains, but then I don't think that was all in one day. It does happen that that much rain falls in one day here in england, but as you point out Oregon is usually considered desert area. Still you do get extremes from time to time. Don't know what the situation was there in the Grants Pass area last year, but I was in South Dakota from the middle of May and they had more water standing than they'd had in many moons and floods of some note (bl--y mosquitos everywhere) and the rivers in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington were all in flood spate and pretty much unfishable. They were even releasing water over the spillway at Grand Coulee Dam-something they'd never had to do since the thing was built and the water level was about thirty five feet above normal. Even when I travelled back to S.D. to get ready to fly back here the waters were Still high and according to my brother in G.C. didn't get back to "normal" till the first week in August. When I went back was the 25th June.

That's the kind of conditions I've come to expect in Western Washington Rivers. That's at least what we'd call a 100 year Flood, maybe even a 500 year.

For context, if you have a building in a 100 year flood plane (and want to get a mortgage) you're required to purchase 'Flood Insurance.' If you're in a 500 year plane, it's not required, but STRONGLY recommended.

Flood planes don't have be based upon moving water, they can also be based upon where water can pond up due to heavy rains. To my surprise, there are several in my immediate area (ponding type) here in White City. If you drove by the area you'd never guess .... but the map makers knew.

fae

Edit: "... but as you point out Oregon is usually considered desert area." Actually it's just my area here (three mountain ranges come together) and all of Eastern Oregon. The 'Pacific Ring of Fire' line is actually about 50 miles to the east of me. From my home I can actually see three mountains over 7,000 foot. Here's a bit from Eastern Oregon called "The Painted Desert." http://travel.webshots.com/album/212629067aeVgCW

The photo's don't do it justice .... all these things are HUGE.

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

I've often wondered what the fish do in these conditions. Do they spread out into the fields seeking slack water or find cover behind rocks etc in the original river course?

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