USGS Real-Time Water Data

USGA Real Time Water Data

While sitting in the truck yesterday, looking at the frozen St. Joe River and then seeing all that water coming over the Elkhart dam, I got to wondering if there was a way to check water levels of the river near me. And no, that rock strike that tore apart my prop and bent the drive shaft on my boat had NOTHING to do with my curiosity. Nothing!

While do some searching I stumbled across our old friends as the USGS and their real time water data charts. While not “exactly” real time, most of the data is between 1 and 4 hours old. That’s real time enough for me. And since you can create custom charts, and they show historical data you can plan your next river adventure to match your favorite fishing conditions.

You start by clicking the state you will be fishing in and then you can pull up all of the rivers in that state. Select where you plan to fish, in this case I’m thinking downtown Chicago could be a lot of fun on the Chicago River.

The things that are most obvious and useful are the gauge height and discharge rate. The gauge height is based on the height above or below the set gauge or zero point. A 0 gauge does not mean no water, just that the water is at the level the USGS decided was a good average point. A gauge height of 10′ could be flood stage levels in many places, while a gauge height of 3′ could just be a very high water level.

The discharge rate is the volume of water moving over a set point in cubic feet per second. This chart also shows you a historical average discharge rate so that you can compare water flow with historical averages. You might want to stay away from rivers flowing at 5 or 6 times their historical average.

So the next time you decide to hit the rivers for a little fishing, it may make sense to take a look at the USGS charts for the previous week to help you make your best fishing location choices.