# Cuyahoga Falls Dams



## homerun (Nov 22, 2009)

In case all weren't aware, the LaFever and Sheraton dams in Cuyahoga Falls will be removed this summer. This will dramatically change the fishing upstream from the dams. We'll see more smallmouth but fewer largemouth. The carp will be almost non existent. There will probably be fewer panfish too. This should lead to class 4 - 5 whitewater and some very interesting kayaking.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/remo...yahoga-falls-slated-to-begin-in-june-1.365493


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## jonnythfisherteen2 (Mar 5, 2011)

will be interesting to see the fishing change. wonder if the pike fishing is going to be affected too?
and i know this may sound like a stupid (ish) question, but how exactly do they remove the dams?


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## CWG (May 12, 2010)

Floating barge, and simply demo it.
Break off chunks, and then move that rubble to point B.
I read they will dump it around the same area vs. carting it off.
It will take a couple of years to see a fisheries change I suspect. 
Immediately it will be better downstream, but worse upstream.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

For the first year or two, you'll be able to catch all kinds of fish in the small pools in the whitewater and around the front st. park. I suspect that the carp, cats, panfish, and largemouth will find their way the edison pool. The pike like the river as long as it's not too rocky, so they might hold in the same areas with woody structure. It just depends on how steep the river bed is. There will be a jump in the number of smallies in there over the next few years because the rocky rapids is ideal habitat for them. 

Removing these dams will change the river from the Sheraton all the way up to Waterworks park.


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## McMish (Mar 23, 2009)

I love this idea, i know it might have some slight negative impacts on some species being caught in the falls 'Hoga section. 

BUT it will put more people on the water if there, if we can get smoe rafting charters to spark up. 

More people enjoying the river is exactly what we need. 
It will provide some jobs as well as put the river's filth in the spotlight of the city for a while and we might get some cleanup efforts. I hate government spending, but i would vote to even raise taxes if it were only for environmental conservation & cleanups. 

and if we can get that godforsaken hydro-electric dam taken down, and the dam in the Brecksville reservation we could have ourselves a the beginnings of a respectable river. 

#Reclaim the 'Hoga


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## homerun (Nov 22, 2009)

McMish said:


> I love this idea, i know it might have some slight negative impacts on some species being caught in the falls 'Hoga section.
> 
> BUT it will put more people on the water if there, if we can get smoe rafting charters to spark up.
> 
> ...


The removal of the Gorge dam is being studied but may cost up to $15,000,000. It's 68' with significant sediment. The removal of the Brecksville dam is also being reviewed. This would allow Lake Erie fish (walleye, smallmouth, white bass, etc.) access to much greater spawning areas.


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## sam kegg (Jun 23, 2007)

where do you fish off these rivers?


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

How far will steelhead be able to run then, Lake Rockwell?


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

creekcrawler said:


> How far will steelhead be able to run then, Lake Rockwell?


if the gorge dam was to be removed there's still a natural 20' water fall they'd have to contend with, they make it up to the gorge dam now so i guess we'll have to wait and see what the 20' falls look like. that would be sweet tho.


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## Parttime (May 4, 2012)

trapperjon said:


> if the gorge dam was to be removed there's still a natural 20' water fall they'd have to contend with, they make it up to the gorge dam now so i guess we'll have to wait and see what the 20' falls look like. that would be sweet tho.


Where is there a 20' natural falls located?


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## homerun (Nov 22, 2009)

There is a 3% grade between the Gorge and Sheraton dam and only .6% upstream from there. The best guess is that is where the old falls were located. It will be very problematic to see steelhead migrate through Cuyahoga Falls but they will definitely be able to travel well above the Rt 82 dam.


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## t.stuller (Feb 25, 2010)

Parttime said:


> Where is there a 20' natural falls located?
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


To my understanding it's under the hydro-electric dam. I heard they built the dam right against the face of the fall. The natural grade and speed of flow made for an ideal hydro-electric dam at the time.


