Summer Drought Brings River Boom

By Chris Erwin

The rains in the past couple weeks have saved local crops, and if you are like most in the area your grass is growing once again.

According to Tony Cavalier, meteorologist for WSAZ TV weather, we have had 4 to 6 inches of rain fall in the last few weeks. However, only three weeks ago we were suffering the same conditions as our friends in the Midwest where they continue to have an unyielding drought.

This early dry spell, along with most river systems remaining low, has been a pesky problem for farmers but there is a silver lining in this unseasonably hot and dry spell.

I’m sure by now you have figured it out: I’m talking about our rivers, the Big Sandy, the Ohio and the Little Sandy. All have bumper years when it’s dry. We had very little damage from spring flooding and the rivers remained clear during that crucial period when they need sunlight to promote aquatic weed growth.

This may not seem to be a big deal, but in fact it is, because this sets in motion a chain of events that will make fall and late summer a very productive time to be on the water. It also produces a better than normal fish spawn. Some of the factors that are always hit or miss for rivers and streams are water stability, clarity and temperature during the few weeks that fish go through the motions of spawning. If the rivers flood many times, fish will abandon their nest producing low spawning rates. Stable clear water conditions not only produce high spawning rates, it also provides weed cover for fry to hide in, which in turn improves the success rate of maturing fingerlings.

Aquatic weed growth is something that high dirty water kills. The same as the dry spell killed your lawn, aquatic weeds need to have sun penetration to grow and spread. High dirty water acts the same as you spreading a blanket on your lawn. Continued flooding in the spring can leave the rivers void of the cover necessary for young developing fish to thrive.

While all of this may impact the fish, it has a greater effect on the people who live, work or play on our local rivers. If you have a camp or summer home along the Little Sandy River, much of the spring and early summer it was just a beautiful place to be. The water was blue-green and life was springing up everywhere. The Ohio River looked more like a lake than the brown mud filled current that we normally see in the spring.

We may not see the benefit of this years spawn for a few more years, but it would be a good time for Ashland to host a major fishing tournament. We have a great-looking river front now, and we should be looking forward to making Ashland a destination point during the middle of the summer. We could also look at bringing boat racing back to the Tri-state.

With less pollution and a little help from Mother Nature the Ashland Riverfront could be a bright shining star that could pay off big time for our local economy. If we look at what we have and plan for what it could be.

The sky is the limit. Think boats and music sprinkled with a little need for speed.