Spokane arm

[plugger]

I'm not real familiar with the river and was Just wondering where all the mud comes from to dirty up the arm? The river will be clear in the Spokane area and mud down on the lower end. Something is puking mud somewhere.

[Mfowl]

Just speculating but it could be from erosion/mud slides. It happens over here on the west side during high flow times.

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

Hangman creek

[plugger]

Does long lake get muddy or does it come from below there?

[Buckhunter82]

Maybe its the raw sewage that the city allows to flow into the river. Probably not but i still cant believe that they get away with that.

[cryder]

A B S U G U L O O O O L Y ! THEY been putting poop in that poor river for 50 years ! The clown that runs it drinks from the outage drain every year to prove its clean , he's still alive , glowing a bit behind the ears but alive , I guess that says something , but a sewage plant that you can smell from literally a mile away ? I'm not drinking it , he does this on camera yearly   (. UHGG !!  ) And gross ! I do eat fish out of the mighty Columbia , have for35 years , I'm not glowing yet , but I've got this darn silver hair ,I'm thinking that's from chasing elk for to long , there's a lot of water going on in that river so I just forget about it , and fish ON !

[thatdamguy]

The Spokane arm when its muddy is definitely from Hangman creek here is a link to a  USGS gauge
 https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?12424000
Normally takes a couple weeks to clear up once Hangman drops back to normal levels.

The raw sewage problem should be getting better because the city is finally installing large storm water catch basins that should prevent overflow of raw sewage into the river. I too have no idea why they were able to get away with that for so long.

[plugger]

Thanks, that creek must get a ton of runoff.

[nwwanderer]

Millions of tons.  Mostly from its own banks, glacial lake Missoula sediment.

[quadrafire]

I'm thinking out loud here, but Hangman creek enters the system just below Spokane. It travels through Long lake which at that point should sediment out all the discoloration of Hangman.......
Any discoloration is going to happen below Long lake dam and Little Falls dam. I'm not sure what happens downstream of that?

[nwwanderer]

Long lake and the others catch the big stuff but fine sediments suspend pretty will and they put a bunch through in high water.

[thatdamguy]

I'm thinking out loud here, but Hangman creek enters the system just below Spokane. It travels through Long lake which at that point should sediment out all the discoloration of Hangman.......
Any discoloration is going to happen below Long lake dam and Little Falls dam. I'm not sure what happens downstream of that?

Not really usually when Hangman breaks loose it is during high flows so Long Lake Dam and all the other Dams will be spilling water so its passes small and large debris and sediment. Hangman creek has always had some sediment but it significantly increased when they did work to the Pullman Highway a few years ago.

[L-ofalab]

 It depends on where you are seeing the mud, where did you see it? What about Hawk creek it flows through farm lands then dumps right into  the lake.

[bowhunterforever]

It depends on where you are seeing the mud, where did you see it? What about Hawk creek it flows through farm lands then dumps right into  the lake.

Spokane arm is muddy all the to the mouth

[plugger]

Just talking the lower end. porcupine bay area. Just seems to be muddy a lot in the late winter, early spring. I would fish it more, but to worried of driving that far not knowing. I don't mind stained, say 3 ft visibility, much less than that and I don't have much confidence.