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## McMish (Mar 23, 2009)

Parttime said:


> Where is there a 20' natural falls located?
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Here is a picture of that falls in pre-1922 times
A very nice looking waterfall. 
there is a lot more information about the dams on the river here. 

http://www.keelhauler.org/conservation/DamUpdate121031.html

Its covered in 'Hoga Sludge now somewhere under the gorge.


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## McMish (Mar 23, 2009)

homerun said:


> There is a 3% grade between the Gorge and Sheraton dam and only .6% upstream from there. The best guess is that is where the old falls were located. It will be very problematic to see steelhead migrate through Cuyahoga Falls but they will definitely be able to travel well above the Rt 82 dam.


if you fish the dam on 82 you can see some of them jump it. on a clear water but higher river day i would say 1 in 100 jump attempts make it over. 

and i have seen them far far far upriver after they jump.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Nice historical pic McMish! I would love to see the falls that are now underwater behind the dam some day, but I'm glad now that all the pollutants in the sediment are trapped behind that dam. I'd like to see the dam at the Gorge remain in place until it needs to be removed for safety reasons. That dam will be in good shape for another 50 years likely. In the meantime, the microbes and bacteria in the sediment will get a chance to clean up some of those pollutants. I think some pollutants will get washed downstream even if they do dredge the sediment before they remove the dam. Removing the dam will not help with fish migration since the waterfalls will keep even the steelhead from going upstream. 

The 20' high waterfall is about 100' downstream of the dam at the Gorge. I have seen a steelhead try and jump this waterfall, but it has no chance really. I can't wait to what comes up to us at the Gorge/Cascade Valley park once the Brecksville spillway is removed. I have caught every species in these parks except for channel cat, white bass, walleye, and muskie!


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## gonefishinbaitandtackle (Jan 30, 2009)

Since we run our fishing charters above the dams now, you can image that we have been talking a lot to the folks in City Hall. When the dams are removed it will effectively be the end of running fishing charters above the Sheraton part of the river. As a bait and tackle shop we are all for the removal of the dams as most of you have already stated the small mouth fishing will dramatically increases. There is an additional benefit that is not mentioned much. In late October of 2012 we had a meeting with the Mayor of Cuyahoga Falls regarding our fishing charter business. We explained that without some type of foot access to the river below the Sheraton we would have to move our boats to some other body of water. Mayor Robart told us that the City is going to put in access to the river below the Sheraton. This will open up a portion of the river that has really been unfished for years. If you have ever walked the trail that runs beside the river you can see that past High Glens Bridge the river is wide and deep and for the first time you should be able to fish this part of the river without dragging your boat down the cement bank under the bridge by the old Edison plant. We still do not know if they ever plan on building some type of boat ramp for that part of the river (as for us we will crane our pontoons into the river off the Front Street bridge.) but at least we should be able to fish a much deeper and virgin part of the river. The timeline for the completion of this part of the project should be in sync with the removal of the dams. But remember this will be TWO government projects going on at the same time (a camel is a horse that was designed by a government committee!) 
Bill 
Gone Fishin Bait and Tackle, LLC
1027 Munroe Falls Ave.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221


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## McMish (Mar 23, 2009)

I would be interested in seeing what type of fish could be had in that stretch of the river. i cant imagine anyone has got down there recently barring some brave 'yakers

But Don also said to "Friends of the Crooked River" (the organization that did the study's on how/why to remove the dams) that the hydroelectric dam could be down in as little as 5 years. they felt this was an over optimistic look though. 

casue we know our crackpot mayor sais a lot of things haha.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

the 20' falls that i was refering to is under the resevour, up stream from the dam. and for anybody to think that river will be raftable has never took a good look at the river itself,yaking most definatly but raft's would be torn to shread's, not enough room between the boulder's, JON


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## Gsxrfanim (Sep 28, 2009)

When they take these dams out how much do they think it will affect the water level from the Sheraton up through Cuy Falls? 
Is that fairly deep water in that area?
Also, why do you guys think it will help the small mouth population?
Faster moving water?


