MOPanfisher

I will only add a couple comments for now. 1) Just how do you prepare for 12-20 inches of rain in a few days? 2) The lakes are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, hold water as long as they can, then release it down stream to the next lake in the chain, until it gets to Bull Shoals which normally swallows it all and generates electricity all summer with it. You can reduce flooding but you cannot eliminate it, mother nature will always have bigger guns to bring out at some point. The primary purposes for the lakes are Flood Control and Hydropower not recreation, fishing tournaments, or lake homes. The lakes hold back water while the downstream tributaries run down, then release the water in a controlled fashion to prevent flooding. Having some background and experience in the way the dams work I can say with certainty that the decision to release water at an amount to flood homes along Taneycomo was not taken lightly,

give it some time to draw the fish up out of truman. Then find an eddy or backwater and fish it. usually anywhere there is some slack water there will be crappie. The longer it runs the more fish will come up.

Pomme de Terre Dam is now releasing approximately 3500 CFS, the lake is falling and the river is a rollin!! Below is the lake forecast assuming no additonal inflow (i.e. rainfall) Realistically if we make normal by Memorial Day I will be surprised, it is likely that we will get some runoff rain between now and then which will set the time table back but we shall wait and see what happens. Days Date Elev Stor Inflow Release %/FC 1 4/11/2011 855.79 396897 250 2000 39.2 2 4/12/2011 855.47 393329 248 3500 38.3 3 4/13/2011 854.88 386750 245 3500 36.7 4 4/14/2011 854.29 380172 243 3500 35.1 5 4/15/2011 853.69 373627 240 3500 33.5 6 4/16/2011 853.08 367111 238 3500 31.9 7 4/17/2011 852.47 360595 235 3500 30.3 8 4/18/2011 851.85 354038 233 3500 28.7 9 4/19/2011 851.21 347484 231 3500 27.1 10 4/20/2011 850.57 340931 228 3500 25.5 11 4/21/2011 849.93 334408 226 3500 23.9 12 4/22/2011 849.26 327843 224 3500 22.2 13 4/23/2011 848.59 321277 222 3500 20.6 14 4/24/2011 847.92 314746 219 3500 19.0 15 4/25/2011 847.22 308188 217 3500 17.4 16 4/26/2011 846.52 301629 215 3500 15.8 17 4/27/2011 845.81 295051 213 3500 14.2 18 4/28/2011 845.08 288495 211 3500 12.6 19 4/29/2011 844.35 281940 209 3500 11.0 20 4/30/2011 843.60 275364 207 2800 9.3 21 5/1/2011 842.99 270128 204 2800 8.1 22 5/2/2011 842.38 264892 202 2800 6.8 23 5/3/2011 841.76 259664 200 2800 5.5 24 5/4/2011 841.12 254422 198 1500 4.2 25 5/5/2011 840.80 251801 196 1500 3.6 26 5/6/2011 840.48 249180 194 1500 2.9 27 5/7/2011 840.15 246477 193 1500 2.2 28 5/8/2011 839.82 243827 191 1000 1.6 29 5/9/2011 839.61 242170 189 1000 1.2 30 5/10/2011 839.40 240513 187 1000 0.8 31 5/11/2011 839.19 238855 185 500 0.4 32 5/12/2011 839.10 238145 183 500 0.2 33 5/13/2011 839.01 237435 181 500 0.0

As of about 1:15 p.m. yesterday we are releasing 500 CFS through the new concrete lined stilling basin. Quite a crowd of folks came to watch. The lake is already beginning to fall just slightly at 855.91. Hopefully the rain in the forecast will miss us so we can go ahead on Monday and open up to 3500 CFS (Assuming congress does their job and doesn't shut down the government Saturday at 12:01 a.m. I wish to add a humongous "THANK YOU" to all the affected fishermen, home and dock owners, campers etc. who understood the need to draw the lake down, and at the end allow it to rise higher than we would have liked to get the work accomplished. The redbuds are a bloomin, and the dogwoods are getting close so lets go fishin!!!

Well I have to report that I lied to you yesterday. The contractor didn't get all the forms ready until late in day, so they postponed the last placement until today. They started early and will easily finish today. The outflow has shut off completely and they are already dismantling the bypass system in preparation for a complete removal. Current lake elevation 855.44, outflow 0 CFS. Lake Temp about 47 degrees F. With the one day slippage I believe it has been decided to modify the release schedule from Thursday April 7th to Friday April 8th and only open it up to 500 CFS and let it run through weekend, and make sure all is OK in the basin on Monday before cranking it up to 3500 CFS. I will do my best to keep current on the posting.

