GREEN RISING

[Dave M]

Looks like they are releasing water ahead of the storms, Green river in Auburn has gone up almost 100CFS over night, with no rain falling.

[jrodell27]

How do you get this information? How do you incorporate that to the Green River for instance? I'm new to this system and still learning so much there is to learn about tide water fishing on a river. When you look at the flow of the river - how do you average or figure out what that means for the river without having previous knowledge? Do you just look at the graphs and how they peak to see differences? Sorry if I'm not making any sense but this is one "piece of the puzzle" (reading water flows) I have been confused on. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[BentRod]

Most of our rivers have USGS monitoring stations on them somewhere that track river flow data. You can find those stations and their reported data here:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/current?type=flow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some rivers have one or two and others, like the Green/Duamish, have quite a few different monitoring stations. Each station will provide data tracked over the last 7 days, but you can set criteria to show historic changes over a much longer period of time.
If you take the time to look at each station, you'll see the overall trend of the water flow will be similar, but as you move down the river towards the mouth you'll start to see tidal influence represented as persistent peaks and valleys each day.
The graphs will have little triangles on them representing the average typical flow for that time of year, so you can see how the current flow relates to the average. On most rivers (above the tidal influence) you can see the river flows rise and fall with rain or snowmelt caused by warm weather, but the Green has a dam on it. If water is released from the dam, you'll see the water rise on the graphs despite the lack of rain.
This data can be a useful tool for anyone who really likes to Steelhead and salmon fish. It's not imperative to use them, but if you really start to get into the nuts and bolts of river fishing then it can be helpful.
Take some time to get to know the rivers you are interested in and once you are familiar with the levels/flows and what it's like to be on the water during those times then you'll have an idea of how these subtle (or major) changes will effect your fishing trip.
For the Duamish I like to look at the Auburn station:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?s ... 0060,00065" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jrodell27]

Thanks BentRod! Very informative and that's one of those things that has sort of tripped me up as far as learning how to read these graphs. It will be good to see the relationship between the "high time" as it storms and builds up rain water in the system and when the river gets "low" or normal height after the storm passes. Thanks again and I will keep monitoring this information and try to piece it together with the holes I end up fishing!

[BentRod]

No problem. Following one of the rivers that is not regulated by a dam is a good learning tool. If you go check out the Snoqualmie here:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?s ... 0060,00065" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
you'll see a more typical trend of rising and falling water based on the weather. You can set your date parameters for the month of Dec. 2015 and that can give you a good indicator of typical fluctuations during the winter months.
FWIW.

[Sideburns]

http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/river/station ... ?lid=AUBW1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Sideburns]

ive got all of em bookmarked... i learned these from here anyway btw

[BentRod]

Almost forgot about the NOAA site. That's a good one too.

[SalmonAddict]

I have a hunch that by the time the river drops and clears up, the run has passed...or dark fish...

[Dave M]

I am heading out in the morning to check it out, have seen a few people fishing the last few days in the upper section that just opened. Driving by it is not terribly high and headed down now or at least it was last night.

[riverhunter]

I have a hunch that by the time the river drops and clears up, the run has passed...or dark fish...

Yep me too. Don't fish the green much but that's the feeling on almost all rivers that opened late. I guess the best we can do now is hope the chum run is good. Need to start collecting eggs for the upcoming winter steelhead