Phil Lilley

We should see spill gates at Beaver any minute I'd think. I see anywhere from 2.5 to 4 inches in NW Arkansas. Beaver is up past 1129 again. Then we'll see Table Rock jumping. Not sure if it'll go to 930 though. I think they'd start spill gates at TR before that happens. BS hasn't gotten the rain so it should be ok, for now.

It's expanding but it's not what you think, or what I would think... most of this rain for us is predicted for next weekend. Only about 1-2 inches starting Tuesday ending Friday. If it comes gradual, I think we can handle it. But what comes starting next Saturday ( and beyond ) I guess will be the key. That if the models are right.

Jeff mentioned it... more rain coming. Beaver won't hold any water. Table Rock is 4 feet from flood stage. Oklahoma is going to get clobbered! And it's going to bleed over here, just not sure how much. They'll run whatever it takes from TR getting over 930 feet, no matter how much they have to run. And it won't be until the "rain is on the ground".

We like them open. We don't like to be flooded. They can open gates without flooding. Doesn't take long. It'll start moving may be 20 minutes?

Just wanted to point out something. The area was supposed to get up to 7 inches of rain last weekend. I believe it fell short although Springfield/James River got almost that much. Table Rock is up to 925 feet. If we'd gotten what was forecasted, TR would be much higher I think. So much so we might be looking at another 2015 event. With the 7 inches forecasted, I didn't think it would get there but I was wrong. Although TR was at power pool - below 917, one rain could put us all in a bad situation. May be they should think about a lower power pool, esp in the spring.

If you're looking for diversity in effective fly selection for Taney (drifting high water), then you'll be disappointed. Scuds, eggs, shad fly and a san juan is about it. But you've got the rig down pat. And we'll see high flows I'd say by mid June. There's a lot of water above us to move through this summer. It should be great fishing but I'm concerned about water quality later this fall.

What about these? I did these a LONG time ago. I think you can print them.

It appears no rain in the next 7 days. In past years, June brings drier weather. Let's hope it will this year. Keep an eye on the whole Mississippi Valley. You could go as far as looking to see what's coming down the Mississippi - see when they might see a drop in levels at Newport. That could be weeks knowing that system.

Where is Cloud 9? East of us, south central MO, has really gotten hit hard with high water over the past few years.

yep

No generation here yesterday afternoon. Man did it feel funny.

Fortunately, the other basins didn't get hit - Beaver, Kings, Long. We'll see what the next 24 hours bring.

I'm sure you're right.

Jeremy Rasnick was a ranger for the Corps here before becoming a guide/realtor. He called someone in the Corps yesterday after they shut the gates on Table Rock Dam plus a generator. Strange since the lake is rising and more rain coming. So we’re to the point that all the lakes are on hold. Bull Shoals has been of course because of the rice farmers. But because BS is at 687 feet, they’re going to start holding Table Rock. Beaver is already at the top of their flood pool. No we’ll see TR and BS rise together proportionately until they get to flood pool, then they’ll release indiscriminately to keep the dams from being compromised. What that means for us is lower flows. No flood gates. &nbsp I’m wondering when that date is when the farmers are done and they can release BS…

You couldn't paint a more perfect circle around us.

The 7-day map shows we're in the center of the target - 5-8 inches of rain. Beaver is full. Taney is high. BS is 20 feet high with 20 feet of room. They'll go from 15,000 to 20,000 cfs if TR goes over 920 which I'm sure it will. Water temp is 66 at the cable on the spill side, not too bad. Lots of warm water fish up there swimming around. I caught 5 species last evening - largemouth, crappie, walleye, gar and a rainbow. I worked to get the trout...

Love your reports!

After weeks of non-stop heavy flow from Table Rock Lake, we're back to turbines-only, medium flows here on Lake Taneycomo. Table Rock's power pool changed from 915 to 917 feet (summer pool), which has taken some of the pressure off to drop TR's levels; thus, the slower flows. But there is rain in the forecast. At this point, I'm not sure what it would take for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open the gates again. Assuming there is not much rain coming, I would guess we should start seeing more regulated flows. Operators at the dam might start shutting it down for periods of time during the day, or night. We will see. As for the current conditions, they are running 6,300 cub per second, or two units 24 hours a day. Water temperature is holding at about 46 degrees. The trout I've caught the last few days have been very hard fighters, so the colder water isn't bothering them. Lots of high jumping and hard pulling. The white jig bite has slowed down but hasn't gone away. Early morning and late evening the jerk bait bite has been fair, drawing not big numbers but a few big fish. We had a 30-inch brown brought in, measured and released earlier in the week, caught on a jerk bait down lake close to Cooper Creek. I've done pretty well throwing olive or sculpin/ginger jigs, and I've heard black/chartreuse has been pretty productive, too. I've mainly thrown a 1/16th-ounce on two-pound line and worked the banks as well as out in the middle of the lake. If the water slows down, drop to a 1/25th ounce. Drifting with a scud, egg fly or a San Juan worm is still catching a lot of trout both above and below Fall Creek. I've seen some very large midge hatches, especially late in the evening. I haven't tried them yet, but midge patterns should start working -- zebras, soft hackles, pupa's - all stages. And I've also seem some mayflies, but have not seen any trout rise to them. Scuds - tan or gray. Size - #14 and #16's. Thursday evening I didn't want to boat up very far, so I fished the bluff across from the resort with a 1/16th-ounce sculpin/ginger jig with a brown head on two-pound line. I ended up landing a dozen decent-sized rainbows in my hour of fishing -- which I was very happy about. I did the best by backing out towards the middle of the lake and casting towards the bank, letting the jig sink close to the bottom (10-12 feet deep) and working it back. There does seem to be a lot of trout in that area of the lake right now. And I'm sure there's a big brown trout or two lurking in the same area. Drifting night crawlers, minnows and Powerbait from Fall Creek down should be drawing more bites. I did try a night crawler one evening, but the trout weren't hungry :(. View full article

These are not my teams... just wanted to show the level of play.

Glad you guys got away.

You can sign up on a free agent's list in most of these tournaments. You should get picked up. Huntman Games (October) would be a good one for you, although I haven't played there yet and don't know alot about it. They have 5x5 and 3x3. https://seniorgames.net/ I'm playing in Vegas in August. Not sure what division I'm playing in and not sure if they have a 70's division. There's another one in Austin I've been invited to but I'm waiting to see if that works out.

I headed to Ft Lauderdale, FL last week to play in the Master's BBall tournament. This was my 3rd time to play this one - it's one of the biggest tournaments that I know of, other than Huntsman in Utah. I've played with a few guys from the DC area a couple of times and we have eventually put together a team that competed well with the big boys this year. We went 3-2. Our 2 loses were close, one overtime and the other we lost by 3. Should have won both games. We're playing teams that play together year round. Four of our guys play together in Maryland. About 120 teams total. About 35 women's teams in the 40+ and 50+, almost all from South or Central America. They were fun to watch. 40+ to 70+ divisions for men. We played 65+. 11 teams in our division, most from the east coast. A team from Indy won the 65+. We lost to a team from Harlem for 3rd place.

You fished a plastic worm? Cool! Used to fish one as a kid, farm ponds in Kansas. Wish I had time to run over and try one.