I talked with the MDC Fisheries Biologist last night. The die off in November of 2009 affected primarily the larger fish, adult sized of reproduction age. The MDC had done some electro shock surveys up both the Pomme and Lindley and found a surprisingly high number of young white bass, they would mostly have been from the hatch of 2009 and weren't affected by the die off and are just now reaching a size to catch, although they are small mostly 4-8" range. However they will grow quickly and can reproduce. MDC doesn't stock white bass at least not here, they are a prolific spawner and can quickly recover the population. Looks they have a decent start on it.

Gunner, if you put in your canoe, be prepared to do a lot of dragging on the upper part of the river below the dam. Oneshot. The amount of water we release into Truman will not really affect them.

OK hopefully I will have only one more update to post. Today is the final placement of concrete in the stilling basin. The inspectors are on site doing a preliminary final inspections. We have begun shutting down the outflow from 110 to 50 and down to 25 at end of day, tomorrow we plan to shut down to 0 CFS to allow the contractor to begin removing the bypass system and components. A week from today, April 7th we sould begin releasing water and be up to 3500 CFS by end of day. Roll river Roll. Current Lake elevation 855.31. Predicted crest (without additional rainfall) by April 7th is 856.16 or 87.75 if we receive a light rainfall. Which amounts to about 45% of our total storage capacity.

Brian, you must not be too far from Ingalls Creek? Lots of critters in them bottom fields at times. I have heard a few scattered reports of small whites and a few wallys from around Huckby area.

Oneshot, that is the same bridge, Huckby Bridge, on Polk County road E-322 I believe. Can't cross it at this time, you would have to go around to get to other side.

Sorry its been a busy morning. The bridge at Huckby is under water and not crossable at this time. The status of the repairs remains pretty much the same, weather prevented placement of concrete on Saturday but they are pouring today. The last placement should be Thursday the 31st. still with removal of equipment, forms etc, etc. thereafter, planning on being able to begin releases on Thursday April 7th, will begin slowly and ramp up to probably 3500 CFS so downstream fishing will change drastically but after a while it should pull a lot of crappie up to the area below the entrance booth and into that backwater eddy.

The amount of water Pomme can release into Truman is insignificant as far as their level goes. At our normal high Phase II release of 3500 CFS it would take 18 days to add enough water to truman to allow them to generate at full capacity (I think 65000 CFS) for one day. Compared to the water that comes down the osage and Grand they don't even realize we are releasing. As for Truman, high water, low water, normal water, all are dangerous to boat props, and in my case more often transducer mounts. Truman always seems to have a good spawn regardless of water levels??

I would love to see the lake stay high through april/may, however I can guarantee that as soon as the work is completed there is going to be a lot of water going down river, probably ramp up to about 3500 CFS, which depending upon the lake elevation will drop the lake up to 6" per day, the larger the lake is, the longer it takes to drop. That is not good news for the spawn, considering the normal spring precipitation it could well be June/July before the lake is back to 839.0 mother nature is going to be the big player again. The engineers normally give the lake level forecast based on historical inflows which for Pomme now is about 700 CFS, however the last several weeks we have averaged closer to 2200, so they plugged the numbers into their computers and are predicting a lake elevation of close to 860 by April 5th.. All in all it will not be a good spawn year but the priorities are going to be 1. Dam Safety, 2. Flood Control, 3. everything else, fortunately Pomme had a tremendous number of short crappie last year so hopefully we won't have too big of a hole in the year classes. I'll try to keep everyone updated but target for completion remains March 31st, with a release of water by Aprl 7th.

