The word has come down from the C.O.E. that they are opening the flood gates in Broken Bow again this spring. The lake level is very near a full flood pool and they sent down the word today that the gates are opening today.

If you have a trip there planned it would be best to postpone it, it appears this may run through next weekend so be prepeared.

From Linda King at Three Rivers Fly Shop,

That is the latest info right now. Please remember that this will cause a great deal of water to come down the river and it can be very dangerous to not heed the warnings the park has put out.

eric

thank you Eric

Now will that affect more than Spillway Creek? The main river as well?

Do the trout tend to hunker down or wash out?

On the warm-to-coolwater side, the release might repopulate the river with species such as walleye, I'd guess.

Robin

It will affect everything along that river system. If they open 4 gates 6 inches it will be approximately 3200 cfs going into the river. Right now with no generation the flow runs 80-100 cfs, quite a difference.

Here is a link to the LMFRF page with info about generating and lake levels: http://lmfrfoundation.org/generating.htm

SC, it will put more species back into the river from the lake, but in the right areas there are already those species. Dow in Z3 you will find more of the walleye and bass. Even some nice catfish down there too. This does change the river obviously though.

eric

I recall after last years release, fishing started back up pretty quick after the water went down, someone was catching walleyes in spillway creek on fly rod.

Oops, forgot that question Swellcat. Last year the trout did a fairly good job of holding in during the releases. The exception being the Evening Hole as for some reason all of the fish abandoned that area, but it filled back up with fish fairly quickly. Trout will find the spot that has the least amount of flow and hide there as much as possible. But in the pecking order larger fish get the best spots and smaller fish get washed downstream. The fishing will come back fairly quickly, but it definitely takes a hit.

It appears as of right now they haven't opened the gates. But the park is still barricaded off for safety and they are running the generators full tilt 24 hours to drop the lake level. I wonder if the park asked them to try this first in hopes of preserving the Memorial Day weekend tourism business.

From Sid at Beavers Bend Fly Shop,
"The stoplogs were removed last night. This morning I was told to expect the spillway gates to open by noon.... That did not happen.. This evening I was told that the powerhouse was running both units (full tilt)...
All access to spillway creek, lost creek, evening hole, riverbend area have been blocked off... Fishing is NOT an option... The entire river is either closed by barracades or high water... Cancel your trip if you were planning on fishing this weekend... Sorry!

eric

Wonder what kind of weirdo would try something like that?

Thanks, Eric, for keeping us in the loop.

i catch about 5 walleye a month below the spillway. using black with a lot of flash, Wooly Buggers's....... there will be a lot down there after the releasing water stops. last year we caught 8 in one day at the spillway at 3 AM after the gates closed for a couple days. not many trout left though....

Alright they have started opening the gates at the Spillway today. Here is a copy of the changes they made to the gates there and the low flow valve.

"Gate Changes:
Friday, 15 May 09 at 7:15 a.m.
Pool Elevation = 627.23 feet.
New Gate Discharge was 2642 cubic feet per second.
New Gate Settings:
1 Low Flow Valve open 12.00 PERCENT
8 Tainter Gates open 0.25 FEET
Friday, 15 May 09 at 0:30 a.m.
Pool Elevation = 627.19 feet.
New Gate Discharge was 1370 cubic feet per second.
New Gate Settings:
1 Low Flow Valve open 12.00 PERCENT
2 Tainter Gates open 0.50 FEET"


I hope this gets the water out of the lake quickly and things go back to normal again soon. The ODWC was about 3 weeks away from repairing all the damage from last year's flood event. Maybe the damage won't change much.

eric

i think the trout fishing is good at spillway creek i use a elk hair caddis to catch the big ones