I posted this in the reports and conditions page on the Mackay thread as well but thought I would throw it here too:
So I would imagine most folks are aware that Mackay was drawn down this year for repairs. It does look like given that it is still down at 13.6 ft (about 1500 acre feet) that ice fishing will be very iffy at best this season. It will freeze but it was down so long it's hard to say what kind of quality of fishing there will be and if ice will be any good. Looking back at my previous posts from 2022, the gauge was at 46+ feet in Dec 2022.
The folks in charge did finally update about what they have been doing and what is going on but it took some digging to find so I thought I would share it here for anyone who may be wondering:
They realized over the summer that they needed to repair a gate that was stuck and it would require draw down. It took longer than they hoped to draw down due to a good water year. Upon drawing down, they found additional issues including a large rock that had wedged itself against another gate. They built a levee to keep water away from the area they needed to work. However, heavy rains ended up washing the levee away and they were forced to put in a new, heavier culvert and build a new levee so they could work. They ended up fixing quite a bit and installing new supports and other stuff. They still have more to repair on the inside of the water control tower thing but, they anticipate being able to shut the gates and reduce water and start holding it back by the end of next week (12/9). So hopefully they can start holding back and we get a good water year again to get it filled back up to somewhat normal levels. I would imagine kokanne fishing will be spotty at best until they can stock more and they can grow. Trout will be ok given that they stock it so much and can be fairly resilient. Perch, who knows? Will really depend on how hard they were hit during salvage and if it can get enough water to get spawning/nursery grounds underwater when the time comes (and then not get drawn down to fast).
