Help Save Olentangy Dam

Fishing is in peril in this area. Please help save it... More info-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5a6abrLv6U&feature=email

good video. they already removed all the dams in findlay ohio on the blanchard river to help control flooding supposedly. haven't seen yet if it helped, but i'll tell you this, there a re no holes left to fish thru the city, unless you goto the park where the old reservoir is. the rest of the river now looks like the video, where there is only a trickle. we used to catch 8 and 10 pound cats below the dam off of broad ave. now we all wonder where they went since they can't survive in 2 inches of water. they ruined a good section of river when they removed them, and the corp of engineers says dredging and re routing the river is the only way to control flooding. i agree with joe fisherman........SAVE THE DAMS!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but fishing is not being threatened by the removal of these dams. It is in fact making it better. I live less than 1/4 mile from the Olentangy on the OSU campus, and the stretch above the dam is terrible. It is silted in and hardly a good river environment. It is one of the only stretches on the river to recieve a POOR ranking from the OEPA. In the above cases, the main river channel hasn't had a chance to reform the riverine sinuosity. Depending on the sediment substrate, it could take anywhere from 1 to 10 years to be looking like a dam was never there. Alum Creek in Columbus had two dams removed this fall. The substrate is such that it was able to create deep channels and beautiful riffles after only one high water occurence. The Olentangy runs through the same geologic area as Alum and will in fact recover extremely quickly.

Something about Joe:
Joe has an entertaining show. Contrarily, he has come off as a highly egotistical person on www.ohiogamefishing.com. It isn't really a question there of why he wants the dam removed.

He is the ONLY person that has access to a launching place for his boat in the small pool above 5th ave dam. He is able to catch a variety of LAKE species in the would be riverine environment. He uses views of Ohio stadium in the background to raise viewership on his shows. If this dam is taken out, you won't be able to run a bassboat through there. Kayaks and other small boats will be fine though. He dislikes the removal of the dam for personal reasons opposed to conservation reasons. It's propaganda people. Does he ever mention that the 5th Ave Dam is responsible for deaths?
Let's recap.
Removing the dam PROs and CONs:

PRO:
1. Higher water quality.
2. Better habbitat for Smallmouth Bass, Saugeye, Rockbass, Flathead Catfish, other river species.
3. Expanded range of state threatened and endangered fish (Blubreast Darter, River Redhorse, Tippecanoe Darter, Ohio Muskellunge)
4. A safer environment for canoers, kayakers, fishermen.
5. Fish will be able to migrate past the dam during annual spring migration runs.
6. People won't have to pay for the upkeep of a dam that is no longer used (the reservoir used to be the water source for the OSU powerplant, not anymore)

CON:
1. Less Largemouth Bass & Bullhead Catfish
2. Joe cannot run his bassboat up and down the small area above the dam.
3. OSU rowers will have to row at the cleaner Griggs or O'Shaughnessy Reservoir.
4. People who enjoy sitting on the bank of a disgusting muddy section of river, drinking beer, littering and catching carp, will have to go somewhere else.

You be the judge.

Don't believe me? Here are a few links from credible organizations.
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/water/dsafety/l...57/Default.aspx
http://www.olentangywatershed.org/act_FifthAvenueDam.html
http://campushed.osu.edu/DamRemoval.html
http://www.lrh.usace.army.mil/projects/current/5thavedam/
http://utilities.columbus.gov/Conservation/5thAveDam.htm

I hope this thread will be named "Save the Olentangy, remove the dirty dam!"

Wow you make some good points.
Alot of background info I also didn't know...
Thanks for the info

Anytime. I like the page BTW! I have a few questions about the forum setup. I'll PM you.

Mushijobah,

anything I can be of assistance of in regards to the forum setup?

Thanks guys. I opened a topic in the general forum so that I wouldn't be off topic.

http://www.ohiooutdoors.org/the-chitter-chatter-room-f2/forum-question-the-admins-here-have-it-right-t507.htm#1592

Not sure how many of you out there are from Toledo and are familiar with the southend. I have fished the Swancreek area around Highland park for a few years now, mostly when the wight bass run up to spawn,man you can catch them one after another on a good day. There was a dam right under South street, well i drove down there a few weeks ago and to my surprise the dam was gone but about 100' from where it was there were huge boulders laid across the stream for another 15'. My ? is do you think that there will be an effect on the fish? I have also caught Smallmouth,Largmouth,Rockbass,Bluegill, and one time above the dam i caught a Pike about 2' long and also seen a guy catch a Rainbow trout above it also.

As far as i can tell the dams are helpful to many fisheries and once they're gone it takes a while to make that area a normal river again so most people never really have a chance to fish a already removed dam area years later which I think would be just as good.
I live on another Lake Erie trib the portage and fish the only dam I know of on it and it's not really a good spot so I think it just depends on what river/area your in in whether a dam removal will effect your fishing...
In the ways of your spot I'd say for these next years it may still be a good whitebass area because of the shallower water making them stop before they move on but your other fish will move into deeper holes. Hope this helps
Jonny

depend on the condition of the body of water... if it has a high fish population in it, and also if it is a stream/river where there is alot of water level fluctuation on it... shallow areas in that spot may not now go dry in the summer depending on how they moved the gravel and water levels...

Ive seen bridge removal do good and bad to a fishery...

In theory, over time, the fishing will be better. This is most important on large tributaries to Erie. If white bass cannot go any further than the dam there, they only have a very small area to spawn in. If they can continue upstream to more and better habbitat, they will spawn more and more fish will end up being born, etc.

People are really too caught up on losing a specific hole under a dam that they would catch fish at. Think about it this way. You may lose one hole right below the dam, but many holes will be formed because of this. Trout, salmon, walleye, sauger, white bass, sturgeon, etc. will then be able to call that stream home since they require migration to reproduce. It's kind of like a long term investment.

The stream that I mainly fish here in Columbus had two dams removed this winter. It not looks and fishes so much better in the stretches that were once muddy and slow.

I did have many fun times fishing below the dams, but the stream as a whole will have more and better fish now.

Is the dam you are speaking of here?
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/water/dsafety/lowhead_dams/removed_dams_list/tabid/3366/Default.aspx