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

> the 20' falls that i was refering to is under the resevour, up stream from the dam. and for anybody to think that river will be raftable has never took a good look at the river itself,yaking most definatly but raft's would be torn to shread's, not enough room between the boulder's, JON


 
Take a kayak ride up the Edison Pool to the far upstream end. That's where you will find the falls. Only the top portion is visible. Everything else is underwater.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

> When they take these dams out how much do they think it will affect the water level from the Sheraton up through Cuy Falls?
> Is that fairly deep water in that area?


 
Take a look at the river above where the Monroe Falls dam or Kent dam used to be. That's what the river will look like all the way up to Waterworks with a few deep pools.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Gsxrfanim said:


> When they take these dams out how much do they think it will affect the water level from the Sheraton up through Cuy Falls?
> Is that fairly deep water in that area?
> Also, why do you guys think it will help the small mouth population?
> Faster moving water?


It will be a big difference! You're changing if from essentially being a lake to a natural river. The water level will go down to 2-5' deep depending on if you're in a riffle or a pool, just like it is upstream and downstream of this area. It will all be wadeable. 

Smallmouth like rocky streams. That is their ideal habitat. The area from the Sheraton to Front St. park across from the Acme store has similar terrain to the Gorge and to downtown Kent where people already catch smallies.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

i'm more courious as to what's going to happen to the bridge piling's once the river really get's moving thru the front st area. these bridge's are built on bedrock and the river's current will once again be on the same bedrock, hmmm..... should be interesting..... JON


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

A new article:

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/cuyahoga-falls-dams-to-be-demolished-in-summer-1.378422


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Neat. They said they will have the demo's on live cam!


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## I_Shock_Em (Jul 20, 2008)

When they took out the 5th Ave dam on the Olentangy River in Columbus, they had it on live cam. Was pretty cool to watch the process.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

the picture in the article was taken during flood stage. can't wait to see flood water's without a dam slowing it down, i've fished alot at the base of the dam against the building,there's a wing dam that run's parallel with the river (underwater in picture) that was a sweet spot for smallie's and pike. as a kid we used to play in the old powerhouse it was just a skeleton of what it used to be, most of the roof was gone,no window's or door's, the turbine's were gone and you could look down and watch the river go thru the bottom of the building, and we used to climb inside the one at sheraton, were lucky we did'nt get killed,crazy dumb a$$ kid's. LMAO


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

I saw a picture at the old Tackleshack once of a muskie that a guy caught from the river just upstream of the dam at the old powerhouse. It was about 20 lbs and was definitely not a pike. Any else ever here of a muskie being caught there? 

I fished once in the river between the dams and caught a stunted smallie, so I never went back. Figured there wasn't enough forage there for a good fishery since the fish were trapped by the dams.


