mojorig

This has been an interesting conversation and relevant to our side of the border. We are about to develop a 5-year fisheries management plan for Crooked Creek. Issues discussed in this thread will likely be topics that would need to be discussed and addressed during the development process. Hopefully by the end of the process, I won't be included in Gavin's list above, lol!!

We have been dealing with the boulder issue on Bull Shoals and Norfork Lake over the years as well. We have been told the rip-rap/boulders were placed to protect the parking lots on these two reservoirs. Heck even our internal engineers want to place boulders around the parking lots. I have made my dissatisfaction with the boulders known on several occasions and will continue to express my displeasure until the boulders are removed. We also have some accesses with designs that make me scratch my head and ponder what were they thinking........ Also, all USACE fees (launching and camp fees) go into the general fund... so i don't believe raising fees will fix the issue.

Member of the Twin Lakes Walleye Club have been catching Walleye mostly on bottom bouncers or trolling. I suggest any angler interested in Walleye fishing on Bull Shoals Lake to join this club. Here is a link to the club (link). As a member, you will receive reports like the three below. We receive these types of reports on a daily basis from the club.

Here is the response I got back from Dr. Green. I asked him: "What is the criteria for a thermocline? For example, I was taught it was a sudden change of temperature (3 to 5 degrees change) over a short distance." I also include the Temp profile for Stocked Lake that I posted to this post.

This has been a good discussion and has got me wondering. So I emailed Dr. Reed Green, who is hydrologist with USGS that specializes in reservoir limnology and hydrodynamics, in an effort to get more information of the specific criteria for a thermocline. I will relay the information he provides to me.

The USGS actually collects the data for the USACE. They just collected data on August 27. It has been posted on their site. Click on this link for TR data (link).

You all definitely know this lake better than I do. As for the Upper L Sac reading in July, I converted the depth from meters to feet and converted temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit. I have always been taught that the thermocline is where the temperature changes sharply (I was told 3 to 5 degrees) over a short distance. Here is the convert Upper L Sac readings for July 10th. So Olfishhead, you are correct that the thermocline is around 21 ft. Depth (ft) Temp (°F) 0.98 85.82 3.28 85.82 6.56 85.64 9.84 85.64 13.12 85.46 16.40 84.20 19.69 82.40 22.97 76.82 26.25 74.84 29.53 73.94 32.81 72.32 36.09 69.44 39.37 66.74 42.65 65.30 45.93 63.14 49.21 62.24 52.49 61.34 55.77 60.08 59.06 59.00 62.34 58.46 65.62 57.74 68.90 57.38 72.18 57.02 75.46 56.48 78.74 56.12 82.02 55.40

Interesting that you just posted that. This month, the Twin Lakes Walleye Club asked me to a give a short presentation about the preferred temperature and dissolved oxygen ranges for Walleye. To keep things short, here is what I found from peer review literature: Walleye temperature preferred range: 68 to 75 degrees Walleye dissolved oxygen preferred range: 3/5 ppm and higher. However, I am not a fan of preferred ranges because that implies the fish are only in those ranges. Many of us have caught fish outside of the fishes preferred ranges at some point.

I ran across this while addressing the thermocline discussion on Table Rock. I checked out the USACE- Kansas City website and found this page (link). This page contains Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature readings taken at the Dam, mid-lake (I'm guessing), and in the upper L Sac Arm near 245 Bridge. As for thermocline formation, they typically form every year in most lakes that aren't shallow. It appears that the thermocline was starting to form in May. By June, there was definitely a thermocline in the Sac Arm around 26 to 30 ft. range. In the July readings the thermocline was around 20 ft (6m) at the dam and 16 ft (5m) and 13 ft (4m) in the sites up the lake. I hope this helps.

Here you go: (Link). This data has been available for years on the USACE-LR website. They have these readings for all 5 White River Lakes (link; see bottom right). On Bull Shoals and Norfork lake, we have partnered with the Twin Lakes Walleye Club and Lake Norfork Striper Club to collect DO and Temperature profiles twice a month during the summer and profiles once a month during the rest of the year from several areas of each reservoir. That data is distributed to their members and to us.

