Knowing river direction

[timoteov]

This is probably a dumb question but if I am looking at a map of a lake( Lake Texoma ) is there a way to know if a creek is flowing in or out of the lake? Fishing there this weekend

[K1500]

Pretty sure they all flow into the lake except the big one below the dam. 

[GaryH]

20 minutes ago, K1500 said:

Pretty sure they all flow into the lake except the big one below the dam. 

Yep. creeks and streams are run offs that flow into lakes and rivers.

[Mr. Aquarium]

When your fishing, open your phone and look where you’re at. 

[Spankey]

I like the idea to where you are going to fish. 

[Tatsu Dave]

Good Fishing! Usually if a lake is created by a dam most rivers, streams, and brooks will flow in above the dam. Not every time but way more often than not. 

[timoteov]

appreciate the replies. I figured I was over thinking it but wanted to be sure ?

4 hours ago, Spankey said:

I like the idea to where you are going to fish. 

fish there much? only been there once and it was a striper trip

[Spankey]

8 minutes ago, timoteov said:

appreciate the replies. I figured I was over thinking it but wanted to be sure ?

fish there much? only been there once and it was a striper trip

No man I’ve never been there. I’m a Yank from the northeast. I like the idea you are having about where the creeks are coming into the lake. 
 

We’ve been getting some long deserved rain. Friday we are suppose to get another good shot. I might give a couple Creek mouths a shot on Sunday. If water clarity is not way off I might as well stick to what I’ve been doing. I sort of wrote off going Saturday. 
 

Good luck, sorry for any confusion. 

[Sphynx]

Another thing to consider is that all reservoirs and dams are creating bodies of water which would not naturally occur, as far as I know all lakes in TX are man made, I could be wrong about that, but something is tickling the back of my brain saying I read or was informed about that at one time. 

[WRB]

Looking at a map the majority of rivers flow south with few exceptions. Man made reserviors are created by biulding a dam that located the opposite end of the inflowing River. Streams and or creeks feed into the river and flow downhill.

with all that said rivers, streams and creek don't naturally flow in a straight line, they meander but always flow downhill opposite of there head waters where they start to flow. 

Study the terrain around the reservior, look at maps and it should be obvious the direction of flow. 

Tom

PS, Florida biding flat rivers tend to flow in several directions helped by channels, but always towards the ocean. Several western rivers flow west towards the ocean away from the high mountain ranges located east. 

[Bird]

I do the same thing. 

 

Whenever I'm fishing a new body of water,  always observe it from Google earth and also look for topo maps with listed depth.

 

 

[Bird]

19 minutes ago, WRB said:

Looking at a map the majority of rivers flow south with few exceptions. Man made reserviors are created by biulding a dam that located the opposite end of the inflowing River. Streams and or creeks feed into the river and flow downhill.

with all that said rivers, streams and creek don't naturally flow in a straight line, they meander but always flow downhill opposite of there head waters where they start to flow. 

Study the terrain around the reservior, look at maps and it should be obvious the direction of flow. 

Tom

PS, Florida biding flat rivers tend to flow in several directions helped by channels, but always towards the ocean. Several western rivers flow west towards the ocean away from the high mountain ranges located east. 

It's safe to say the majority of major rivers flow south.

Ironically the river I grew up on " North fork Shenandoah " flows entirely north for 116 miles until dumping into the south Fork.

[J Francho]

28 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

as far as I know all lakes in TX are man made

All but one, Caddo. Though technically, there probably hundreds of oxbow lakes that are natural too.

2 minutes ago, Bird said:

It's safe to say the majority of major rivers flow south.

None travel south here.

[TOXIC]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Looking at a map the majority of rivers flow south with few exceptions. Man made reserviors are created by biulding a dam that located the opposite end of the inflowing River. Streams and or creeks feed into the river and flow downhill.

with all that said rivers, streams and creek don't naturally flow in a straight line, they meander but always flow downhill opposite of there head waters where they start to flow. 

Study the terrain around the reservior, look at maps and it should be obvious the direction of flow. 

Tom

PS, Florida biding flat rivers tend to flow in several directions helped by channels, but always towards the ocean. Several western rivers flow west towards the ocean away from the high mountain ranges located east. 

The St Johns River in Florida flows south to north.  It is also more fresh in the south and salty in the north.  Messed me up for a long time fishing there.  

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Bird said:

It's safe to say the majority of major rivers flow south.

Ironically the river I grew up on " North fork Shenandoah " flows entirely north for 116 miles until dumping into the south Fork.

The Tennessee River flows south then north. They ALL go downhill 

[Bankc]

They flow to the ocean.  I think the Great Salt Lake in Utah is the only water system in North America that doesn't.  Everything east of the Rockies goes to the Atlantic, and everything west goes to the Pacific.  Eventually.

