Water, Water Everywhere

I got a text from Yuki last evening. He said I should take a drive over to the Mokelumne River at the 49 bridge. He thought you guys would like to see the amount of water coming down from the Power House upstream.

Because I was already in sweats and slippers I decided to do it this morning instead. The first picture is from when Yuki and fished up by the Power House last November. Beautiful fishing water.

November 3, 2016

 I decided that the best way to approach the river would be the Day Use area under the 49 bridge. Unfortunately they closed it because of high water. So I did the only thing logical, I parked the truck and walked through the barriers down to the river.

I apologize for the "not so good" pictures, but you can't get anywhere near the river. The water is all over the place. 

As you can see in the picture below the river is almost, if not at flood stage. 

Under the 49 bridge.

 And, you can see the water is running over the Day Use Area road.

The road

This is upstream from where I was standing.

Hard to see with all the trees.

Then I decided to take a drive up Electra Road (which was also closed), but that didn't stop me. I just drove around the signs. Upstream from the 49 bridge.

Getting the idea?

Last night I mentioned to Yuki that I was going to try to sneak out and fish Middle Bar Bridge. He thought it might be underwater. Good point, so I thought I'd take a look.

Almost, but not quite.

Middle Bar Bridge

Just to give you a little perspective, the first photo is from March last year when we were fishing the bridge.

Upstream 3/25/2016

 Then today

Upstream from the bridge

 Then downstream in March last year.

Downstream 3/25/2016

And again today.

Downstream today

On the way back to Highway 49 along the 3 mile drive, I stopped (I was the only one on the road) to take a little waterfall shot.

Normally dry

Then, last but not least, I took a couple shots in town. First one is Jackson. This runs along Highway 88 all the way past Pine Grove (8 miles up the road) and meets another branch that runs behind the houses across the street to eventually runs into Lake Amador.   

Jackson Creek

Behind the houses across the street.

With all that said, the next storm (this one is just like the last ones) is coming in tomorrow.

Remember that guy up the street with all the lumber? His boat is starting to look vaguely familiar.

I think he knows something we don't. 

Oh, and fishing Middle Bar Bridge, even if you put bait in the water, I doubt the fish could find it.

Stay tuned.