In late May 2022 Sturgeon was at least five feet above normal because of high runoff and because part of the Pickeral dam broke. I thought I would share some photos of the effect. For those of us who struggle with water levels on these creeks this was totally astonishing.

WOW is all I can say…did it create any dangerous current?

T

Was pretty crazy - we were on the Deux Rivieres around the same time; May 24 & again on the 26th, floated right over the beaver dams. The man-made Pickerel dam was a little scary.

I was in the area end of May 2022 as well. The Deux was interesting floating 2 feet above the top of grassy reeds. And Sturgeon campsites and portage landings were a good bit more flooded and harder to find than typical for sure!

I didn’t hear about the dam partially breaking as being a contributing factor to Sturgeon being so high. That makes sense - it seemed like Sturgeon in particular was even more absurdly high water than the other areas we were in. Water was also downright gushing in from the Poets chain. So much so that we opted not to venture into the Poet’s chain despite having planned to.

We did not note anything wrong with the dam structure itself, but the boom with its distinctive red floats was broken, and caught in the chutes.

I walked/waded the portage to Bisk, and there were three spots you'd get wet...one at crotch level, all with moving water. The launch point into Bisk looked sketchy. Parks had said not to travel that way.

Pickerel Dam & Outflow, May 28 2022