By Bob Walsh
The American River just below the Nimbus Dam is picturesque. There is a fish hatchery there that is kind of interesting. I went there once on a school field trip back in the prehistoric days. Fishing is common in the river below the dam.
Due to a lot of recent runoff the decision was made to significantly increase the water release from the dam. They gave a LOT of warning of this. A fire department helicopter even flew down the river to warn people via loudspeaker that the water level was going to increase significantly and suddenly. There is a very good air-raid siren at the damn that they light up before they increase the water flow. I have been downriver when they have done this. You can hear the damn thing really easily unless you are deaf, dead or dead drunk.
Anyway there were four salmon fishermen on this small island a short distance downstream from the dam. It is normally easy to wade out to the island wearing waders and it is a good spot to fish from. But when the water release triples it is not easy to wade across. It is in fact dangerous. These four men took a little too long to get their butts into gear to the point where their leaving the island became problematic. The sheriff’s office had to send a boat to get them off safely.
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