It’s a once-a-year fishing bonanza Brian Brown wasn’t going to miss.

Every week in August, the angry rapids of hydro-powered Twelve Mile Creek calm down. Water levels drop. And the fish just seem to hang out, waiting to be reeled in.

“It’s been awesome today; we’re catching all kinds (of fish),” said Brown, sitting with his rod on a muddy point of a tiny peninsula that is normally underwater. “The low (water) level makes a difference, for sure. We wouldn’t be sitting here, for one thing. When it was at its lowest (earlier in the week), you could stand right out on the rocks where the rapids used to be.”

The normally rushing waters of the creek are an artificial phenomenon created by up to 240 cubic metres of water, enough to fill a couple of swimming pools, exiting the upstream DeCew Falls hydro generation station every second.

But during the week-long Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, Ontario Power Generation usually cuts downs the powerful flow by half to keep the water calm for competitors rowing on Martindale Pond.

“We’re always happy to co-operate with the Henley,” said spokesman Ted Gruetzner. “But we don’t advise going near (the creek) during that time, or any time of year.”

There’s a lot of power in that roiling creek — the city is even hoping to harness a rapid-filled section near the Fourth Avenue bridge for a hydro dam in the future.

And while it looks relatively tame at low water, Gruetzner warns the water levels can change quickly. Generally, OPG has been turning the taps back on each night around 6 p.m.

Brown watches for the telltale signs of returning flow. “Usually it comes back in pretty slow,” he said. “But we’re aware of the potential for flash flooding, that sort of thing.”

Brown and his friends chose their fishing hangout Saturday on the end of a point of a tiny peninsula in the creek just southeast of the Burgoyne Bridge. While the point is normally submerged, the rest of the peninsula stays dry, so they weren’t feeling worried.

They weren’t alone, either.

All weekend, the temporarily dry banks of the creek near the bridge were lined with fishing enthusiasts and explorers taking a closer look at old wooden remnants of the creek’s industrial past jutting out of the low water.

Local power officials know it’s tempting, Gruetzner said, but “it’s still not a safe thing to do.”

He pointed to the jump in drowning deaths in Ontario this year and noted the provincial power provider has occasionally had to call in police to hand out tickets to people who fished too close to dams or other power structures.

“The basic message…. is stay clear, stay safe.”

via Low water, high risk? – St. Catharines Standard – Ontario, CA.