Yes!!! Hooray!!! Yahtzee!!! (Or, insert your favorite over-the-top-celebratory interjection here.)
That’s right, folks. Dancing days are here again. I don’t have the specifics on how the dam releases will be managed, but when I do, I’ll surely get them to you. This hopefully puts an end the MDC madness. And may I say to the MDC, with the utmost sincerity, don’t let the door hit your corporate weasel ass on the way out.
The CT State Legislature is holding a public hearing on the Farmington River flow situation this Friday, March 8. All interested parties are invited to submit oral or written testimony to be entered into the public record. The deadline to register is Thursday, March 7 at 3pm. This is your chance to make an impact!
The following is taken from the Farmington River Anglers Association website and has everything you need to know. Let’s get to it, people!
“Establishing an optimum flow regime in the Upper Farmington River remains one of our top priorities.
To this end, House Bill 5355 – AN ACT CONCERNING CONSERVATION OF CERTAIN WATERS OF THE UPPER FARMINGTON RIVER, will receive a public hearing on Friday, March 8 starting at 11 a.m. I encourage you to submit written and/or oral testimony. If you testify orally (in-person or Zoom) it should be accompanied by written testimony. The deadline to register is Thursday, March 7 at 3 pm.
Submit oral testimony here.
Submit written testimony here.
(Make sure to pick date March 8th. Then In the Bill field pick Bill HB05355.)
You can watch the meeting live on youtube here:”
No, you’re not seeing things. Yes, there is water again in the PTMA and even in Unionville. Last Monday, the upper Farmington River, its reservoirs, and watershed in southern MA got deluged, with some areas receiving inches of rain. Now that the Colebrook Reservoir is at 100% capacity, the Army Corps of Engineers has instructed the MDC to dump water and reduce the level. That’s why the gauge looks like this:
While this is better than the paltry 60cfs MDC was releasing, it’s a perfect illustration of how poorly this resource is managed. Instead of dumping 340 extra cfs of water en masse, why couldn’t the flows have been set to 150cfs for weeks? Better yet, how about the historical median flow? You know what’s going to happen next: the flows will go back to a trickle, and we’ll have the Farmington Rock Garden River. Again. There is no word on when those flows will be cut, but it is surely coming. So get out and enjoy the water while you can.
I’m still waiting to get you some better information on how this will all shake out, and what can be done about it. There are forces at work for better stewardship of the river. Stay tuned.
Spoiled, selfish children have a habit of poor behavior when the game isn’t going their way. Their frustration reaches a boiling point. Then they grab their ball and storm off in a petulant frenzy. The result is that the game is over and ruined for everyone. The spoiled child in this case is the person (or people) in charge of making the flow decisions for the West Branch of the Farmington River. And once again, they’ve decided that if they’re miserable, everyone who uses the river for recreation should be miserable.
For years, it’s been no secret that the MDC doesn’t care about managing the West Branch as a viable tailwater fishery and recreational resource. For over a year now, their unconscionably selfish reaction to not wanting any further financial responsibility for Hogback Dam has been to release only the minimum flow as-required-by-law. Anglers be damned. Canoeists, kayakers and tubers be damned. Business who depend on robust river flows be damned. Fish and wildlife be damned. It’s their ball, and they’re taking it away in the name of corporate greed.
If it’s all too confusing, this one-page, one-side sheet explains the legal flow requirements for both Colebrook and Goodwin dams. We thank the Farmington River Watershed Association for providing it. And we damn the MDC for reducing flows and damaging our river, simply because they can.
In the meantime, we can only hope for rain up north, which would require the MDC to release more water — and more rain locally, which would bump up the Still River.
Many thanks to my old friends at the Narragansett TU Chapter for hosting me last night. It’s so wonderful to see everyone again, and I thank TU225 for their continued support. The topic was fishing the Farmington River’s West Branch (the official title is: The West Branch — Southern New England’s Blue Ribbon Trout Stream). It’s an overview of the river that covers everything from popular pools to hatches to gear to when and how. If you’re looking to fill a presentation slot for your club this spring, I still have open dates. Here’s a link to my current presentation menu.
Speaking of the Farmington River, here’s an info sheet — one page, one side — that gives you some good, basic information on the Goodwin (AKA Hogback Dam) and Colebrook Dams. It doesn’t explain the dispute between the MDC and the ACE — or why the MDC is holding the river hostage — but at least you can understand why the water releases have been the way they have been. (What a shock! It’s all about money.) Many thanks to Farmington River Watershed Association for sharing!
In case you don’t know, here’s a micro-brief recap: since last summer, the MDC has, for whatever reason, been releasing only the minimum amount of cfs required by law from the Hogback dam. This has resulted in, at times, unnecessary ultra-low flows, transforming the Farmington River from a lush aquatic playground into a pathetic rock garden, and certainly damaging fish and wildlife populations. To my knowledge, no one knows what the MDC’s end game is.
Right now, a group of state senators is crafting legislation that seeks greater transparency from the MDC, albeit in the form of such things as an ethics code and approval on water rates. This doesn’t really help anglers; however, the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters and the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut are also involved. I plan to reach out to those groups and to the biartisan state senator group to voice my concerns. I’ll let you know what, if anything, I find out.
I do know there is going to be a specific forum in the future for concerned parties to express their concerns about the unconscionable way the MDC is treating the river. When I get data’s on that public comment event, you can be sure I’ll post more about it here.
Man, I really need to get out and fish.
It’s the modern paradigm in the northeast: water flows are seemingly either off-the-charts high or bone-dry low. Normally, at this time of year I’d be writing to you about the tremendous wet fly bite on the Hendrickson hatch. The Hendricksons may indeed by hatching on the lower Farmington River, but you’d be hard-pressed to find any near-surface action in these flows. 800cfs is about the tipping point for surface action on the lower river — it’s been over 1K for the entire time you’d expect to start seeing Hendrickson action, and yesterday’s deluge will keep us out of wet fly range into May.
George Harrison was right.
It’s not much better in the Permanent TMA, which is flowing at almost 2K this morning. Sure, the Still will fall, but it’s been a challenging spring for anglers. And you can forget the Hous for now. That river has been a high water nightmare since last summer.
Don’t get me wrong: I prefer too high over too low, and you can catch fish in higher flows if you know where and how. All I’m asking of Mother Nature is a little moderation. Please?
currentseams.com 