Water Resources at your Fingertips

Whether you’re planning on hitting the local lake or river this weekend, or driving halfway across the country to compete on unfamiliar water, having some insight in advance as to what water conditions you will face can be an important tool in forming a fish catching game plan. Thanks to the Internet, lots of great info is available for those that take the time to search it out. I’ve compiled a few basic resources to share on where to start your search.

U.S. Army Corp of Engineers – The Corp has control of many of our reservoirs and waterways throughout the country. They are broken up into districts, and each district has its own website. Information varies, but as an example, the link in the title will take you to the Louisville District page where you can get current and projected river levels, as well as current reservoir water levels and recent rainfall amounts. Lots of other good info to search through.

USGS – The U.S. Geological Survey website has a surface water page that has real-time data available for hundreds of streams and rivers in your area, many of which feed into your local reservoirs. Find out current flow, water temperature, even pH or oxygen of your waters depending upon location. Also has the great visual map for an instant look at what’s happening anywhere in the country.

Water Quality Monitoring – Many colleges and other learning institutions have implemented water quality monitoring stations on lakes in their area. With a little Google time on your part, you can probably find many of these stations. In the title link is an example of one such station, this one located on Kentucky Lake, one of the premier bassin’ waters in the country. You’ll probably find way more data than you need, but every little bit of information could be another piece in the fish catching puzzle.

Water Utilities – Lastly, many water or power utility companies maintain sites that house a variety of water resource information. Searching the web for your local provider can bring a wealth of lake related information. In this topic link, I’ve tapped into the TVA water resource page where you can select the reservoir of your choice, which then will take you to a specific page for each body of water. There you’ll find a variety of information to browse through.

This list is just a start of where you might look. New sites are coming online all the time, and old sites get updated frequently. Spend a little seat time behind the computer to become a more informed angler. Your fishing catching should improve because of it.