Phil Lilley

Vince and I just get off the lake. Water is still high and fast but manageable. But the wind was tough!! We drifted from the dam down to the ramp a couple of times. The first time we stayed on the north side and caught 5-6 rainbows on white 1/8th oz jigs. Then we drifted more in the middle to south side (gate side, warmer water) and did much better. We would have really done well if we weren't fighting the wind which was blowing us upstream. Vince tried a sculpin jig but didn't do as well. Not saying there's shad coming thru although it was nice to see them nailing the white jigs. They were hitting white before the flood gates though but I don't think as well-aggressive. Did not see any shad. Did see a gar break the surface on the south bank below the cable. We drifted the shallow side from Andy's house down and caught several more rainbows- one on a #10 purple scud and several on red san juans. The wind wasn't as bad on that stretch. Fight fought hard no matter where we caught them.

Thanks for posting. Al - good thoughts. Chief - thanks, I see your heart in what you say. Red Bird Fan - I understand your passion and frustration with the current state of the union but in this medium none of us are going to convince one another to change our views politically. I suggest if you want to try, start a blog, do as Chief suggested and not make it an echo of the talking heads (lib of cons), do the research and make your points there, then post your blog on your signature and direct people there for discussion. I wish I had the time and energy to do that myself but at this point I don't think I'm called to do that. I'll close this topic and continue to monitor new topics. Just know - I HATE to delete topics. My nature is to always give people the benefit of the doubt... to do the right thing. That's why I have given these topics a chance- to a fault.

Chief? Red Bird Fan? I'm trying to be diplomatic here.

This is exactly the kind of post that starts/continues the partisan rhetoric here on the forum. And you wonder why we can't have a civil discussion on a political subject that's fishing related... So what do I do, Chief? Eric? Do we cut Big Red Bird Fan some slack... he's got to be reeling from the Card's lose in the series!! May be he'll apologize and delete his post. Probably not... I'll have to delete this topic too. Oh well... back to the football game.

I'll put the question to Clint and Shane and see what they say. I hope I'm right too!!

I think/hope so.

Last year the water coming thru the turbines was 65. When they ran flood gates it was in the 70's. (early September before they started coming up) This year the water coming thru the turbines is 50 and 65 over the top. (mid October- alot are already up and more are on the move) BIG difference!!! You didn't hear that rumor from me. I'll stand behind my statement 100%.

This email is an invitation from Southwest Missouri Fly Fishers to see one of the nations premier fly tiers, Mike George, here in Springfield. For anyone who doesn't know, Mike is a superb fly tyer. He has won the Mustad Scandinavian Open Fly Tying contest in 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 in the open category. Mike has taken the art of spinning and stacking deer hair to the highest level with his exquisite creations. The program is scheduled for Friday 11/13 at 6p. We will be at Sacred Heart Church, 1609 N Summit St., Springfield. It is one block north of Division on Summit St, across from Washington Park. Everyone is welcome and if you have any fly fishing friends, or other club members, that might be interested seeing Mike tie, please invite them. We will be projecting the Friday evening program onto a screen so everyone will be able to see. Mike will show what he is looking for in Deer hair as that is a common question. He will tie a Diver, or a popper, or a slider. He is presently using a slider that shows two techniques and will show how to tie a tight bug with a weed guard and a tail loop. Hope to see you there, Sharon Yoker Southwest Missouri Fly Fishers

No- not at all. We've seen these levels over the years. No big deal.

MDC was out all morning monitoring the DO and temp. From what I saw, water temps and DO should be ideal for fish and fishing. As for the brown spawn, I assume you're referring to browns being up there to spawn and not the actual spawn cause they really don't spawn. They spawn IN the hatchery and the hatchery reports a good number of browns have already made it up the ladder. I don't think this will have any adverse affect on the browns moving up. I DO think this will dump some shad over the dam from Table Rock. I DO think this will help the DO levels in the lake for as long as the gates are open. I DO NOT think the water coming over the dam is too warm and it is mixing pretty quickly downstream from the dam. As for walleye and smallies... that remains to be seen.

I agree.