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

After reading the article in the Record-Courier that asked some very unpopular questions about the removal of the dams on Front Street, three of us attended the city-sponsored "discussion " on the subject Jan.16 at the Falls Library.
Prior to the meeting actually getting started, my buddy pointed out that a guy had brought in a stack of the same article that raised the questions we couldn't get answers from from either the city or the EPA despite numerous efforts.I was pleasantly surprised as any questions as to the actual projected results of the dam removals were always deflected or dismissed as " negative thinking." It seems i was too quick to be pleased as the next thing we knew a blond girl from the city took away the stack of articles from the table where they sat with other river literature to be referenced. I was mad and asked the girl why she did that.First she outright lied that it was irrelevant information " left over from a previous meeting." we told her this was nonsense and our other buddy held up a copy he had already grabbed.She simply walked away.If any of you were at the mtg. you may recall the guys in the back who tried at least three times to get questions raised by he article and area radio programs who never got our questions answered and were finally never again called on...
Here are some of those questions-you decide if they are "mean", or "negative", or "not in the proper spirit of things." :
- why are the water levels on the river down so severely since the removal of the Kent and Munroe Falls dams?
- why does every person who at all regularly fishes or lives on the river note the severe decline in both fish numbers and relative sizes since these same events ? What happened, and why?
-the press conferences on the dams removal always state the much improved water quality to result, and the influx of "new fish species"-like smallmouth bass. excuse me? The vast majority of bass in the affected stretch-from Rt.91 to the Sheraton Rapids-has been dominated by smallmouth over largemouth for at least two decades-proven out by the EPA shock testing stats that once were so easy to acquire. Getting stats in any way refuting the obvious decline in gamefish populations is now like pulling teeth. Why ? 
-with schools of shad and shiners providing forage for the bass and pike no longer visible and with both forage species requiring deeper water to survive in, why would anyone think that bass or pike fishing would in any way improve ? Wouldn't it similarly improved with the removal of the upwater dams five years ago?Instead, the opposite happened.
-look at the bass and pike and crappie pictures taken from recent charter/tour boat rides and those referenced above from the old Tackleshack rentals and tournaments.The consistent difference in sizes is frightening. 
-why does no one with a hard on for these removals even mention the crazy uncle in the room-that is, the City of Akron, which controls all water rights in the upper river and has steadfastly and publicly stated they will NOT in any way guarantee any water levels downriver, their staff geologists perhaps well aware of what does-or rather doesn't-lie ahead.
-several river shoreline property owners got up at last week's "final" mtg. on the subject at Lion's Park and lamented the shorelines whose attractiveness attracted them and motivated them to build docks that are ALREADY on dry land.
- no one questions that moving water stands to be of better quality than stagnant, but a)the river is hardly stagnant now, and b)you have to have enough water projected for a viable fishery, and c)this stretch of the river has had no warnings on any fish species for over thirty years and regularly tests cleaner than most area lakes, where northern pike could never survive, let alone naturally reproduce.
-just what are thee mysterious new species that are going to appear that will apparently thrive in less water and with far less of a forage base?

Just try asking one of the agencies involved in promoting this effort; the "Friends of the Crooked River" are particularly entertaining in their ignorance. 

To see the article referenced; try the Record-Courier(pay), 'Buckeye Angler", or 'Hunting and Fishing show' Facebook sites.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Homeworker, you raised a lot of interesting questions. I don't think the EPA was concerned with the fishery as much as they were the water quality when they said the dams should be taken down. Removing the dams reduces the volume of water in the river section and thereby reduces the potential number of fish in the river section. No doubt, there will be less fish and different fish after the dams are removed. The cities that are paying for these dam removals are doing so because it is cheaper than upgrading their wastewater treatment plants to better treat the waste before it is dumped back into the river. The EPA gave them a choice of either upgrading the plants or removing the dams to get better water quality. Removing the dams was cheaper. Of course, they made all these decisions on which direction to go before they held a public meeting for "open" discussion. 

Removing the dams also flushes the sediment downstream. I've seen how removing the monroe falls dam sent sediment to pile up at waterworks park. I don't fish in this area any more because that sediment messed up the whole ecosystem and reduced the number of fish. Eventually, the river will heal itself, but will always be different than what it was. I'm actually excited to fish the front st. park and sheraton area for smallmouth once the dams are removed. In this case, all the sediment will be flushed to the edison pool where nobody fishes much anyways. 

The water flow rate in the Hoga was set by a court mandated agreement with the city of akron a number of years ago. Akron has to maintain a certain minimum flow rate from Lake Rockwell per the agreement. Hopefully, they are doing this. 

