Thread: White river refuge report

Originally Posted by TAV2

There are no isolated waters when the river is 29' at Clarendon - the bottoms are an inland sea at that level w/ flow everywhere. Nothing will be clearer either due to the fast rise. Wish i could give you a better report than that, but can't.

Right now, I am just hoping everyone there is safe and dry. I have family that live along the st. francis and black river; I was worried last night when I saw all the weather warnings.

TAV2, I do have a trip scheduled for late May and was hoping to hit Maddox Bay and some of the refuge lakes. Any idea how long it will take things to get down to normal for that time of year assuming normal rainfall for the next month? If the White crests in the next day or so and you guys don't get continued double digits of rainfall over the next few weeks, is it possible the gauge at Clarendon could be close to 20 ft?

Yes it's possible (I'm an optimist), but it's unlikey that it'll be back in the 20' range by then. It won't crest at Clarendon for several more days. Also, all the white river lakes are now extremely high, so it's subject to stay up for a spell. Miss River being so high will only compound the problem. Check back when it's closer to your trip and I'll help you out as best as I can.

I will be extremely surprised if the white is even close to 20 by late May. The current projections for the MS are close to the 1927 flood levels and will almost without question blow by the 2008 levels. It may be closer to July before the lower portions of the White get back to what I consider good fishing levels.