Devan S.

Devil's cut......mmmmmhmmmm.

We don't put much stock into anything they do or tell you yet we use stuff built, designed, and manufactured by them everyday. Don't worry I get it your not a facts and data guy. Shoot, ready, aim right? I'm well aware Johnny has interest in Table Rock Lake but the lake level being 915 or 930 doesn't matter to him. Life goes on at Big Cedar, Dogwood, Top of the Rock, and Bass Pro regardless of lake level.

I'm not trying to play both sides or stirring. I think its a fairly complex problem, that covers a fairly large area of land, that is extremely reactive to conditions that most don't think about. Add in downstream effects and the magnitudes jump more than 10 fold. All the data is out there including historical: -Peak stream flows -Mean stream flows -Lake levels -Generation/dam releases -Personal weather stations all over the place that record everything you could need You can theorize that Johnny Morris is paying someone to keep Table Rock prime for tournaments but he has bigger fish to fry. The guy make far more money selling T-shirts, hats, and junk out of his store than he would by keeping Table Rock at prime level. It just doesn't matter to him. The only people a flood hurts is Ma and Pa shops and even then I side with @snagged in outlet 3 The people lining pockets for these decisions are influenced by big AG/insurance companies and the results of downstream flooding. Nothing more, nothing less. FWIW a personal gauge in Protem did record 3" of rain on October 6th but it was relatively slow steady rain that came on the heels of a month of September with highs in the 90's and minimal rainfall. Based on that I would theorize your 10" of rain that fell in NW Arkansas(not all of which actually fell in the white river basin) was mostly held back by Beaver/TRL which both showed a rise and to the east where less rain fell, at a slower rate, it mostly soaked in. Shortly after that they begin lowering Table Rock(which by the way has much bigger inflow potential compared to Beaver) and then another rain happened. All the while, the only way Bull can release short of a true historical flood, is for the downstream gauges to allow them. The corps handed out their guidelines which is pretty bold of them with the number of morning after engineers now a days.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/flood-damage-and-economic-loss-in-the-heartland-to-reach-125-billion-this-spring/70007899 12.5 BILLION I hate to burst your bubble but its not Johnny you have to outbid.

Is there an optimal tournament water level?

Well sure if you use localize rainfall amounts over the entire basin but you know it didn't rain a solid 10" from Rogers to Springfield to Mountain Home and circle back through Kingston Phil showed where the bulk of the rain fell in NW Arkansas during that storm.

So the cool thing is......someone with some free time on their hands could in theory mine this data using the USGS water data(I bet the corps actually has this data). For example on the Kings river(which is a large inflow to table rock) and starts within spitting distance from the white which is Beaver's big inflow. You can easily find Annual peak stream flow. In addition they will give you monthly mean discharge(sorry for the small copy/paste) So you could easily mine the data to make the case that either: A. there have been more floods in the last 10 years. B. there haven't been more floods in the last 10 years. I would bet they have the same statistics for the James river too which could add an additional data point and even further prove or disprove the theory. In addition, someone could probably pull the daily lake level along with the daily inflows and ACTUALLY tell us how bad of a job the corps does at actually managing.

It actually does compute......look at the aforementioned slides. They clearly give you the outline of how and when. Slide 32 clearly states 6.6" average runoff volume for the upstream area so a 8ft rise isn't out of the question for a 2" rain at all.

I agree.....I also feel the same way for the people constantly complaining about the high water on the lakes. Specifically when for 99.9% of those people its only an inconvenience to recreation.

Real floods, as in uncontrolled releases of large volumes of water, kill people, livestock/produce, tear up infrastructure, impede commerce, and destroy personal property. Ask people along the Missouri/Mississippi how they feel about real floods going away. Most of them will tell you the same thing it seems like its always high water and for most of them this year it has been high water just as long or longer than any of the white river lakes. High lakes for most just cause a slight inconvenience and generally only to recreation uses.

I realize your venting but it seems like the TRL guys are complaining all the time too about high water. Cracks me up. I wish they would just get rid of the dams and show everyone what real flooding looks like.

