skeeter

We have somewhat of a view of the rock Bluff where both Indian Creeks empty into the White (Baxter) and where the kids have a good time jumping off that Bluff while the spectators' boats mill around in front of the Bluff. So we're sitting out enjoying the lakeview and watching the "festivities" and "recreation" on the water over last weekend when we hear these BIG engines approaching from the North.....here comes an offshore-racer "Cigarette" Boat of at least 40 feet in length and the "dude" running it pulls in close to the Bluff and SLOWS DOWN to "plowing speed" so he and the others with him can take a gander at the Bluff-jumping. The Battleship immediately starts throwing at least a four foot wake and causes the spectator boats to bob-around like corks in a hurricane and people in them were clearly observed getting tossed around and grabbing for whatever they could hold onto. It's pretty deep there and hardly anyone has anchor lines that long so most boaters maintain their positions by idling. The "dude" running the Battleship decides to resume his 80 mph "run" and takes off after "plowing" for the entire length of the Bluff face and the "fleet" is seen hastily backing away from the jump-off area and the face of the rock Bluff and each other where several boats have been washed into each other.

If you recall, our taxes and license fees just recently got put towards awarding this Marina owner with a nifty $100,000.00 "award" for something like providing "service facilities" for larger boats (over 26 feet in length). https://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/mdc-recognizes-campbell-point-marina-enhancements

Lifting the moratorium on new docks....dumb as they come until the unsold (by dock speculators) numbers of unused, vacant slips, is greatly reduced....some have sat there empty for over six years. For just one example, I have a direct view of a 20 slip monstrosity (placed for once on an unproductive bank...surprise,surprise) across the main channel from me that has sat there for four years now with ONLY one boat on it. Lifting the moratorium on the ability to make repairs to existing docks....good idea and that particular "moratorium" should have never happened which shows a person just how poorly managed the Little Rock ACOE District is. Leave the darn shoreline alone...people have based their property and plans on the existing restrictions and rules. They might stop giving out exceptions and deferments based, very obviously, on someone getting their palms "grea$ed".

Not on the usual ACOE ramp, it's still several feet underwater. Some are managing to wade their rigs thru the water at the upper level of the lower parking lot, pull around onto the upper lot and launch at that one narrow spot between the tree-line that separates the upper from the lower parking lot but it's really tight. Forget about using the courtesy dock, it's still floating about 50' out in the lake.

There must be different conditions for mooring it or different caretakers of the Courtesy Dock at Shell Knob than at Baxter. Baxter's courtesy dock is still floating about 50' from shore and the way the small dry portion of the lower parking lot is sloped it makes it tough to launch there but some guys are finding a way. The upper half of the parking lot is dry at least and I think if you stick real close to the tree line separating the two lots you can get parked on that upper lot and carefully, very carefully, back down thru that narrow, boulder-lined "slot" in the trees that is just above the submerged ramp and launch. It looks like the Lake has crested, barring any more heavy rain. Thanks for the report and you don't need alcohol to enjoy "the hoot" at the Memorial Day launch ramps, just a comfortable lawn chair and the ability to keep from falling out of same. I've helped out a few over the years but hesitate when the language and tempers flare up. Kind of unfortunately we have a "crew" of visitors coming down and they will expect to be taken out on the ocean swells the wake boats produce.

Found a dead Rainbow several years ago before the Dogwood Canyon thing began. We guessed it had been chasing something and went airborne and landed in the bottom of a tin boat tied-up in a slip at Baxter Marina of all the darn places. Thinking about how the Taney trout grow fat on the shad that get sucked thru the turbines and over the spillway at the dam they ought to do well in Table Rock but I've never heard of anyone catching a Brown which can tolerate slightly warmer water and can grow larger than Bows.