There will continue to be pike in this section, just maybe not as much as before. I feel bad for the dock owners. I would want some compensation for the loss of my waterfront and dock use if I were them.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

was fishin' the front st area yesterday, got 1 smallie before 3 yaker's showed up, hauled @$$ to the observation bridge to watch them hit the rapid's. pretty neat to watch. one of the guy's had a camera on his helmet, gonna have to check youtube for video.... JON


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

trapperjon said:


> was fishin' the front st area yesterday, got 1 smallie before 3 yaker's showed up, hauled @$$ to the observation bridge to watch them hit the rapid's. pretty neat to watch. one of the guy's had a camera on his helmet, gonna have to check youtube for video.... JON


What rapids?? Were they north of broad, or between the 2 dambs? Possible south of Sheraton hotel? And just can see anyone tackling anynof the dambs


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

They are friggin crazy to do that with these water temps!


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

they puy in under portage tr bridge and went over sheraton dam and then rest off the rapids. kept pullingover to shore walking back up stream and doing them again, my brother used to hit them 25yrs + ago and i remember him saying if all 3 dam's were gone it would be the meanest white water this side of the mississippi.....


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

trapperjon said:


> they puy in under portage tr bridge and went over sheraton dam and then rest off the rapids. kept pullingover to shore walking back up stream and doing them again, my brother used to hit them 25yrs + ago and i remember him saying if all 3 dam's were gone it would be the meanest white water this side of the mississippi.....


Thats just flat out crazy!! I wish i would have seen it. My office is on front street and i park right where you said they were puting in at. I have never once seen any body float that section.


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## Drew318 (Mar 25, 2010)

bdawg said:


> They are friggin crazy to do that with these water temps!


This was my exact thought when I drove passed them unloading their yaks!



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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

I saw those kayakers that day also. I saw them go down the rapids between the Sheraton and the Gorge. They had wet suits on, but no gloves. Looked like fun to me.


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## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

I find the water quality reasoning for the removal of the dams kind of interesting. Yes it's going to improve the water quality. How much, is probably debatable. I just wonder how much you need to improve the water quality of a section of river that is maybe what? 8 river miles up river from a water treatment plant? Not to mention probably less than two miles up river from the Gorge dam. 

The one article posted seemed to say the water quality was so poor that small mouth bass couldn't exist in the slower sections of the river, yet the same evidently dirty water that spills over the Gorge dam, is the same water that has a very healthy small mouth population down river from that dam. Maybe the water get's cleaner when it goes over the Gorge dam? I don't understand how the EPA could give cities a choice of removing dams in lieu of cleaning up the discharges of their water treatment plants. Moving water isn't going to be cleaner water if the discharges are allowed to remain at the levels that are evidently unacceptable to the EPA. All moving water is going to do, is move it down stream. Maybe I'm under estimating a rivers ability to filter out pollutants. 

I'm curious as to who is going to clean up all the crap that gets exposed in that section of the river. It's going to be a major undertaking before that section of river will considered "scenic". Actually .... Considering the section of river that's going to be affected, I doubt it will ever be able to be considered scenic. It's a good idea at heart, but IMO it seems more misguided and more pie in the sky eye, than anything. All of this for a section of white water that won't be utilized even close to what people think. 

I can see it now ...... come to beautiful downtown Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and enjoy two miles of white water rapids. Unless of course they're a trickle because of a dry summer. The Sheraton had better add rooms ..... they're gonna need them !!!


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## t.stuller (Feb 25, 2010)

Bassbme said:


> I'm curious as to who is going to clean up all the crap that gets exposed in that section of the river. It's going to be a major undertaking before that section of river will considered "scenic". Actually .... Considering the section of river that's going to be affected, I doubt it will ever be able to be considered scenic. It's a good idea at heart, but IMO it seems more misguided and more pie in the sky eye, than anything. All of this for a section of white water that won't be utilized even close to what people think.
> 
> I can see it now ...... come to beautiful downtown Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and enjoy two miles of white water rapids. Unless of course they're a trickle because of a dry summer. The Sheraton had better add rooms ..... they're gonna need them !!!


