Sediment Washed Into Taney And The Affect

[Trav]

Phil,

The whole Lower is nothing but a bed of knarled sticks and twigs. Now there is a lot of mud mixed in but usually its just wood.

[loo10]

Im sure this is a stupid question but I'm going to ask anyway...........

if the scud population is decimated, can they be re-stocked so to speak?

How'd they get there in the first place?

Might be a good question for Mike Kruse at MDC.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I understand that leaf debris is the favored habitat of scud, and its probably the least stable bottom material when there's an unusual current. I would think the mayfly, stone and midge population might suffer more.

I would think some stocking could be done for the Scuds, if the environment is friendly, but I would imagine that while they may be gone in the "river" section, many probably survived in the transition area.

[Trav]

You would think that the scud population would love the Lower Lake. It is all leaves and stick debris.

[Phil Lilley]

I'm going to change my opinion on this subject.

Having boated up to the dam this evening, I think the bottom is very clean of mud. We drifted and I still could hear gravel moving under the boat. I saw where the banks were cleaned slick of any sediment and silt piled up in eddies.

See my report and pics to see where all the silt came from and pics of the banks that were washed clean.

[Fish Bork]

Scuds were stocked in there to begin with, can't find the article right now but if it pops up I'll post it.

[Okiedog]

we need to ask some people that know the history of when the Rock got to 931 back in the early 60's and assuming they let a ton of water out then, what was the effect, I thought that those were the "glory days" on Taneycomo and big Bows were everywhere. But I myself have no idea and as already said, only time will tell.

I do know the Niangua floods 2 to three times a year with MUDDY water and that although the river and its holes change shape and location the fishing doesnt seam to be affected much, I would think that rivers flooding is a natural occurance and an integral part of its ecosystem.

[Phil Lilley]

Completely disregard my silt question or comments pertaining to the bottom of Taneycomo.

There is no problem at least in the upper lake and that's where the majority of the scuds live. I spoke out of line.

The affect of running water, of flood gates on Taneycomo is incredible. The trout we are seeing now are HUGE in comparison to past years. They have had so much to eat- everyday- for the past 2 months it's amazing.

Our trout are still puking out scuds on the upper end of the lake.

Last night we caught rainbow after rainbows at or over 15 inches that were thick, strong trout. I saw rainbows like this one year back in the 80's after weeks of generation and continuous shad.

The best part we're going to see generation all summer I predict.

Babler came in this afternoon off a trip saying he's never seen our trout in this condition. Hopefully he'll post a report... he said he's not posting again for a while... burned out I think. Something about "A" typically bass fishermen.

[Bill Babler]

I'm Ok down on the river. Its those durn bass chasers with the A Type personalities, that are driving me crazy.

It's never good enough.

On a brighter note, my day drift fishing the upper river was a complete delight. Weighed 4 or 5 of the big bow's we caught, fish 18 inches and above. Most weighted from right at 2.8 pounds to our heavy weight a 19.5 weighing in at 4.2 pounds. Just a complete toad, as wide as he was long. Beautiful colors and most every fish coughing up handfulls of scuds in size 10 to 14. Very few of the bitty bugs we normally see. Lots and lots of these bugs were squirming.

Another note is these fish are getting their exercise. They are not only bigger, they are getting much stronger from working for a living. Lots of big mulitple jumps and really hard pull downs. Most all the fish would fight me tooth and nail as I released them. Usually they will just lay there and let me throw them back. Not these fighters.

Also these trout are still puking worms and lots of em. Lots of the fecal matter contains shad so the ammount of forage in the water must be unbelieveable. Good news on the midge population. clouds of them were floating overhead all day as we drifted. Could also see trout rising in the eddies and along the shore line in pursuit of the midges.

About 70 fish caught in my 4 hr. trip. My guests wanted 4 to keep and have for dinner. Only had 3 under 12. Completely unbelieveable.

A complete joy to be fishing on taney.

[Daddy Carp]

Taneycomo is also an unnatural part of the river. No damed lakes are natural so then management becomes a different sort of thing. Speculating on the effects is something noone really knows yet. Best bet is wait and time will tell as we all know. The effects on warm water lakes of White River are yet to be decided too.

Hi trav, don't know if you saw it or not, but about 60yds out from shore in front of Rockaway Beach (just down stream from city dock) there is a mud flat that is about 20'wide and was 2" under the surface before the water came back up. It looks like it runs quite a ways downstream.