A history lesson on Gauley Season

 

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — There’s been plenty of response to my piece earlier this week regarding gripes about Gauley Season. Some anglers who enjoy Summersville Lake for fall fishing groused about the annual drawdown in September.  They believe the drop of the level so early, as opposed to other West Virginia lakes where the winter drawdown happens later, kills good fishing. 

However, Dave Arnold at Adventures on the Gorge reminded me the early drawdown wasn’t created to benefit the whitewater rafting industry. The drawdown pre-dates Gauley Season and even pre-dates the whitewater industry.

Since the lake and dam were dedicated in 1966, with then first lady Ladybird Johnson on hand for the ribbon cutting, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has prescribed the early drawdown as measure of pollution abatement and preservation of aquatic life downstream.  Although much cleaner now, the Kanawha River was lined with chemical plants and raw sewage discharges in 1966. The early water release was aimed at mitigating the level of pollution on the Kanawha and reducing the chance of a massive fish ...more