White river report 10/27

[netboy]

Whatever happened to minimum flow on the White?

Bull Shoals lake is now 4.5 feet below power pool and SWPA is still running 35mw (1 unit) every morning and then bumping it up later. True minimum flow is 7mw and opens the entire area to wading. I sure would like to see some true minimum flow before they shut the C&R area at the dam down on Sunday for the brown trout spawn.

That said, the fishing has been pretty good up there. Lots of rainbows on redds and the ones below the redds are waiting on eggs. I hooked a real pig of a rainbow a few days ago and had him on for about 15 minutes. There were a couple other guys fishing that area and they stopped fishing and came to watch. I was using a 4wt rod and 6x tippet and chased him about 150 yards down the river. He was too big for my net so I tried to beach him and got him up close a couple times. We all agreed he was close to 7 lbs and was a pretty, colored up male with perfect fins. One of the guys had a bigger net and offered to try to net him, so I said OK. I worked him over to the shallows and he got about half of him in the net and he swam off again. We walked further downstream and we tried again. I got him up pretty close and he tried to net him, but he swam between his legs and broke the tippet. Oh well, it was a fun ride.  

Here's a picture from this morning of a pretty brown as a consolation... And a pair of eagles watching over.

[snagged in outlet 3]

29 minutes ago, netboy said:

Whatever happened to minimum flow on the White?

I talked a guy who lives in Forsyth and he said the Corp told them they were doing a winter draw down so the spring floods aren’t as bad.   He said all the business owners were complaining to the Corp that every year they are flooded and businesses were suffering.  So the Corp is running all the lakes down.   That’s what he said.  

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I talked a guy who lives in Forsyth and he said the Corp told them they were doing a winter draw down so the spring floods aren’t as bad.   He said all the business owners were complaining to the Corp that every year they are flooded and businesses were suffering.  So the Corp is running all the lakes down.   That’s what he said.  

That's funny.   When the businesses around Truman/Stockton throw a fit, the COE just says...."Hey, Sorry, but this is what we have to do. Deal with it". 

[snagged in outlet 3]

18 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

That's funny.   When the businesses around Truman/Stockton throw a fit, the COE just says...."Hey, Sorry, but this is what we have to do. Deal with it". 

That’s why the last thing I said was:   “That’s what he said”.  

I’ve never heard of the Corp doing anything except what was spelled out in the manual.   But it sure looks like he’s right doesn’t it?   Weathers seems to mild to need any generation.  

[Quillback]

As I understand it (and there are exceptions) once Bull drops down to power pool level, where it is now, SWPA controls the release of water through the turbines to generate electricity.  Unless things have changed, and you never know, what you are seeing is not a COE draw down.

[netboy]

10 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I talked a guy who lives in Forsyth and he said the Corp told them they were doing a winter draw down so the spring floods aren’t as bad.   He said all the business owners were complaining to the Corp that every year they are flooded and businesses were suffering.  So the Corp is running all the lakes down.   That’s what he said.  

Strange thing is that they brought Norfork down to minimum flow once the lake hit power pool. They do bump it up in the afternoons. Seems they could do the same at Bull Shoals which would open up lots more wading water..

[Devan S.]

https://www.swl.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/2748088/additional-interim-risk-reduction-measures-to-be-implemented-for-beaver-dam/

Probably has something to do with this. 

I know the article talks about Beaver but it also talks about minimum flow being doubled to 1900CFS. There is no such thing as minimum flow below Beaver. 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I’ve been fishing down there for over 40 years.   There is no explanation for what they do.  We were talking about this back then just like except now we have gen schedule and release info.   Back then just call the number and hope it’s updated.  

[N9BOW]

For whatever reason they are running I guess my biggest complaint is they will just magically let out 3-5" of measurable rise in the river and not blow the darn horn... 

