USGS National Water Dashboard

[niveker 0]

Not sure if this is new, but it is to me.  Pretty cool little data tool:

https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/?region=lower48

 

 

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Edited November 11, 2020 by niveker
fixed link

[knotjoe 0]

I like it and have used the gauges for many years.  Bookmarked specific sites on both phone and laptop for easy and immediate info on what the creeks/rivers are like in my roaming area.  

Of course, after a winter or serious flood the creekbeds change a bit so a a given height and flow rate may mean different things from year to year for wading, but still very useful.  Found it useful to take a screenshot and add some notes at the beginning of a season for various crossings and stretches in my locals.

[Sandan 0]

Cool tool, thanks. I use this one for most of my wanderings. https://dwr.state.co.us/surfacewater/default.aspx

[Poopdeck 0]

I think I have to get a new iPad. I can't open the dashboard so I'm not sure what it is. However, I use the USGS gauges religiously and check them multiple times a day for the waters I fish. I use them to determine where and what I'm fishing for before every trip. Of course the gauges are meaningless with out a real world point of reference to actual water conditions so I check them before during and after every trip. This allows me to know where I can and can't  go in my boat or what ramp I should use all depending on the water levels that I am intimately aware of. Some flows I can go anywhere I want but have an incredibly difficult time anchoring in places. At other times there are certain riffs I can't go through as the water drops. If conditions are bad on the river than I'll start checking my local stream flows and to determine which ones are fishable and which ones are not and even what I'm fishing for and how I'm fishing. If the currents are up I'll leave the fly rod and take spinning gear. I will determine if I'm fishing for bass, catfish, carp, trout or if I'm fishing saltwater solely on the gauge flows.  Saves a lot of time driving.

theres a ton of gauges on most every stream. They are typically at bridges where they are clear to see and get the gauge number off of. Just plug the number into the USGS site and book mark the gauges you want on your phone home screen. I can't remember the last time I showed up at a fishing spot only to find it Unfishable or less than desirable conditions. It's a great resource. 

[DFoster 0]

Wow-  You got to wonder what the "Old Timers" would make of that.  They used to have to go to a River to see if it was flowing.  Thanks for posting, new to me too!

[knotjoe 0]

9 hours ago, DFoster said:

Wow-  You got to wonder what the "Old Timers" would make of that.  They used to have to go to a River to see if it was flowing.  Thanks for posting, new to me too!

Well, you were born in ’65 and I’m from ’71…so what do we think?😄

For me, I hold no nostalgia whatsoever for this issue in the era(s) of pre-internet/cellphone life.  While there was a sense of mystery and reward when arriving at a far away creek and finding it lovely and fishable, it also had a lot of frustration and disappointment involved when it wasn’t so welcoming.  That was more time and gas than I liked burning for nothing, if nothing else the modern approach is considerably more ecologically responsible.  

Landlines were decently useful for calling folks on creek information, but the description of it’s fishable was often ambiguously broad.  Fishable to a guy in a drift boat or long trip canoe can be quite different when compared to fishable regarding reasonable wading cfs and gauge height.  Kinda like a few miles up the road anywhere in the rural Midwest, don’t attempt it without at least half a tank in the truck and time to find out otherwise.

I’ll confess here to wading in dangerously flooded creeks and rivers only because I had driven so far and built-up the expectation of fishing there that day.  Stupid, but was me and probably is.  Wouldn’t say USGS services saved my life, but it definitely has made it much safer, more efficient, and probably a bit kinder in the fossil fuel area.

[DFoster 0]

On 11/13/2020 at 6:31 PM, knotjoe said:

Well, you were born in ’65 and I’m from ’71…so what do we think?😄

For me, I hold no nostalgia whatsoever for this issue in the era(s) of pre-internet/cellphone life.  While there was a sense of mystery and reward when arriving at a far away creek and finding it lovely and fishable, it also had a lot of frustration and disappointment involved when it wasn’t so welcoming.  That was more time and gas than I liked burning for nothing, if nothing else the modern approach is considerably more ecologically responsible.  

Landlines were decently useful for calling folks on creek information, but the description of it’s fishable was often ambiguously broad.  Fishable to a guy in a drift boat or long trip canoe can be quite different when compared to fishable regarding reasonable wading cfs and gauge height.  Kinda like a few miles up the road anywhere in the rural Midwest, don’t attempt it without at least half a tank in the truck and time to find out otherwise.

I’ll confess here to wading in dangerously flooded creeks and rivers only because I had driven so far and built-up the expectation of fishing there that day.  Stupid, but was me and probably is.  Wouldn’t say USGS services saved my life, but it definitely has made it much safer, more efficient, and probably a bit kinder in the fossil fuel area.

Well I think this "newfangled tech" stuff has it's uses but personally I do miss the slower pace of the pre-cellphone life.