Man this plane crashed and burned.....don't extinguish it now. But for real: The argument on here constantly is the fishing or the hunting was better back X(10, 20, 30) years ago. That drums been beat to death over every fishery including Taney which has kicked out back to back state records. Everyone has their spin on why but nothing seems to solve the problem. So for all you guys with the years of wisdom, knowledge, and experience, what fishing has gotten better since X years ago?

USGS gage shows a good rise last night. Not sure if its all from dry hollow down or not but the rain should add some color and move some fish around...maybe even out of the park. Be a good time to go and try and trick a big one before he gets targeted all winter long.

Yep when I did the MR340 current just sitting in the channel drifting was anywhere between 3-5 MPH.

Man from slide 40 on it really shows the dams do their job. I couldn't imagine 200K+ CFS going through Branson.

To follow up with this some more. I emailed Power Pro....which is really shimano. I asked if they still were making power pro depth hunter in 10lb and could advise what vendor may have some. My email back said yes they did make depth hunter but the person emailing me was unsure of what 10lb meant and therefore couldn't advise. I guess I managed to get the customer service rep that has never been fishing...probably someone in an low cost region office. Go figure. I also emailed both vendors above and asked about stock in the 10lb line and they were out of stock as well.

Thanks. I called this morning and got some on order...will give it a try.

I have inquires into both the websites above. I thought I had found an online source....paid and then got told it was out of stock with no ETA to be in stock....which tells me something similar to Randy probably not being made anymore. Quickly cruised through ebay but didn't find anything. Was hoping maybe to find an alternate if possible. Have you used the stuff from Extreme yet?

have been using power pro 10/2 metered braid but seems I cannot find a source online anymore that has it in stock looks like I can get higher ratings 20, 30lb and bigger but cant find the 10lb. Is there any other metered braids someone would recommend?

I fished Kings river on Sunday. Was able to catch 11 crappie. Seen quite a few dead shad floating on top and the crappie were just chock full of 3" shad.

I think the NCAA did some research on this at one time and published % of high school athletes that go D1 or D2 and then go onto a pro level. As I recall for the major "pro" sports that get you into making serious money its something like less than 10% to college and then like low single digit percentage or less than 1% to pros. So effectively a tenth of a percent chance your high school standout makes it pro. Some sports don't make squat when you factor in the "real" costs and I would assume pro fishing would be that way for all but a handful of the actual guys(even then they make their money elsewhere). In fact, I would bet there's more money to be made as a BAD doctor, scientist, engineer, salesman, or project manager than there is being a mid of the pack pro fisherman. If someone had a serious interest in fishing. I would highly recommend pushing them towards marketing, engineering, business and get in the industry and work there. A lot more money to be made with the stability of not having to chance everything to make your next entry fee count unless you can really beat the top dogs day in and day out. If they decide then someday they don't like it there not just a washed up fisherman selling junk on TV, they have skills that put them somewhere else.

Is outlet 1 right at the cable? The smaller outlet that just cascades down the rocks?

Bingo.....seen a couple of guys in a canoe one time paddle along with a spot light....find a bunch of fish holding in a spot with the light then get up stream and drift their chub back into the fish. Pretty easy to cover lots of shallow water and pick out the biggest of the big way up the river. I will give those guys credit though...when the times right they are out there no matter the weather.

As someone that fishes the river run in the early spring fairly hard, I can say there are some monsters out there. However MOST of the people I run into out there in the cold at dusk, dawn, or even night are not the type that I would expect to take pictures and post online. Most of these guys are fishing live bait....in little bitty flat bottoms with small motors that they only use to get to their spot then they fish on bank. They are the type of people that if/when they catch double digit fish, it will get the knife and other than their closest fishing buddies nobody will ever know if that fish was 20lb or 15lb. They don't want the record and don't want anyone to know where they fish or how and certainly don't want to get the government/MDC involved in any form. I'm fairly certain they are likely over possession limits or they are eating multiple fish every night.

Good to see you getting back out! I'm ready for the upcoming weather change.