# Griggs "Pipes"



## ohflyfisher614 (Apr 2, 2010)

Was fishing Griggs yesterday and they actually had water coming out of one of the pipes on the side of the dam. This was the first time I've ever noticed it. One of the other guys fishing was telling me they used to open both of them quite a bit in the past and when they did there would be tons of shad that would come through them. I watched for 10 minutes after fishing and unfortunately didn't see anything spilling over the top of the pipes. 

Does anyone know how the pipes work? Where is it pulling the water from the water column in the reservoir? I'd imagine the only way for something to come through they would have to swim through. Or is there some kind of vacuum pressure?


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Not sure how it works,but imagine baitfish get sucked through... majority of the game fish come up river for the "conveyor" style buffet.

Oh and current is a magnit for game fish. So im sure many on the lake side either purposly or non purposly go through...


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## FOSR (Apr 16, 2008)

I can ask my contacts at DPU.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Back in the 90's they used to have both pipes spewing water all the time. Nowadays it seems the city does everything it can to keep them off (and have water coming over the dam).

At any rate they usually open them up when the flow from Oshay drops below 50fps, as it did a few days back. I wouldn't expect them to stay open very much longer with the rain we are supposed to get.

As for fish washing through, all kinds of fish will wash through. When they are flowing at a trickle (as the one is right now) you can often go to the top of the "lookout deck" on the east side and see big schools of shad swimming inside the funnel, right up on top. Of course when they really open the flow up those shad get blown out, but as it stands right now they tend to just hang out in the mediocre current.

Also back in the day gamefish would get trapped inside, and after they turned them off you could see them all spolishing around in the bottom. They re-did the whole pipe/bypass complex in '95 and now there is a "notch" at the bottom so bigger fish can swim through/escape.


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## ohflyfisher614 (Apr 2, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys. It's to bad they don't open them more often and allow some fish to wash through for those of us who like to fish the river.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Dont worry, they come swimming over the Dam too


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## FOSR (Apr 16, 2008)

I know this has been posted before, but here's video from 2005 when a 50-year flood immersed those structures.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

FOSR said:


> I know this has been posted before, but here's video from 2005 when a 50-year flood immersed those structures.
> 
> Griggs Dam at floodstage..January 2005 - YouTube


Shot by yours truly  (disregard all the Gangsta Rap on my channel, thats what I listened to back in high school )


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

acklac7 said:


> Shot by yours truly  (disregard all the Gangsta Rap on my channel, thats what I listened to back in high school )


They just dont produce it like they used to,do they?:


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## FOSR (Apr 16, 2008)

So I asked, and got an answer:



> Those are called Morning Glory Outlets, or Morning Glory Dissipaters.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

FOSR said:


> So I asked, and got an answer:


Thanks fosr. Your info is valuable to this site... your the best!


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

acklac7 said:


> Shot by yours truly  (disregard all the Gangsta Rap on my channel, thats what I listened to back in high school )


Shout out to Bushwick Bill! The Little Big Man! If if don't make dollars, it just don't make sense! Good stuff


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## ohflyfisher614 (Apr 2, 2010)

FOSR- Thanks for the info and inquiring about it. 

The last time I was down there they did actually sound the sirens but never opened the pipes like in your picture. It was actually just barely tricking over the sides. I wonder what the flow would look like downstream with them open fully. I have a feeling it would surprise quite a few people.


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## FOSR (Apr 16, 2008)

Thanks but that's not my pic, it was sent along with that answer. I would have loved to see that firsthand.

Someone needs to photoshop in a bear swatting at a salmon.


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

And man... did I ever have some good days fishing in the fall when there was "some" water coming out of there. Those were the days......


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Gottagofishn said:


> And man... did I ever have some good days fishing in the fall when there was "some" water coming out of there. Those were the days......


Back in the 90's early 2000's (when they kept both pipes open at a good tilt) you could more often then not get into a hot bite.

It's been probably 10 years since I've seen both Pipes open . Nowadays it's just that one pipe, and it's almost always flowing at a trickle .


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## FOSR (Apr 16, 2008)

The south outlet was open today.

It was a nice day to be out. I was leading a group of VISTA volunteers in a litter cleanup, happy to report there wasn't very much. One guy was yakking along the disc golf course.


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## wallen34 (Nov 20, 2013)

Just got home from Griggs. It was cool to see the pipe open, I've never seen it before.


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