Will we ever see this again?

[Sam]

Taking my rig out at the K Dock ramp on a nice afternoon this past February before the heavy rains of 2015 started.  We caught some good walleyes that day.

The ramp is under 34 feet of water now, and I wonder if we'll ever see it again.  I hope so because I know upper Bull Shoals so well the way it WAS, and not the way it is now.  This area, from Powersite Dam down to around the Arkansas line has been my hidey-hole to get away from the crowds, and I sure miss it.

 

[moguy1973]

What goes up must come down eventually right?

[vonreed]

When it does come down. Maybe early next year to a reasonable regular level, it will most likely be short lived before the new spring rains bring it up again and they hold as much water as possible.  I wish they would leave it down also.  The lower the better  it seems to me.

[rangerman]

I feel ya' Sam, usually fish all over the lake all season, haven't been down there once this year.  Sad deal....

[Ham]

Like it or not, the local lakes are Flood Control lakes. The lakes also provide us with lots of entertainment. If we're going to fish them, we have to deal with fluctuating water levels. I would guess that the water level changes on average about 20 foot up and down each year. The lakes will never have much in the way of grass beds as a result of all that up and down. That bums me out, but it is what it is. 

[Sam]

Another thought - at the time of those walleye trips we made out of K Dock in January, February, and March, the water was real clear.  When we got over in the shallows on a flat by the main channel about halfway down to Mincy we saw loads of ZEBRA MUSSELS attached to the rocks on the bottom.  They were so numerous that every little rock the size of a golf ball had 2 or 3 mussels attached, and the shells were striped just like the pictures I've seen.  I'm sure that's what they were.

I'm hoping, just hoping, that Bull Shoals frequent large fluctuations in water level may mess up those things' life cycle and keep them from ruining the fishery.  Obviously anytime the water drops a lot it would leave a bunch of them to dry out and die, up on the bank.  Maybe when they get submerged too deep in a rising-water situation that hurts them too, I hope.

[mojorig]

The USACE is predicting that Bull Shoals Lake should be down to normal by first of November.

I agree that high water events make it difficult to access the lake and also can make the fishing difficult.  The high water events are very important to most of the sport and forage fish populations in the lake. Overtime, catching (not fishing) would be very difficult if we didn't have these events. Please don't get me wrong, I don't think we need high water events every year. Every 3 to 5 years would be excellent.

[vonreed]

The USACE is predicting that Bull Shoals Lake should be down to normal by first of November.

 

They better hurry, because to make that prediction, they would have to drop it about 5 inches a day for 60+ days in a row.

[Bluff-Bassin]

They better hurry, because to make that prediction, they would have to drop it about 5 inches a day for 60+ days in a row.

Yeah we're not even close to that average right now. Looks like a little over a foot a week. 

[Ham]

It will fall faster as the level drops right. At a higher level, it is a bigger bowl. I trust that the experts know more about it than I do.