The concerns of Chappelle-Nadal are well founded on this issue but she and the others in the otherwise wholly-owned MO Legislature and Governor's Office are going about this mess entirely the wrong way. This is totally and completely a Federal Problem which is caused by the WWII era Manhattan-project Radioactive waste mess and the problem is far too large for just the State of Missouri to clean up and rectify. Instead of "grandstanding" with little and no results at the State level, they should be bringing all the pressure they can muster on the entire cadre of Federal Missouri Politicians to get the Feds, especially the lying EPA bureaucrats, to get off their dead asses and clean this mess up once and for all. Our "pals" at the ACOE are actually far better, more efficient and thorough at cleaning up these "sites" and are well-recognized for it, yet, the EPA is still involved and has been caught in several lies about how dangerous to large numbers of Citizens the continued presence of this burning waste-dump is. Lately, the EPA even published test results contradicting the findings of low-level radiation contamination of nearby homes by an independent testing lab and were caught lying by their own, Kansas City based review Board. If you think this situation in East Central Missouri doesn't affect you then you are unaware of ground-water tests that show low-level Radioactive contamination of ground water very near the Missouri River just upstream a few miles from its confluence with the Mississippi and the potential results of wind-borne radioactivity should the underground fire break thru their claimed underground barrier and the resulting Radioactive combustion products reach the atmosphere. Even the surrounding Major School districts have prepared emergency procedures should that calamity occur.

Heartily agree on the Term Limits. We have those in Missouri but we learned, the hard way, that unless those Term Limits are accompanied by strict limits on amounts of Political Donations, the big money special interests wind up "owning" most of the Politicians. Another post mentioned McCaskill...I'm wondering if she is unopposed in her Party's race again how she will directly interfere this time, like she did in 2011, in the other Party's Primary election ?

Baxter down at the end of Highway "H" from Lampe is unusable and deep under water as is the access road, except for the first 40 feet or so, and the entire parking lot. The "other" side of "H" launching area reached from Highway 39 South of Shell Knob may be usable but launching would be from the parking lot.

Severe flooding at record levels coming from the Black River affecting NE and E Arkansas reportedly limits what BS can discharge until the Black recedes. http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/breaking-levee-breaches-along-swollen-black-river-near-pocahontas-arkansas/70001570 The Black is a tributary of the White entering at Jacksonport AR.

No Drought around here in previous years ? Respectfully, you should look back at historic NWS National/Regional drought maps first. Dry to abnormally dry to full drought on several year's maps. Includes NW AR, NE OK, SW MO.

And again, wherever the information came from about the BAXTER ramp being open is dead wrong. Don't bother, it's as deep under water as the other thread's pictures of the Eagle rock ramp shows.

I don't know who the person was you spoke with at ACOE but it's a total load of Bull that Baxter ramp is "open". "Open" to the fishies maybe. As early as late Saturday afternoon before the Sunday Monsoon hit, it was deep under water and the road you turn down off of "H" had maybe 20' of roadway that wasn't covered and that's before the Lake came up further.

After seeing good, close pictures of the incredible erosion of the West end 86 bridge over Little Indian Creek abutment on the underside of the bridge there is no way I would advise anyone to use that bridge but we have to assume they know what they're doing. Maybe. http://www.hometowndailynews.com/2017/05/01/hwy-86-reopens-at-dogwood-canyon-other-roads-reopen/

http://www.ky3.com/content/news/TRAFFIC-ALERT-Why-it-may-be-days-before-I-44-reopens-near-Lebanon-420914213.html

I recall the same thing and also drove across when that was occurring and this present closure seems foolish, unneeded and premature. That high quality Drone video that is going around that showed MoDOT personnel on the South end of the bridge didn't even show any wet pavement on the causeway from wind driven water like in previous years. Apparently and hopefully it crested at 934.53 and is showing a slight drop but I wonder how accurate the measurements can be with these 5 foot rollers the unceasing wind is creating.

An incredible 7.30" measured in the April 29th 24 hour period per my Davis Instruments rain gauge here at the Baxter area of TR. I've never seen this pond come up so fast since 1974 and can only guess what is going to happen since it is still raining heavily in waves of T-storms moving thru. At least the pauses between waves of rain seems to have gotten longer. This is no "Chicken Little" event. All previous high water records are going to be smashed and I'll be amazed if the Hwy 13 Kimberling City bridge isn't shut down during the upcoming week since that was a close call in 2015. Hwy 86 West of 13 at the Little Indian Creek bridge is shut down due to a "Trolley" getting flushed out of Dogwood Canyon and hitting the 86 bridge and possibly damaging it.

