Clear Lake Rumsey Levels?

Devon8604 · Post by **Devon8604** » Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:43 pm

Last year the lake unfortunately only peaked at 5 Rumsey and made for very shallow water levels during the summer. Some of my normal spots I was not able to reach or were too shallow and hot to carry actively feeding fish. The lake dipped to .8 Rumsey before the recent rains and that is scary low.

My question to you guys is I'm actively on Waterdata.USGS.Gov looking at the current water levels and I notice at any given time the water levels fluctuate a lot. Is this due to a sensor going up and down with the waves or are they opening the dam and releasing water?

I know Yolo County has the water rights just curious why after some of these big rains the water levels are not constantly on the raise.

Hoping for a full 7.56 this year!

callwakeup · Post by **callwakeup** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:27 am

I hope the state is better all around this time in storing and maintaing higher lake levels through the summer. It seemed like 2 years ago the lakes were quickly lowered after the rainy season and at least to me seemed unreasonably low in the summer and fall considering the amount of rain and snow we received

clearlakeoutdoors · Post by **clearlakeoutdoors** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:30 am

They adjust the dam regularly. I would guess right now its fully open with the water going up one foot a day like last 24 hours. With how fast the water can come up it can get out of hand quickly.

birdman920 · Post by **birdman920** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:54 pm

right now the release rate at Cache Creek dam is 5cfs” I really hope they don’t open it up ?.... it’s still got a ways to go !....no more rain forecasted after this weekend for awhile!.... let it fill up !

Catmantwo · Post by **Catmantwo** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:16 pm

The fluctuations you see on the graph are only between 1 to 2 inches.
With the gauge being near lakeport at the upper end, the fluctuations you are seeing is due primarily to the wind (and sometimes waves). The water moves around with the wind up there like sloshing in a bathtub.

I use to live in the keys and on windy days I could watch the water go up and down 2 - 3 inches three or 4 times an hour when the wind was howling.

Even if the dam had all the gates open, it can only move 1 - 2 inches of water elevation out of the lake due to the width of cache creek. That is why the lake was closed for so long last year when the lake hit 10.5 rumsey.

Yolo county is restricted as to when the can pull water. I think it's something like the lake must be at least 3.2 at the beginning of May, and stop sometime in october. (there may also be a lower level when they have to stop).
Do a search on Rumsey scale, the info may also be in wikipedia.

Here is one link:
http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/ ... e/Yolo.htm

Devon8604 · Post by **Devon8604** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:21 pm

Catmantwo wrote:The fluctuations you see on the graph are only between 1 to 2 inches.
With the gauge being near lakeport at the upper end, the fluctuations you are seeing is due primarily to the wind (and sometimes waves). The water moves around with the wind up there like sloshing in a bathtub.

I use to live in the keys and on windy days I could watch the water go up and down 2 - 3 inches three or 4 times an hour when the wind was howling.

Even if the dam had all the gates open, it can only move 1 - 2 inches of water elevation out of the lake due to the width of cache creek. That is why the lake was closed for so long last year when the lake hit 10.5 rumsey.

Yolo county is restricted as to when the can pull water. I think it's something like the lake must be at least 3.2 at the beginning of May, and stop sometime in october. (there may also be a lower level when they have to stop).
Do a search on Rumsey scale, the info may also be in wikipedia.

Here is one link:
http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/ ... e/Yolo.htm

Right on, thats what i thought. I was thinking there is no way they could be opening the dam this early in the season when we aren't even half full, but I'm sure the county is still freaked out by the storms that hit 2 years ago. I'll check out this article as i wasn't sure what guidelines Yolo County had to follow when drawing water from the lake. Really hoping the lake is full come this spring.