Opening the Floodgates

[Redfishman]

The flooding misery that the Ohio River Valley has endured has finally reached its apex on the lower Mississippi River. The Army Corps of Engineers Thursday announced the opening of the Morganza and Bonnet Carre' floodgates to take pressure off the soggy levees and slow the velocity of River down. The Morganza Spillway is north of Baton Rouge and diverts the Red River system and Mississippi into the Atchafaylaya swamp which enters the Gulf of Mexico thru Morgan city. The last time this floodgate was opened was in 1982.
The Bonnet Carre' spillway was last opened in 1997 can divert up to 6 million cu/ft per sec from the Mississippi River into Lake Ponchatrain just north of New Orleans. The Corp expects to leave the floodgates open for 4-6 weeks. Water levels are not expected to lower significantly until Mid-June with the upper Mississippi and Missouri systems adding snow melt to the already high Ohio System.
The Corps is not overly worried of levee breaches they are concerned of "boils" or water blows caused by pressures against the levees which floods roads along the levees and could cause a local collaspe. Water velocity at Baton Rouge was 7.5 miles p/hr.
Impact on fishing? Freshwater- the flooding comes at the height of the Bass spawn----there's always the fall... We'll have to hit the lakes!!. Saltwater- depends where on the coast you fish. Large amounts of freshwater will greatly impact shrimp harvest (short term) and oyster harvests. The Bonnet Carre' spillway will flush the freshwater sensitive shrimp thru Lake Ponchatrain into Lake Borne and into the Gulf . The fish that feed on them will follow. Bonus though -we may be catching non native sauger -smallies and who knows , a pike on the eastern beaches. Marshes from the central coast to Venice are expected to be full of silt while the Western part of the coast is expected to remain largely unchanged.
Another bonus-(long term )is all the nutrients should create a bloom in the fisheries and we'll reap that .....for the next few years. In Metro Baton Rouge we are already having reports of Coyotes in Subdvns near LSU. It's Ok to turn off the spicket anytime now!!!
Good Luck with your next round of rain!!!

[BunnyBuster]

. The Bonnet Carre' spillway was last opened in 1997 can divert up to 6 million cu/ft per sec from the Mississippi River into Lake Ponchatrain just north of New Orleans.


WOW!! That is almost 3 billion gallons of water every second!!! You could fill up 90,000 inground swimming pools every second with that kind of water!!!:eek:

[lonesomepine]

The flooding misery that the Ohio River Valley has endured has finally reached its apex on the lower Mississippi River. The Army Corps of Engineers Thursday announced the opening of the Morganza and Bonnet Carre' floodgates to take pressure off the soggy levees and slow the velocity of River down. The Morganza Spillway is north of Baton Rouge and diverts the Red River system and Mississippi into the Atchafaylaya swamp which enters the Gulf of Mexico thru Morgan city. The last time this floodgate was opened was in 1982.
The Bonnet Carre' spillway was last opened in 1997 can divert up to 6 million cu/ft per sec from the Mississippi River into Lake Ponchatrain just north of New Orleans. The Corp expects to leave the floodgates open for 4-6 weeks. Water levels are not expected to lower significantly until Mid-June with the upper Mississippi and Missouri systems adding snow melt to the already high Ohio System.
The Corps is not overly worried of levee breaches they are concerned of "boils" or water blows caused by pressures against the levees which floods roads along the levees and could cause a local collaspe. Water velocity at Baton Rouge was 7.5 miles p/hr.
Impact on fishing? Freshwater- the flooding comes at the height of the Bass spawn----there's always the fall... We'll have to hit the lakes!!. Saltwater- depends where on the coast you fish. Large amounts of freshwater will greatly impact shrimp harvest (short term) and oyster harvests. The Bonnet Carre' spillway will flush the freshwater sensitive shrimp thru Lake Ponchatrain into Lake Borne and into the Gulf . The fish that feed on them will follow. Bonus though -we may be catching non native sauger -smallies and who knows , a pike on the eastern beaches. Marshes from the central coast to Venice are expected to be full of silt while the Western part of the coast is expected to remain largely unchanged.
Another bonus-(long term )is all the nutrients should create a bloom in the fisheries and we'll reap that .....for the next few years. In Metro Baton Rouge we are already having reports of Coyotes in Subdvns near LSU. It's Ok to turn off the spicket anytime now!!!
Good Luck with your next round of rain!!!

I was in your neck of the woods two weeks ago,I drove over to Sulpher and down to what was Holly Beach,then over through Rockefeller,Pecan Island,Freshwater City,Intercoastal City,and Kaplan.I was amazed at what wasn't there anymore,the only good thing I saw was that what little that has been rebuilt is new and nicer than the old camps and houses were.Still things just weren't the same,lots of crypts missing from cemetary's,I did see some had a sense of humor still,one guy had a singlewide mobile home up on the new FEMA height codes off the ground with a big sign that said "Cajun Highrise".At that time they were expecting Highwater in Morgan City from the Mississippi river/Arkansas flooding,I guess with all our flood woes it's got worse.Good thing was Crawfish were in season and in my belly!!!

Don't know why my nephew is skeered to feed them lil' gators along Highway 82.

[Redlined]

Hey Redfishman, we feel your pain. All this rain has about put an end to the sauger fishing, and for the most part, the white bass run. It's now starting to eat into the bread and butter of the crappie spawn. At this rate,I expect to get back out on the water about the Fourth of July...........