Done!

Excellent!!!

The lake is currently 16.2 ft high. It is dropping. Over the last 24 hours, it has dropped roughly .06 inches. It has been dropping around .25 inches per day when they generate heavy.

That was me that posted the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and Temp Profile. Here is the profile again. I also took it one step farther and made graphs of the data because it is easier to interpret that way (in my mind). In the graphs, depth of water increase as you move from top to bottom and DO or Temp increase as you move left to right. For example, the lowest DO readings begin at 37 ft and extends to 60 ft. But back to the important info!! DO is greater than 3 ppm all the way to 30 ft which is good for black bass. After that, DO declines to levels that could stress bass if they stayed for long periods of time. DO then begins to increase over 3 ppm at 90 ft; however the temperature and lack of forage likely doesn't make that depth very appeasing to black bass, in my opinion. Hope this helps.....

Here is the Dissolved Oxygen/Temperature profile for TR taken at the Dam on July 30th. Your observation of the thermocline being at 30ft was pretty accurate. That is a pretty common thermocline depth for all four Upper White River Reservoirs. On Bull and Norfork, the formulation of the thermocline begins in late May/early June. Link :TR DO and Temp

All, Here is AGFC D-2 Fisheries 2019 first biannual newsletter (Click Here). The newsletter highlights activities that have occurred during the first half of 2019 in D-2 especially on Crooked Creek. If you would like to be added to the newsletter email list, feel free to email me at Jeremy.Risley@agfc.ar.gov Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Feel free to contact us with any questions. Thank you for fishing Crooked Creek!! Thanks, Jeremy

All, Here is AGFC D-2 Fisheries 2019 first biannual newsletter (Click Here). The newsletter highlights activities that have occurred during the first half of 2019 in D-2. If you would like to be added to the newsletter email list, feel free to email me at Jeremy.Risley@agfc.ar.gov Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Feel free to contact us with any questions. Thank you for fishing Norfork Lake!!! Thanks, Jeremy

All, Here is AGFC D-2 Fisheries 2019 first biannual newsletter (Click Here). The newsletter highlights activities that have occurred during the first half of 2019 in D-2. If you would like to be added to the newsletter email list, feel free to email me at Jeremy.Risley@agfc.ar.gov Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Feel free to contact us with any questions. Thank you for fishing Bull Shoals Lake!!! Thanks, Jeremy

That can be a tough time of the year on Bull Shoals. Contact me at jeremy.risley@agfc.ar.gov just before you leave to come here. I will pass along any recent reports that I've received from the Twin Lakes Walleye Club.

Fishing in the Fall on Bull can be tough. The lake is predicted to be back to normal on September 23rd. I think Buster only guides on Bull in the Winter, but he would definitely be my first pick.

There is some Tennessee Reservoir Stain Smallmouth genetics in Bull Shoals Lake.

When they open the flood gates down here, we receive reports of Walleye, Largemouth and Spotted Bass in the Bull Shoals Tailwater and Walleye and Striped/Hybrid Striped Bass in the Norfork Lake tailwater. There are enough Walleye coming through on both tailwaters to support fishing/harvest for several months. We are also seeing more Paddlefish (especially middle-aged fish) in Bull Shoals Lake. Our only explanation for the increase in Paddlefish is they are coming from Table Rock.

Depend on what time of the year that you want to fish. In the winter, I would definitely recommend Buster. There several guides out of Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock that would be good the rest of the year.

Here is more information about the Twin Lakes Walleye Club (click here). This club is made up of great people and anglers. I highly recommend joining this group if anyone is interested in fishing for Walleye on Bull Shoals or Norfork Lake. The daily fishing reports and monthly Temp/DO readings are well worth the annual membership fee

The Walleye are still biting good on lower section of the lake. We have been receiving daily reports from Twin Lakes Walleye Club members catching Walleye trolling and on bottom bouncers.