San Carlos Lake water levels- 2011
In February I made my first trip of 2011 to SC. The first thing I noticed when pulling into the east end of the lake was that the water level was 15 to 20’ lower than in the spring of 2010. Remember that in the fall of 2010 the lake was at less than 2%. Many feared a major fish kill until lots of rain fell around the holidays and saved it. As the summer approached this year we worried that without a good monsoon season the lake may go dry.
All summer we’ve watched the San Carlos Reservoir water level slowly deteriorate to the point were by mid July the lake was back down to 2% capacity, by the end of July 1% and by early/ mid August ½ %. At this point the future for SC looked to be set in stone, the lake would go dry. I must admit that I bought into this as well. What was not being talked about was that the San Carlos River which enters the lake from the north was flowing. It was only about 6 to 8 cubic feet per second but new water is new water. Also in mid August releases in the Gila River which enters the lake from the east spiked to over 800 cfs. The spike didn’t last long but again, its new water.
When you couple the new water coming in (although very little) and the fact that the winds were moving surface water and keeping it oxygenated, it looked like the lake might have a chance, but for how long? This would depend almost entirely on how much water would be released from the Coolidge Dam to the farmers downstream. You see, the San Carlos Apaches do not own the water in the lake. It is an irrigation reservoir and the water is for the farmers of Pima County. There is a however a minimum “fish pool” of 970 surface acres that cannot be release. The fish pool can only go dry due to evaporation and/ or seepage.
In early July releases from the dam were at about 600 cfs but that quickly tapered off. By the end of August releases had stopped. Then a few weeks ago around October 6th, a user on another AZ fishing website reported that on Saturday October 15th releases from the Coolidge Dam would resume and that they were going to dump all water they could for the farmers. He later post this on AZ Crappie under an alternative screen name and even called an Arizona Crappie Association member to report this as well.
When I got the news of these “reports” I was on Roosevelt Lake with my son Jay and our dog Repo pre-fishing for the Bob Hirsch Crappie Classic. I immediately smelled a rat so I started making some phone calls to see what I could find out. Rather than re-type my finds I am going to direct you to another thread on this subject. Previously due to incomplete information this thread was in a private forum for AZCA members only. The link to this thread is below.
Again the power of information can be used for both good and bad. It can be used to share or to scare, to heal or to hurt. But I say don’t believe the hype, the doom and gloom or the “OMG” stories that are driven by ulterior motives. Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing and do your own research. Unite as anglers that share a passion for desert Crappie fishing who look to share the truth and help each other. That’s what this site and the AZCA are all about.
http://www.azcrappie.com/forum/index.php/topic,789.0.html