I agree. Thats not really gonna pull the tourists in.


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## boss302 (Jun 24, 2005)

Bassbme said:


> I find the water quality reasoning for the removal of the dams kind of interesting. Yes it's going to improve the water quality. How much, is probably debatable. I just wonder how much you need to improve the water quality of a section of river that is maybe what? 8 river miles up river from a water treatment plant? Not to mention probably less than two miles up river from the Gorge dam.
> 
> The one article posted seemed to say the water quality was so poor that small mouth bass couldn't exist in the slower sections of the river, yet the same evidently dirty water that spills over the Gorge dam, is the same water that has a very healthy small mouth population down river from that dam. Maybe the water get's cleaner when it goes over the Gorge dam? I don't understand how the EPA could give cities a choice of removing dams in lieu of cleaning up the discharges of their water treatment plants. Moving water isn't going to be cleaner water if the discharges are allowed to remain at the levels that are evidently unacceptable to the EPA. All moving water is going to do, is move it down stream. Maybe I'm under estimating a rivers ability to filter out pollutants.
> 
> ...


The water quality thing is tied to disolved oxygen. more DO results in better conditions for all kinds of critters, even the microscopic ones. Also, a naturaly flowing river has better habitat (riffel, run, pool, not big slow pond)...both reasons there is decent smallie fishing downstream of the gorge dam. It is a river, but right now this section is more like a pond. As for the flow, that section will have the same summer flow as it always did...removing a coupple dams will do little to change the amount of water in the stream. A "drop" of water will just move through the river system faster, and with more DO.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

The dissolved oxygen in a stream is used by the microbes and bacteria which eat the pollutants and transform it to a less toxic compound in mysterious ways that could only be explained by a micro-biologist. The more DO, the more microbes, hence more pollutant removal even though the water is moving faster. A stagnant pool just deposits the pollutants at the bottom and leads to algae blooms. Now, if they could build some wetlands next to the river, that would be an even better filter. 

The EPA has been picking on the treatment plant operators and industries since the Clean Water Act was passed. The water flowing out of the treatment plants now is almost drinkable. The EPA is trying to get the water to what they consider to be fishable and swimable based on their water tests and fish/bug counts. There are other sources of pollution that are effecting the river as well such as fertilizer from farms and lawns, fluid leaks from cars, emmisions from cars and factories, failed septic systems, and erosion from construction sites. The EPA is cracking down on these areas now too, but it's easier for them to pick on a single big entity like a treatment plant or factory. 

The Gorge Dam has acted like a water treatment pond for many years, which is why the sediment is contaminated. The water flowing into the edison pool has a lot of sediment and pollutants in it that settle to the bottom of the pool, leaving cleaner water going over the top. Which is why the fishery is better immediately downstream of the dam until you reach the city of Akron's combined sewer overflow pipes.


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## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

I wasn't really considering dissolved oxygen, but more actual pollutants when I was saying water quality probably wouldn't change much. I wasn't aware there were pollutant eating microbes though. Thanks for the clarifications guys.


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

Remember; last year the EPA and Enviroscience went down to take samples of the sediment down by the dam as the city and other groups anxious to rationalize removing the Gorge Dam were disappointed to the point of cancelling the subsequent follow-up news conference when Bob Downing reported in the Beacon that, in fact, after all these projections of everything from nuclear waste to Jimmy Hoffa to be revealed there, almost no significant evidence of contamination or pcbs at all was reported. The Portage Lakes testing revealed much higher counts.
BTW; you're not much of a Cuyahoga River expert if you actually believe the smallmouth fishing is better below the Gorge dam than in Edison Reservoir itself. No comparison, especially for size.


