Levels worth watching

[Phil Lilley]

Bull Shoals Lake and Generation Levels

This is worth watching- lake levels for Bull Shoals- when planning your next trip to the lake.

Boat Ramps - if it hasn't already, access to the lake is going to get tricky. The ramp at River Run should be in fairly good shape but at some point, the concrete will be out of the water and putting in a boat will be rough. At Highway K access, the ramp there become extremely shallow but as the water drops, the only watered area is in the old river channel exposing land and a road going out to the channel where there is an old ramp.

Navagation get tricky too. The upper end of the lake will become more like a river- great for wading but not so great for boating. Trees and gravel bars come into play eating up props and lower units.

But low water conditions means less water for fish to hide in. Visible structures come into play when locating crappie and whites. Walleye will start moving uplake and be along channel drops and points.

Memorize the lake bottom. For example at Snap Hollar, above K, the mouth of the old creek channel is underwater most of the time. But if you see it when the water is low, you'll see the bank is steep and has stumps all along it. This bank and stumps will hold fish when the water is high, although when the lake is at normal levels, the bank is in the middle of the lake. A GPS would be real handy, pinpointing the stumps and channel drop for later trips.

Basically BS will become a new lake to learn, but much more forgiving to the seeker. Take advantage of it and learn.

[SeldomSeen]

Lilly,

Thanks for the site and all the great info. This is a great resource.

People always say to check the generation tables (levels), but I don't know what to make of these things. Could you explain what we beginners are looking at and what is important to note? Maybe "A beginers guide to reading generation tables"?

[Phil Lilley]

The red line chart basically gives the lake levels each day, each hour almost. the numbers at the bottom tell the hour of day.

Knowing the "normal" or power level is essencial though. Bull Shoals power pool level is 654.0 so BS is now 8 feet low. Knowing how that effects the lake in different areas is a matter of knowing the lake in the first place- or replying on those of us to describe it. But the former is much better than the latter because it's hard to describe areas adequately, such as the Snap Hollow area.

The blue line is rainfall at the dam which I'm alittle suspect of. We got a 2 inch rain several weeks ago and this indicator didn't show but a trace of rainfall.

The green line chart is generation indicators. Actually, it shows Taneycomo's lake level at various times of the day and week. 701.3 is power pool, or the level when the water is "off". As generation starts and builds, the water level rises. This chart is good to watch because you can see patterns to go by, forecasting when they may or may not generate.

There are other charts for how much power they are making but these will follow the water level chart.

[SeldomSeen]

Thanks for clearing this up. It's been a source of frustration for some time now. The charts now make much more sense.

[Mark Twain]

I usually put in at Beaver Creek and motor up to Barker and Powersite or down toward Mincy depending on what's going on. I've never fished upper Bull Shoals though when it's super low. Does Beaver Creek stay launchable?

[Sam]

I've never seen Beaver Creek when it's not launchable, but I don't like the ramp when the water is low.

That ramp is at such a shallow angle, your truck is 20 feet from the bank before the boat floats! I often launch by myself, and I sure don't like wading in the wintertime.

I'll probably stick to K Dock. The water will be below the concrete of the launch ramp, but I've got 4WD so that's not a problem. The creek channel from the ramp out to deep water is 17 feet deep at normal lake level, so there's still 9 feet or so there now. Just take it real slow and watch your depth finder, and remember it takes a turn to the right near the end as you're going out.

[powerdive]

Hey, Sam. Nice to catch up with you! Been catching any crappies?

Mike

[Wayne SW/MO]

I might point out that there is some heavy equipment and whistles on the North bank of the Pothole. They've trimmed a lot of the trees on the West end, But I don't know what the plan is for the rest. Maybe Empire is going to improve the access.

[Sam]

Hey, Sam. Nice to catch up with you! Been catching any crappies?

Mike

Hi, Mike - It's good to hear from you. How are the walleyes doing?

No, I guess I'm a "fair weather fisherman". I haven't been out lately. I'm sure looking forward to Spring, though.

- Sam

[powerdive]

Catching a few at Stockton. Hoping to get back to Bull Shoals, though, maybe with TR next weekend...