Water Levels

[ozark trout fisher]

We were planning on floating the Big Piney this weekend, but the water isn't even close to being floatable there with the rain, so our back up plan is the Current, but even it is starting to look bad... What is the highest level at Akers Ferry that we can float safely at? Our tentative plan is to do a two day float from Baptist to Akers. Do you think after today's heavy rain it will drop down enough by Saturday?

Thanks.

[3wt]

Looks blown out. I'd guess if the rain holds off it might be floatable. I'm not so sure Montauk will look fishable this weekend, which is what my plans were.

[3wt]

Nevermind. The last reading was 1400. I wouldn't plan on anything on the Current for the weekend.

Anybody know at what point the campground at Montauk gets flooded?

[ozark trout fisher]

Yeah, the trips off. I just went through the water level chart, and there is not a single Ozark stream that looks like it will be fishable this weekend. I'm trying to be philosophical about it, but I'm still working on that...

I'm still holding out for a possible trip to Montauk on Sunday. It drops fast, so at least the catch and release creek might be kind of fishable by then since the rain is supposed to stop tonight... maybe

[3wt]

Unless the campground floods I'll at least be camping. I'm holding out for at least a couple hours on the spring branch, so if you see a guy with a orangish Ross Reels hat say hi.

[ozark trout fisher]

Unless the campground floods I'll at least be camping. I'm holding out for at least a couple hours on the spring branch, so if you see a guy with a orangish Ross Reels hat say hi.

Will do. It's still around 800 CFS at Montauk, but it is beginning to drop quickly, so the hope is definitely there. I was hoping to float, but a day or two at Montauk would be just fine.

Tonight, there is a chance of rain for a couple hours, but it doesn't look too significant.

[3wt]

Here's what an engineer (nerd) does to figure out if the weekend fishing trip is a lost cause...

So I got all the data USGS had, put it into excel, noticed that (based on two flash floods this year) the water falls to the same level in roughly 24 hrs regardless of the height of the peak. So I did some number massaging and created an interpolation for when the water will reach certain points. Here's what I get.

Friday at 11:15 am water is at 2.27 ft or 295 cfs

Saturday at 6:00 am (roughly buzzer time) water is at 265 (I think we're high but wadeable)

Saturday at 10:15 PM water is at 2.15 ft or 250 cfs

Sunday at 6:00 am water is at 243

Floating may be a reality for you...based on pretty rough guestimation and interpolation...but I'd wait and see if my numbers come close by tomorrow morning - it's all mathematical modeling and not reality.

[ozark trout fisher]

Here's what an engineer (nerd) does to figure out if the weekend fishing trip is a lost cause...

So I got all the data USGS had, put it into excel, noticed that (based on two flash floods this year) the water falls to the same level in roughly 24 hrs regardless of the height of the peak. So I did some number massaging and created an interpolation for when the water will reach certain points. Here's what I get.

Friday at 11:15 am water is at 2.27 ft or 295 cfs

Saturday at 6:00 am (roughly buzzer time) water is at 265 (I think we're high but wadeable)

Saturday at 10:15 PM water is at 2.15 ft or 250 cfs

Sunday at 6:00 am water is at 243

Floating may be a reality for you...based on pretty rough guestimation and interpolation...but I'd wait and see if my numbers come close by tomorrow morning - it's all mathematical modeling and not reality.

Thanks 3wt. I'm pretty optimistic now-even wade fishing at Montauk is a heck of a lot better than nothing. We'll probably just mess around and look at sights Saturday, giving the water a chance to drop, and get to the park and fish hard from buzzer to buzzer on Sunday.

If we can float instead, we will, but just fishing will be good enough for all of the group I'm headed down there with. We're officially on plan C now, but any weekend spent in the Ozarks can't be all bad.

[3wt]

And then it rained another inch last night.

[ozark trout fisher]

And then it rained another inch last night.

Yeah, that's a bummer.

But it's dropping quickly, and now it looks like we are really through with the rain. It is dropping about 100 CFS per hour up at Montauk, and it should be good by Saturday afternoon. I'm still going.

That rain last night was the final nail in the coffin as far as floating goes though.