Priest below the dam

[antilibrarian]

Got in a couple of hours of fishing below the Percy Priest dam today. Fishing was pretty good at the dam. A lot of water being released so I tried a new technique that worked pretty well. One small Stiper (my first ever!), and 3 or 4 smallies that were aroud 10 inches.

[rodholder]

Just got back from checking out the Stones River, below Priest Dam and the turbulent water that was released the past couple of days has destroyed the riverbed below the dam. Two huges piles of boulders are now in the streambed directly downstream from the generator and they are as big as two houses. The island is destroyed and the shallow water on the Hermitage sides is now a field of boulders. Those of you who have fished below Priest before need to wander down and take a look. It has been devestated by the Corps!!!

[TomD]

What was it the Corp did?

[rodholder]

Just took another look at below Priest Dam from the Donelson side and the raging waters from the two spillways being opened has eroded a large portion of the bank, up next to the dam on the Hermitage side. It also eroded a long stretch of the bank underneath the walkway on the Hermitage side. The Corps was out taking pictures of what they had done, and then, beleive it or not, started releasing water from one of the spillways to cover up the mess!!

What they initially had done, about three days ago, was to open the two middle spillways, creating a tremendous burst of water aimed directly at the wall below the dam. The water his this wall, went up in the air about 30 feet, and then went raging down the river, hitting the island and coming back toward the dam at tremdous speeds. I have watched them release water down there for 30 years, but had never seen it as turbulent as the last three days. Now, after the water has gone down, the whole landscape below the dam has been changed!!

[bd-]

I think they may have been experimenting with different spill releases to help improve the extremely low oxygen in the water that is released into the tailwater by turbine generation. I'm not sure.

bd

[nofish]

Just took another look at below Priest Dam from the Donelson side and the raging waters from the two spillways being opened has eroded a large portion of the bank, up next to the dam on the Hermitage side. It also eroded a long stretch of the bank underneath the walkway on the Hermitage side. The Corps was out taking pictures of what they had done, and then, beleive it or not, started releasing water from one of the spillways to cover up the mess!!

What they initially had done, about three days ago, was to open the two middle spillways, creating a tremendous burst of water aimed directly at the wall below the dam. The water his this wall, went up in the air about 30 feet, and then went raging down the river, hitting the island and coming back toward the dam at tremdous speeds. I have watched them release water down there for 30 years, but had never seen it as turbulent as the last three days. Now, after the water has gone down, the whole landscape below the dam has been changed!!


That would've been cool to see.

[nofish]

Maybe they let the new guy open the gates and he pushed the wrong button.

[clean air]

That happens all the time on the duck and elk.Those river beds move and change every year.I used to catch limits from a deep river bend that is know ankle deep.The old gravel beds are deep holes now.I lost old faithful spot this spring to all the rain.Several trees eroded and all the silt went in my deep hole that had slow current.Now I will try the deep spots where the trees were.My river looks nothing like it did when I fished it 20yr ago.

[txnative]

Checked out the "new" stones river below priest on my lunch break and have mixed feelings. I was just looking, not fishing, but i was both sad to see my old lies changed and excited to see some new possible ones. From an open-minded perspective, a few of the spots screamed for a streamer to be dropped in them. If the current releases continue and fish move up, i guarantee i will catch some. BD, the fly and techniques i pm'ed you last year should pay off...BIG.


Chris

[rodholder]

This morning the gate on the Hermitage side of the dam was locked, so i went to the Donelson side. About 8:30AM three white pickups appear in the parking lot on the Hermitage side. Some guys get out, look at the erosion under the walkway and up next to the dam, then get on their cell phones. Next, they take some orange temporary fencing and some poles and close off the big gaping hole that eroded next to the dam. Then, using some orange highway barrels and some yellow crime scene tape, they close off both ends of the walkway, and put up Keep Out signs. They then hop out and leave. Apparently they don't want anyone fishing on that side, but the people that "back in" have free reign. Why not just lock the gate until the problem gets fixed?? BTW, what caused the problem in the first place???

[rodholder]

I contacted all the tv channels and the Skinnysean and asked them to check into the situation below Priest dam. Got a reply this afternoon from Channel 4 and they are doing a story on it in the 10PM news. An enironmental reporter from the paper seemed interested in checking it out also.

[nofish]

This was one of the top stories on news 4 at 10. I caught the end of it but I think they said they were doing maintenance or something and due to the rain we had they had to dump the amount of water through the middle 2 gates that they would've dumped through all 4. They said they're getting estimates on fixing the damage.

[Tryptoboz]

They should have known better, but they probably wanted to see what it could take and found out the hard way.

http://www.wsmv.com/story/15455520/water-release-erodes-fishing-area

[Travis C.]

That is strange. I sure wish they'd put a gate or something that would keep a 250 cfs min flow like the Caney on that river.

It was next on the hit list after Wolf Creek and Center Hill for inspection/prevent maint. I haven't heard any in a while but lets hope not because if they lower the water level like that on Percy there will be a booming business for boat repair and water rescuers.

[fisher01]

Spin, Spin, Spin...IMO, thats what the Corp. of Engineers is doing in there explanation.

The water level on that weekend went from 489.50 to a high of 490.6, a week later due to the rain. 1 foot, that it. Unless, the turbines are under maintenance, they could have released the water that way and lowered the level in 24 hours. IMO, someone erred in judgement and released way to much water through those two center gates. A slow controlled release through those two gates would not have caused any damage.

[txnative]

I agree, and releases of 400-700 cfs over a sustained period result in tremendous fishing, based on my experience over the past 2 years. Moving forward, all we as fisherman can do is adapt and hope the corps hasn't hurt what was a fantastic hybrid and striper spot in urban Nashville.


Chris

[GO-OKFISHIN]

That was crazy. I drove past it the day they were releasing all that water and have never seen it like that. Everything was coming out of the middle 2 gates.