Correct, and despite this incredible pressure, the bigwigs aren't satisfied and are seeking and planning more. Here's an excerpt from State Rep. Don Phillip's most recent newsletter about more to come : Strategic Meeting On Friday afternoon, I attended a meeting in Springfield that included stakeholders from our bass fishing industry as well as Table Rock Chamber of Commerce C.E.O., Sheila Thomas and Aaron Jeffries, the Deputy Director of the MO Dept. of Conservation. We discussed plans for expansion of lake access on Table Rock Lake to attract large fishing tournaments and to make the lake access more accessible to the public. The MO Dept. of Conservation has done an excellent job with our wildlife and fisheries management and their partnership with the Conservation Federation of Missouri is an asset for managing our state’s natural resources.

Bear in mind during your search and research on MOAD (Mother of all Depthfinders) that Lowrance has this very nasty policy of declaring your/their units "OBSOLETE" at some point and refusing to repair them. Since I'm an older fart, I have been thru this twice with them over the years since the 70's and will never, ever patronize them again irregardless of whatever bells and whistles they decide to build in and use as a marketing tool.

Great comparisons and valuable info. I'm in the process of going with the Ulterra hooked up with/to the I-Pilot Link and discovered early-on that Johnson Outdoors, for some goofy reason, did not incorporate a "groove" in their bracketry that mounts the Ulterra to the deck so a guy could route his Transducer cable up the shaft of the Ulterra and have it stay clear of all the hoisting and lowering mechanisms. Yep, I know M-K builds-in a transducer on the heads of a lot of their motors but it's not a side-finder type. A dealer put me onto a pricey but well-machined bracket that claims to fix that problem and after I get thru engineering the thing along with mounting the (new to me) Humminbird I'll post more if anyone's interested. Hate to admit it but had to sell the beloved ZX210C Skeeter after 18 years and get a ( Arrrgh ) Tritoon set up for fishing due to post-chemo issues. Nope, not bitching about the chemo, it sure beats the alternative !!! What I'd be interested in hearing more about is opinions on how the motors on the M-K's and M-G's are comparing regarding noise of operation when you hit the "go-pedal". Time on this pond has taught me (IMHO) that a noisy trolling motor spooks fish as it is cycled on and off. Thanks.

Been hearing the same rumor and the same person's name mentioned. The new larger dock has large signs on both ends " Table Rock Pontoon Rentals" and the dock is in really good shape. Offices or storage structures on both ends. Rumors in these parts come from the Bars and Beauty (Miracle) shops. Both highly reliable sources....LMAO !

With the arrival of a very large new dock at Baxter Marina comes the news that the Pollard family, owners and operators since 1986, have sold the Marina. Curt will continue with the Marine repair and service shop as info. for those who use his service. Also, anyone planning on getting rooms at Little Indian Resort at Baxter needs to find a new place to stay. The two-story building and the two large attached cabins behind it have been torn down and the Resort is closed pending possible re-development by the new owner.

Go over onto the 1Branson.com forum on the subject and listen to the guy from High Ridge that fishes Taney out of his inboard jet boat. He's trying his best to convince all and sundry that this enormous craft won't generate a big wake because "it's flat bottomed (he thinks) and is jet driven". Yeah,...... right !!! Sure it won't !

I'd be real interested in hearing some educated Fisheries Biologist's explanation for the scarcity of Crappie in Table Rock except in the major Creek and River arms. Wonder if MDC ever did any research on this ?

If you're fishing out of Mill Creek why drive further when Jill's Ozark BBQ is located at the top of the hill where the road down to Mill Creek ( RB ) hits Hwy 13 ? Excellent Baby Backs, Riblets, and if you're really hungry, try her combination plate but you'd better have a big appetite ! Plenty of room for boat/trailer parking and usually not all that crowded.