I try to give 99% of topics a chance to NOT get nasty and if they do, I close to delete them. This post - my count is - "suspicious of the admin" - 9 posts neutral - 6 posts "supportive of the admin" - 8 posts I allowed the initial post because it does deal with fishing. A thought about Lobbyists - in this day and age, the louder and more crass the actions and language the better, it seems, when it comes to lobbyists, on both sides of the issues. Although some of the groups like the NRA and BASS aren't liked because of their politics, what other groups are doing as much for gun and fishing rights? If they weren't there, where would we be? I'm not defending these groups in particular but groups like them in general - and again, on both sides. Most of us dislike PETA but for those who share their views, they are liked, supported. Some hate their methods but still like the results... like some of us with BASS and NRA. I guess you'll have to add a point to the con side so make it 10 posts. I'm sure you guys will catch up.

All 10 gates. They are running 125 mw and are scheduled to all day today. That means they are NOT running 4 full units (220 mw) but little over half - probably to save injecting so much O2. It's costly AND when they run out, that would mean no O2 would be added.

Oh it won't be that bad at all... right now they're running 125 mw and just opened the gates. 220 is full generation so it's just over half on the turbine side. Probably trying to save injecting so much O2. Flow and level may be about what 4 units would be which isn't bad at all.

What's Glenn Beck got to do with this?

If you didn't see my other post, it looks like Table Rock's level is on the way up... way up. Cresting at 927 on the 13th of October is the COE's guess- that's Tuesday. That's higher that I thought it'd be. May be it's a liberal guess and it won't get there. And I guess that's with 20,000 cfs being released up through Tuesday. That's alot of water! This happened last September. I wasn't here but heard it was very hard on the trout. BUT last year our water temp was in the mid 60's coming through the turbines and higher over the top. Water at higher temps falling 200 feet generate less O2 and more nitrogen (I believe) and that's even harder on trout, especially browns. That's why we MAY have fewer browns this year. So this event won't be bad at all, I think. Fishing below Lookout, I think the O2 will be real good and so will fishing. It will be high and fast for sure. Dangerous - not really. Just stay in the middle, DO NOT ANCHOR, and use enough weight to get to the bottom. I really think with all the shad taht are in Table Rock right now, we should see some shad come over the flood gates and that would be awesome!! I'll get out tomorrow and report back.

Just wanted to make a point about your post. You said the COE consider power demand and then fishing. It's - 1. Flood Control 2. Power Demand 3. Recreation (fishing included) They WERE running water because of water levels, not power demand. Now that's not 100% correct though... they manage their water carefully- to get the most out of their power plants, both hydro and coal burning. But my guess would be to keep TR level down in case of more rain... which we got.

Bring a boat if you can. LT's level will probably be about 712-13 ft

Next weekend will be interesting... still planning on it.

After yesterday's rain, Table Rock is expected to rise to 927, according to the COE. Flood gates as well as turbines will run starting tomorrow until the lake is down to manageable levels. Might take as long as a week.

Been told by an COE informant that Table Rock will crest at 927 ft mid week next week. TR Dam is shut down at the moment to allow flood waters to fall out of Taneycomo before opening gates. 20,000 cfs is expected sometime tonight to tomorrow and will continue until Table Rock's level drops to manageable levels. Water coming over the top will be rich in O2 while the water thru the turbines will be low in O2. Trout will migrate to the outlets on the north side and to the south side where water temps should be decent for trout. I also might add... I believe there will be a good number of shad coming over the top of the dam. This might be some of the best fishing conditions we'll see in the next few years. Just have to get out in a boat to take advantage of it. I will!

I have not read it. I may be way off but supposing the feds want to put restrictions on fishing on lakes and rivers in the US. Could they or is that overstepping their bounds on states? OR would the feds restrict waters that are controlled by feds, like the Corp? Corp lakes. Buffalo River. Again, I could be way off. I honestly think any suggestion any committee makes about restricting fishing in this country would be met by so much opposition that it would be almost laughable to think they would actually do something. Just give it some time... and watch it closely.

Your phone number is wrong...

Sorry- this hasn't been "daily" ramblings... Since I've been gone, the Corp has decided to run water AHEAD of rains forecasted for the area. The floods of 08 changed the way the Corps run water - you noticed? Even during the heavy rains in March and April of 08, we all were wondering why the Corp wasn't running water ahead of rains or forecasted rains - remember? We said they don't run water unless the water is THERE and needs to be moved. Now, it's different. They ran 100 mw all day today and will run 150 mw tomorrow, according to their schedule. That's above their self-imposed limit of 110 mw, due to low DO. With 150 mw, they'll have to inject alot of O2. Thank goodness the temp is low - 50 degrees. The rain missed Branson for the most part. We didn't get the hard rains but just north and west of us did. We'll have to watch Table Rock's level here in the next 24 hours and see what it does. It's been steadily dropping the last 5 days.