River Conditions + Technology

[apotestivo]

i'm wondering if anyone out there understands how to read/what to look for on the USGS for the state for specific rivers - for instance, i'm mostly interested in the snoqualmie at the moment

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/current/?type=flow

[BirdDog]

Go to  http://ahps2.wrh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=sew; then click on whatever river you want info about.

[bugnuts]

If you scroll down that site, you can click on any of about 23 measuring stations in the Snoqualmie/Snohomish system to see real-time graphs of the flow and also the trends.  Not only that, but if you mess around with the variables such as number of days, you can get a really good view of the flows over up to a month's time.  The graph for the Carbon even let's you take a look at the current temperature and rainfall totals up at Fairfax. 

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=12094000&PARAmeter_cd=00060,00065

[rvrfshr]

Ap,

         The gauge station you want is Snoqualmie at Carnation. It should be running between 1500cfs to about 3500cfs to make it a worthwhile bank outing. It's fishable today at 1340cfs but expect a good spike up in flow over the next couple of hours/days. ( As well as a good jump in the number of steel moving up, gonna get real busy out at Tokul I predict !)

                 Joe

[apotestivo]

Thanks to all that have replied thus far - especially joe - thats the exact information i was looking for and would like to compile for the Snqualmie and other local rivers

[SciGuy]

I suggest that you
1) start a fishing log book;
2) note the river conditions (clarity, color, perfect/good/fair/poor/bad levels);
3) record the level and flow from USGS website;
4) record whether the river is dropping or rising from a peak low or high and how many days from that peak; and
5) record the current and previous weather conditions.

Eventually you'll be able to get a good idea of what the river is doing just by checking the web.

[fishinfever]

Quote "4) record whether the river is dropping or rising from a peak low or high and how many days from that peak;

How many days from peak. I'LL have to add that to my  spreadsheet.
 
thanks
           Fishinfever

[Brian]

These guys covered it pretty well. I will add one thing however, go fishing whenever you can, not only when the graph says conditions are right. I learn alot about steelhead behaviour and holding water on trips where conditions are less than optimal. T.O.W(time on water) = more steelhead.