Quick Report

[Phil Lilley]

Need to write something for the KC Star so I thought I'd just post it here for those who follow OAF.

We had flood gates open at Table Rock Dam last week and through the weekend... but there's no flooding.  The Corp is working on the intake screens on the lake side of the dam.  Divers have to go down and pull off dead catfish and other nasty things that have piled up over the past few years on these grates.  Of course, for that to happen, the turbines have to be offline, but because of the lake levels on Beaver and Table Rock, the Corps need to move some water so over the spill gates it came... bringing all kinds of fish with it including threadfin shad.

Trout fishing was incredible over the weekend because of this flow, and the trout are still looking for shad now that the gates are close and turbines running, but it has slowed down.

They're running anywhere from 1 to 3 units, and with rain in the forecast, it's not going to slow down any time soon.

So fishing in the trophy area has been pretty good, throwing white jigs, spoons, small stick baits and shad flies.  And these lures are still working well all the way to the Branson Landing because the shad drifted down that far.

But the best fishing has been from Monkey Island down through the Landing.  MDC stocked quite a few rainbows late last week and it's been pretty crazy.

Best thing to drift with is pink or orange PowerWorms in the bottom, or if the water isn't running too hard, under a float 5-7 feet deep.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

I wonder if a couple of divers is  enought to pull those VW size cats out of there.    Thats a heck of a deep dive. I wonder how much time they have at that depth to get the job done. It couldnt be to much.    I think the deepest i ever went was around 70ft. Just not much to see in our lakes that deep.

[MickinMO]

49 minutes ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

I wonder if a couple of divers is  enought to pull those VW size cats out of there.    Thats a heck of a deep dive. I wonder how much time they have at that depth to get the job done. It couldnt be to much.    I think the deepest i ever went was around 70ft. Just not much to see in our lakes that deep.

I think the penstocks are about 140ft below power pool. I know nothing about diving, but that seems pretty deep and something that between the cold and pressure would take some sophisticated equipment and expert training. Maybe they are using a submersible vehicle of some sort?

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Mixed gas, a few tanks strapped on them.  not a lot of bottom time before the long slow ascent.