Of interest to all!

Here is a link to a chart that keeps track of water levels in the great lakes. According to the chart Lake Erie was 24 inches below the long term average for January 11, but only 8 inches below the long-term monthly average for the whole month of Jananuary. In any event we still need lots of rain or snow or both in all of the water sheds that feeds into the upper Great Lakes.

It now makes me wonder just how much water they are diverting out of Lake Michigan through the Illinois River locks to help with the low water in the Mississippi River system, that water would normally flow into lakes Huron and then Erie? The Corp. of Engineers reversed the flow of that river several years ago to make it cheaper and easier for the shipping companies to access the Chicago area.

http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/Missio...terLevels.aspx

Like said before in an older post..there where times i went out of turtle creek and had 1.7 ft under the boat....did not go out at times cause i was afraid of not getting back in....still made it out 47 times to fish..just think we may have to get the mouth cleaned out for this season....just saying

The point behind my post is that January and Feb. are the 2 lowest months for lake levels of the year. Last year there was no run off and the lake levels started to fall when it normally would have been rising due to melting snow. With the low water already the water will continue to fall with no or little runoff. So possibly by June there could be a serious shortage of water to allow launching from the regular spots. There were reports that several marina's were having difficuties with accessing the lake last fall so with no or little run off it will only get worse as the year progresses.

With little or no water to get in or out of the inlets, leads me to think maybe I should think twice about a fishing trip in june, maybe lay low and see what Mother Nature does, I know Lake Onterio is low also, there is talk about maybe dredging some of the north east harbors, I know I can get out using the Henderson harbor ramps, Please keep us updated with the water levels.:confused:

Russ, spoke with owners at TC last weekend, he said they applied for permit to dredge this year.

When they were going to dredge Coolie Canal [Meinkes West] a year or two ago, we were told that they were not permitted to do it during a certain period of the spawn season. Had to be completed before a specific date or wait till after spawn. This might of been because of its location related to the mouth of the river.
After Sandy ,Coolie needs opened up again also.
If that rule applies to T.C. I hope they get it done before spawn.

Disclaimer: this is what we heard from some of the charter captains that have been there awhile

If you fish out of Huron, there will be plenty of water to get out any time of the year you want. The river is over 20' deep from the ramp to the mouth. Just a thought if you're going to cancel a trip over concern for low water.

Greg

I wish I had 20 ft of water for access to the lake, beef Creek averaged 2 ft. most of the year the rest of the year it averaged about 1.7 feet that is just access to the to River. then we had about 5 ft. To the mouth of a river. from the mouth of the river to the end of the bouys it was a crap shoot."

If we were to come out in June we would probably go out of TC. or Wild Wings, there were reports of 1.7ft at the mouth of the channel, my boat drafts a solid 2ft so thats out. I don't know what it's like out of Wild Wings, maybe someone could fill us in with that info, would really like to make the trip, but I'm not going to trailer the boat to a ramp that is ok to launch out of everyday.Where does Skipper9 go out of? he doesn't miss a trip, there must be enough water wherever he docks at.:confused:

Skipper 9 docks at channel grove marina in marblehead