Rain, Lake Levels and Release

[Phil Lilley]

I'm expecting an email any minute...  from the Corps telling us about the 4 inches of rain that fell in NW Arkansas and SW Missouri and the plan to release a bunch of water from Beaver and TR Dams.

Beaver is rising but not as fast as Table Rock which is at 918.4 feet.

They've already increased flow at Table Rock but it's hard to tell how much.  Taney's level is at 709.6 but they're only running 4,800 cfs through the turbines. 

I got an email yesterday saying that the Corps was starting to work on the head gates which means they can't run some turbines.  So almost all the flow is coming over the spill gates.

Yesterday I took water temps.  The water coming over the dam is 61.  The water coming through the turbines is 59.  DO is over 10 ppm which is excellent.  The 2 degrees difference between the two means Table Rock is very close to turning over.  Next week's cold snap should start the process.

When Table Rock hits 920 feet, the Corp will start releasing 20,000 cfs.  That's the equivalent of 5 units.  If you don't mind the flow, fishing should be excellent, fishing with shad flies, white jigs and scuds.

[Phil Lilley]

Catching today wasn't too good, at least for me.  Too much junk in the water this morning and just tough this afternoon.  But the 2 rainbows I caught, both below Lookout and caught on scuds, were fatter than a tick, probably with scuds.

[Ham]

Piggies

[netboy]

Just what we needed... more water.

Interesting that they shut Bull Shoals dam down to minimum flow this morning for the first time in months.

Went up to the state park around noon and caught some nice rainbows on small caddis dries which were hatching on the low water. Saw quite a few stranded trout from the drop out in small depressions and lots of sculpins in the receding water. Schedule shows water coming back up tomorrow morning so hope the herons and eagles don't eat all the trout. 

[Quillback]

Not sure why they stopped running at Bull, but I guess they have their reasons (maybe down stream flooding?).  TR heading to 920, Beaver is over flood pool, lots of water that needs to be moved out.

[netboy]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Not sure why they stopped running at Bull, but I guess they have their reasons (maybe down stream flooding?).  TR heading to 920, Beaver is over flood pool, lots of water that needs to be moved out.

The Newport gauge is currently at 14.6 and rising so I guess that is why Bull Shoals is cutting back. 

[Quillback]

Floodgates are open on Beaver.  Amazing how much water has hit the ground around here lately.

[tjm]

My rain gauge showed just a bump over 4.5" this time. Of course that goes to Grand Lake but radar looked like they were getting just as much over the hill.