Had my first experience with this wading only 10 yrds from shore after I moved here. They blew the horn..... so I started moving to shore only to realize they had already been releasing water to cause a considerable rise in the river!  Halfway towards shore the current pushed me down steam into a hole and I was belly deep before I knew it..(I fish with just shorts (I find the temp tolerable on the legs (might need to see a doc about that  )), so I wasnt too panicked when the twig and two berries got wet and realized I needed to fight the new deeper current..... here is the problem: That I didnt "Hear it Comming"... they blew it after the fact, that they already started releasing! Isnt the horn preemptive????  According to the signage it is.

Lesson learned.... pick a spot and watch regardless of the corp caring about your personal safety.. as the task of blowing the horn before release is  apparently not that important...... and what's 6" of rise among friends right?

Im not the only one that has seen this.....I've been there with Netboy when its happened and I see it all the time since I moved here...

Two days ago this happened again...
I try to take the dog for a walk frequently down to the Golf Course Ramp and bring the rod along with me. They other day they raised the water level at least 6 inches.... the wheel chair ramp was completely dry when I got there.. there was an older gentleman fly fishing from the ramp so I moved up stream from him in to the wheel chair ramp and chucked the zigjig for 10-15 minutes (completely dry and well below the concrete pad) ... after he (gentleman fly fisher) left I moved to the ramp where he was just standing on the dry area cause I didnt want to get my shoes wet......There was so much weed trash I decided to call it good and head back home... I forgot my pipe on the wheel chair ramp railing and went back to get it......Lo and behold the area was well under water already (over my shoes where I was standing not 15 min earlier.... No Horn... nothing..... yet water up at least 6" 🖕... It wasnt until I was 100 yards down the cart path when they blew the horn...)  Is this the norm?  

[snagged in outlet 3]

57 minutes ago, N9BOW said:

For whatever reason they are running I guess my biggest complaint is they will just magically let out 3-5" of measurable rise in the river and not blow the darn horn... 

Had my first experience with this wading only 10 yrds from shore after I moved here. They blew the horn..... so I started moving to shore only to realize they had already been releasing water to cause a considerable rise in the river!  Halfway towards shore the current pushed me down steam into a hole and I was belly deep before I knew it..(I fish with just shorts (I find the temp tolerable on the legs (might need to see a doc about that  )), so I wasnt too panicked when the twig and two berries got wet and realized I needed to fight the new deeper current..... here is the problem: That I didnt "Hear it Comming"... they blew it after the fact, that they already started releasing! Isnt the horn preemptive????  According to the signage it is.

Lesson learned.... pick a spot and watch regardless of the corp caring about your personal safety.. as the task of blowing the horn before release is  apparently not that important...... and what's 6" of rise among friends right?

Im not the only one that has seen this.....I've been there with Netboy when its happened and I see it all the time since I moved here...

Two days ago this happened again...
I try to take the dog for a walk frequently down to the Golf Course Ramp and bring the rod along with me. They other day they raised the water level at least 6 inches.... the wheel chair ramp was completely dry when I got there.. there was an older gentleman fly fishing from the ramp so I moved up stream from him in to the wheel chair ramp and chucked the zigjig for 10-15 minutes (completely dry and well below the concrete pad) ... after he (gentleman fly fisher) left I moved to the ramp where he was just standing on the dry area cause I didnt want to get my shoes wet......There was so much weed trash I decided to call it good and head back home... I forgot my pipe on the wheel chair ramp railing and went back to get it......Lo and behold the area was well under water already (over my shoes where I was standing not 15 min earlier.... No Horn... nothing..... yet water up at least 6" 🖕... It wasnt until I was 100 yards down the cart path when they blew the horn...)  Is this the norm?  

The answer is yes it is the norm.  Once its running I wouldn’t take my eye off the level.  Pick a rock or whatever and keep an eye on it.   Look at the generation schedule.   It can jump from 1800 to 3300 cfs and back down again within a few hours.  I guarantee they didn’t blow a horn.