Dillon Dam Release Update – February 3, 2015
February 04th, 2015
After an initial jump in flows to 289 cfs, a whopping 160%, today the Blue River through Silverthorne pulled back to 203. This is a result of Denver Water turning off the siphon system that has been in place since maintenance began on the Dillon Dam in August. With a little over five days of time to test the integrity of the work, the project managers feel fairly confident that the “outflow works” are fully operational and the temporary drain can be mothballed.
Going forward, we should see the current release of about 200 cfs hold for a couple of days. After that there should be another slight reduction as Denver Water looks to level off the release somewhere in the 150-175 range. The reservoir is still about a foot and a half higher than they would like it to be at the start of run-off. For the moment, the plan is to draw it down over a period of time. Ideally this would be around 3 – 5 weeks at these slightly inflated flows.
This is great news for the Blue. Tailwater flows at those levels should continue to add decent amounts of shrimp and calories into the river, benefiting hungry trout and anglers alike. The timing couldn’t be better, typically this is the dead of winter and fish tend to be as inactive now as any time of the year. With this added boost of protein into the system, not only will this help trout maintain body mass but, maybe even gain a little heading into the spring.
For detailed information on what’s working click over to our fishing report here.