Lake elevation as of 1:30 p.m. today (Monday March 21, 2011) is 853.31 Mother Nature gave us another smack on saturday in the form of a 0.7 inch torrential downpour, thankfully it didn't last longer or at the rate it fell the lake would have risen even higher than it has. The work continues at a hurried pace with placement #13 & 14 today, and planned placements #15,16,&17 of concrete on Wednesday. The contractor is still on target to finish on the 31st and begin removal of equipment thereafter, allowing us to release water by April 7th. The 7 days allows the contractor time to remove all equipment including the water bypass system and allow the concrete some time to cure to closer to programmed strength. The big concern right now is the forcast for rain this weekend the big question is how much. With the saturated ground every drop that falls promptly runs off into the watershed drainage. We will be taking all that into consideration however the goal is to complete the work to eliminate the cost of demobilizing and remobilizing the contractor and any possible damage done to the work already completed. I wish I could say for sure that we will make it, but I have stopped washing my car and am considering any and all other ideas anyone has to make the cycle of rain about every 5 days stop and give us 10 days of decent (no rain) weather. Everyone who has a business on or around the lake I have talked to is more than supportive of allowing the lake to rise higher than 855.00 if it means we can complete the work and get the project wrapped up. Currently our forecast for elevation has us reaching about 855.8 by April 7th assuming no additional precipitation. The boat ramps are still useable however the only courtesy dock that is still useable is at the Hermitage side of the Pomme de Terre State Park.

The repair work is all in the stilling basin below the dam. There is no repair work on the dam itself per se. The contractor got stopped by the heavy snow and cold temps so they lost some time, and the rains plus snow melt we have had hve jumped the lake to 848 or so as of this morning. The contractor has been issued a notice to expidite the work as much as practible. Currently they have completed the pouring of the floor and have begun on the side walls. The trigger elevation for issuing the contractor the notice to vacate is 855.0 elevation. We sincerely hope that doesn't become necessary due to the increased costs, possible damage to work already done, and even possible loss of the funding for the project if they are pulled out. It is in everyones best interest to complete the work if at all possible.

It was muddy up as far as PP bridge yesterday. It was also muddy at Lightfoot park, and I suspect maybe as far as Wheatland Park but not sure. Its still clear at the dam.

Ditto, I don't see it clearing up that quickly, especially with more precip predicted for Friday.

I was at Bolivar Landing yesterday by vehicle. Talked with one person fishing off of the docks, not a bite. Water was very muddy, saw one trailer in the lot.

I expect it will be a year or two before the whites make a good comeback. Probably what is caught now will be either very small or large ones, not much in the middle. The upper river arms can be really good in spring, water with some color the water warms up quickly. If you can catch it clearing slightly before the next round of run off it can be fantastic.

Muddy past Nemo Bridge on Lindly side, not sure how far on the Pomme side, guess at least to 83 Marina. Lake at 844.19 today.

Lake temp at fishing dock below COE office, 40 degrees F., river in Outlet Park was the same 40 degrees. Lake is rising currently at 843.70. Water on upper ends will be muddy from inflows. Per conversations with contractor we are going to try to "accelerate" their schedule as much as possible, with good weather should be able to complete the work in the stilling basin itself in 4 wks or less with good weather. Will continue to let lake rise to elevation of 850.0, if it gets that high we will be watching the forecasts very closely, if it hits 855.00 then we will likely give the contractor notice to vacate the stilling basin, with any luck it won't happen. The engineers give a 35% chance of reaching 851 by end of month with "normal" parameters. Hopefully by April 15 we will once again be dumping water down the river and lowering the lake. Will try to update as project moves along.

Its the last marina on the Pomme arm, approsimately across from the P8 marker, or by road off of 83 Hwy, at the end of RB, turn left to the COE ramp and campground, turn right to Hwy 83 Marina. Note: For the last few years the marina has gotten a bad reputation due to many factors, however as of now the marina is under new ownership and new management, for those of you who used to go there but quit, give it another shot this year, I think you will find a world of difference.

The max elevation was to have been 859.5. I will try to post up this afternoon the status of the work etc. after a conference call concerning the rising lake level. Stay tuned.

Work is going fairly well, considering the run of bad weather when the contractor couldn't work. Currently the lake is 841.59 and rising. A lot will depend on the weather in the next few days, another heavy rain could raise the lake to the point where it is decided to pull the contractor out and begin releasing water, I truly wish I knew. If they are able to keep working and weather cooperates completion of the stilling basin should be sometime in april.

No question about it now, 841.24 as of a few minutes ago and climbing. We can survive one rain event, maybe two, but if we get a really heavy runoff or a third rain event its gonna be looking bad for the lake level and the construction work below the dam. Sure could use about 3-4 weeks of good dry weather with warm temps.