Salt water happens when fresh water reaches the end of the line, and there's nowhere else for it to go other than through evaporation.  As it evaporates, it leaves behind the minerals, which is what makes the water salty.  So unless the lake or river is pretty salty, then it's a good bet that it's flowing towards the nearest ocean, to deposit the salts that it's picked up along the way.  

 

Now Texoma is a special case.  It's pretty salty for a lake.  However, Texoma gets it's salt from the salt water springs and salty land that the Red River passes through.  These were caused by the "Western Interior Seaway" that used to cover most of the central North America, from the arctic ocean to what is now the Gulf of Mexico.  Then, most of that land rose up and drained out into the oceans, leaving the plains we have today, but a small section of water that was over what is now west Texas, southeastern New Mexico, and parts of Oklahoma got stranded and left a basin of very salty water behind.  That lasted up until about 260 million years ago, and then that section of land rose up and again evaporated and drained off, but not until it left large concentrations of salt in the land behind it.  

 

All of that explains why Texoma is such a salty lake and can support such a large and healthy striper population (they were imported there, by they way).  What none of that explains, is why you need both an Oklahoma and Texas fishing license to fish there.  

[Tennessee Boy]

36 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The Tennessee River flows south then north. They ALL go downhill 

This thread got me thinking about how the Tennessee River violates the rules others have mentioned here.  The water that flows into Pickwick flows out of Pickwick dam except for the water that takes a short cut to the Gulf of Mexico by going down the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway.  Water that flows into Kentucky Lake flows out of Kentucky dam unless it decides to take the canal over to Barkley Lake where it can go down the Cumberland river to the Ohio.

[TnRiver46]

17 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

This thread got me thinking about how the Tennessee River violates the rules others have mentioned here.  The water that flows into Pickwick flows out of Pickwick dam except for the water that takes a short cut to the Gulf of Mexico by going down the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway.  Water that flows into Kentucky Lake flows out of Kentucky dam unless it decides to take the canal over to Barkley Lake where it can go down the Cumberland river to the Ohio.

I’m sure you know why the TN river flows north....... because Kentucky sucks!!!!!

 

just kidding I spent a weekend in Kentucky this winter, it was quite lovely 

[TOXIC]

After a little checking for just the US, it’s not that uncommon after all.  Worldwide rivers like the Nile are also included.

 

Deschutes Oregon, 250 miles

Eel Northern California, 78 miles

Fox Wisconsin, 200 miles

Genesee New York, 144 miles

Jordan Utah, 45 miles

Little Bighorn, Wyoming and Montana, 80 miles

Mojave Southern California, 100 miles

Monongahela, 128 miles

New Virginia and West Virginia, 255 miles

Niagara Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, 39 miles (On border with Canada)

Oswego New York, 24 miles

Otter Creek Vermont, 75 miles

Pend Oreille Washington, 62 miles

Red Minnesota, North Dakota (into Canada) 318 miles

Saginaw Michigan, 20 miles

Saint Johns Florida, 275 miles

San Pedro (Mexico into) Arizona, 142 miles

Shennandoah Virginia and West Virginia, 55 miles

Willamette Oregon, 188 miles

Wallkill New Jersey and New York, 88 miles

Youghiogheny PA etc 151 miles

Google is your friend

[WRB]

My 1st trip to Florida was Cape Canaveral. With my local rep we drove noth to Jacksonville following the St John is general. Looking at the river occasionally my thoughts were the river is flowing from Jacksonville south. When we arrived in Jacksonville my rep told me the river flows north 310 miles.

I said earlier the majority of US rivers flow south or towards the Pacific Ocean west of the Rockies and easterly along the east coast. Florida is the exception. The OP is located where river flow north to south in general, with the Red River flowing west to east, Washita flowing south. I can see why Texoma is a challenge to determine river flow direction.

Tom

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Worldwide rivers like the Nile are also included.

There's a joke here about denial.

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Google is your friend

Google stock is going south

[12poundbass]

After reading this thread I’m beginning to wonder does ? only flow downhill? ?

[TnRiver46]

Just now, 12poundbass said:

After reading this thread I’m beginning to wonder does ? only flow downhill? ?

A truer statement has never been made 

[Tennessee Boy]

52 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

After reading this thread I’m beginning to wonder does ? only flow downhill? ?

You obviously have never been trained as a plumber.  In college I worked as a plumber's helper during the summer.  The other tradesmen on the work sites always reminded us that you only need to know two things to be a plumber.  1) ? floats   2) Water only runs down hill.

[12poundbass]

2 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

You obviously have never been trained as a plumber.  In college I worked as a plumber's helper during the summer.  The other tradesmen on the work sites always reminded us that you only need to know two things to be a plumber.  1) ? floats   2) Water only runs down hill.

I was a plumbing apprentice back in the day. There’s one other thing I was taught 3) don’t bite your fingernails ?