Wahoo: YGF Interview on the FISH SCHTICK

This past week, Brian Bennett of Moldy Chum, Teeg Stouffer of Recycled Fish, and Michael Mauro of Mauro Media contacted me to do an interview with them on their popular podcast The Fish Schtick. I was a little surprised that they wanted to talk to some idiot named Ivan #humblebrag. I got the chance to talk with them on Friday and the podcast was released today. Check it out here. Download it here. Watch out for a lot of "for sures," some stuttering, lots of pauses, and some uhhhhhs an on my part. It is so painful to listen to one's self talk. Also, my breath didn't need to be fresh for a phone interview, but I insisted on chewing a stick of Extra. Terrible life decision.

The Clark Fork is Flowing.....High

The Clark Fork River, which flows west through Missoula, is flowing at historically high levels right now. If you don't live here or didn't study this river for 3 years, you might not be as excited about these high flows as I am. It should be no surprise, that when temperatures rocket into the 80s (in the valley) and some significant rain quickly follows, that the still sizable snowpack in the Upper Clark Fork basin will begin to melt. Currently (as I type), the Clark Fork above Missoula is flowing at 24,900 cubic feet per second (cfs), higher than I have ever seen it during my time in Missoula.

And it is rising. The National Weather Service is predicting that the CFR will peak at around 13.39 feet 14.8 feet 13.95 feet or approximately 30,000 cfs 34,000 to 35,000 cfs 31,000 cfs on Thursday. If it peaks at around 30,000 cfs 34,000 to 35,000 cfs  31,000 cfs, the flows will be the fifth second fifth largest during the 82 years of record.

Larger flows will only have been experienced in 1908, 1948, 1975, and 1964. As a fluvial geomorphology nerd, I am excited. Excited to see a 16-year 40-year 16-year Recurrence Interval flood. Excited to see the Clark Fork hit Major Flood Stage. Excited to see how the restored section of the Clark Fork holds up and adjusts.

Hopefully the people and properties around Tower Street are relatively unharmed.

UPDATE: NWS has estimated that the peak flow will be pushed back to Friday and will top out at 13.95 feet, which is the equivalent to about 30,500 to 31,000 cfs. Still a significant flood. Not the second biggest of all-timessss though. I am done updating this until the peak actually happens.

PICTURES TO FOLLOW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW.

twenty five inches of "$%@! you, high water" brown trout

The Clark Fork, the Bitterroot, Rock Creek, the Blackfoot, the Big Hole, everything local is running high and muddy. Runoff is upon us. It is no where close to peaking with plenty of snow left in the mountains. The fluvial geomorph nerd in me is hoping for a whopper of a runoff. Whatevs. Back to the task at hand - fishing. Bucko and I went back to some familiar ponds and ran into some nice fish. I caught a 20 inch brown and was feeling pretty good. Bucko caught a 25 inch brown. $%@! you, high water. Watch in HD on vimeo.

Montana SNOTEL Data Update - "It's a good thing"

Water is and will always be an issue in western Montana. There were worries in the fishing community that last year's relatively low snowpack would result in some seasonal closures due to low flows and high temperatures. Alas, we were saved by some spring and early summer rains that resulted in a 1.3 Recurrence Interval (RI) peak discharge of 9,980 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is below average, at the Clark Fork River above Missoula gage. While the peak discharge was below average there were multiple peaks and the higher flows were prolonged. As such, there were no fishing closures in western Montana last year. Such worries were not present during the two previous water years (2008 and 2009) when the recurrence interval of the peak discharge during spring runoff was a 2.8 with a discharge of 17,500 cfs. I have been lucky enough to have not been effected by any fishing closures during my short fly fishing career. This year, as those of you who live in western Montana know, we have had our fair share of snow and has resulted in healthy snowpack levels throughout the state. While there is plenty of time until the spring runoff of 2011 and there are other factors influencing the scale of runoff (namely timing and mechanisms that initiate it), it feels good to look at the numbers below and have a little confidence that this year's runoff will do good geomorphic and ecologic work. It is nice to see numbers above 100% and no where close to the 50%, 60%, and 70% seen last spring. Enjoy the recently updated SNOTEL data below. I am.

	Snow Water Equivalent	YTD Precip
Basin Site Name	Percent of Average	Percent of Average
KOOTENAI RIVER	113	106
FLATHEAD RIVER	129	119
UPPER CFR	114	107
BITTERROOT RIVER	98	109
LOWER CFR	107	105
JEFFERSON RIVER	116	118
MADISON RIVER	119	121
GALLATIN RIVER	129	128
MISSOURI HEADWATERS	121	123
HW MISSOURI MAINSTEM	112	99
SMITH, JUDITH, MUSSELSHELL	132	120
SUN, TETON, MARIAS	100	83
MISSOURI MAINSTEM	118	101
ST. MARY and MILK	109	103
UPPER YELLOWSTONE	129	124
WIND RIVER (WY)	118	110
SHOSHONE RIVER (WY)	111	117
BIGHORN RIVER (WY)	106	104
TONGUE RIVER (WY)	83	85
POWDER RIVER (WY)	102	85
LOWER YELLOWSTONE	107	103