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## BASSINaDL (Aug 24, 2010)

I'd have to disagree ... biggest smallmouth out of the gorge ive seen was 12" and skinny. Last may, me and a friend from school took the kayaks out, and fished down river until the pier was in sight. We were out from 1pm- 7:30... caught 30+ on tubes and dropshot rig, and size was 6"-11". But at the portage trail bridge downstream in I guess would. be considered Akron, and up river a few hundred yards from the bridge I have my top four or five best smallies, top two being 19" and fat before the spawn, and 21" on a bed. Don't give me that bol, lol


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

You can't base what you or even you and several friends have caught somewhere and cite it as irrefutable evidence. I've caught some nice ones down in Liberty Commons (yes, it's Akron) too, but if all you caught was one 12''-er one day at the Gorge I'd say-and decades of shock-testing stats would bear me out-you're methodology is all askew.I'm betting you're fishing essentially the same way in both places.One spot is a foot or so deep, the other averages 20-30'. Fish at Edison much the same way you would at Lake Erie; the difference being the fish are much healthier than at Erie , and fight light-years better pound-for-pound, the water is generally deeper than at Erie, and with just a tad of knowledge Helen Keller can limit out there.
...and maybe you can too.


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

I have fished the river since before the Kent dam was down. I kayak the river on flat and white water. The last 4 years I have been involved in or ran, river cleanups from tannery park to waterworks in the falls for Kent State and was a livery supervisor for Crooked River Adventures. I also was on the committee for Kent's river day and participated in both Monroe falls and Kent's river day. I have been really involved with the river and been looking after her for a while. The river cleanups have taken out 5 to 10 tons of trash per year. Every year we find less. The first year we found tires to phone booths. Now we find less. So we are making an impact on the resource.

I will say the amount of large pike I caught has gone down some. But the small mouth have gone up. I have been there and watched the EPA shock the river and find species of fish that are only found in healthy rivers and species that were not there years ago.

Like any cycle of life returning the river to its natural state will change the way we remember them. There are a bunch of issues that need to be dealt with. Rockwell, the dams, Akron's water treatment plant, and pollution. 

Our ancestors caused the problems and issues now its our responsibility to fix the problem.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

I actually am an intern right now at Akron Water Pollution Control. There is a lot of new construction and many updates being made to the plant that help treat the water more. There was an experimental test that they conducted on a low scale down at the plant called BioActiflo (Or something like that) that would help treat the water better in case of a high flow event such as a heavy rainstorm. I don't know everything but I try to get as much knowledge of the process that I can being an intern. There are many different steps that sewage goes through that really cleans the water. You'd guys would be amazed by how much contaminants we get out of the water. After the stuff gets taken out of the water there is then a chlorine type of chemical added to the water which gets plenty of time to treat whatever is still in the water. After that there is something called dechlor added to the water that dilutes or dissolves (Can't think of the word) the chlorine so it's safe to go into the river.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Forgot to add that we now have new generators that actually run off of the methane gas from the landfills and I think from the sludge we pull out of the water, meaning that we're keeping that methane gas from effecting and polluting the air quality as well. The generators then use the electricity to run "blowers" that blow air (that is filtered) into a part of the process that extracts the dissolved solids from the water. 

But anyway, this thread is about the dams. I think that removing the dams might be a good thing. I catch a lot more smallies if fast moving water, or water that has a little current to it. I have kayak'd through Kent and went down some of the "rapids" and it was actually pretty fun. Having a little bit of fast moving water down towards Akron a little bit would provide atleast a little more fun to people around here even if it wasn't a big tourist attraction. Removing the Gorge dam I believe would be a good idea, only because recreational fisherman/women usually don't fish in water any more that 10' deep, let alone 30'. I'm not trying to pull any hairs or anything.


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## McMish (Mar 23, 2009)

bdawg said:


> The Gorge Dam has acted like a water treatment pond for many years, which is why the sediment is contaminated.


lets hope when they bring down that monster they can dredge out most of that polluted sludge. 
and they can dump in in Benedict Lupo and Michael Guesmen's back yards haha


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