Well, for those of you who know what's been ongoing at TRL, the flooding should make for an interesting early season. The lake is so high most of us can't even get to our docks; however, we're very blessed in that we've had minimal damage.

I know lots of folks have plans to come here in June/July, just a warning to be very mindful of debris in the water.

Take care, and happy (careful) boating!

Yep! There is a lot of debris due to the high water levels. Not only can I not get to my dock, I can't get to my property. The only road into my place is under water in 3 places. And, has been for two weeks.

While that is an inconvenience for me, it is a major problem for the folks who live there full time! They have to use a boat to get the kids to school, get to work, go grocery shopping, etc.

Sounds like my kinda place!!!

We're considering not making our annual week-long trip this year due to the floods. Based on the the weather pattern of the past couple of weeks, it may not get a lot better very soon.

Mike, you guys go down first and get everything pushed to the shoreline for us!!! If you guys were coming to Lake Michigan we'd do the same for you!!!
Between work being crazy-busy, and my daughter's softball, our TRL trip might be the lions share of our boating hours this year...

Well, it could be a way to save gas - just lash some logs together, sit the boat on top, and drift...

I would hope that it would be cleaned up by mid July, wouldn't you think? This will be my first trip there and we have big plans with alot of people going.

Don;t get your hopes up. That's not much time for such a large lake.

We have boated on Bull Shoals number of times when it was a crest and have not had any debris issues. On the other hand on Lake Shelbyville at flood pool the debris is everywhere.

We took our travel trailer down to Branson Sat - Wed. and the lake levels were unbelievable. Since we didn't take the boat, we did take the kids on the Duck boats and our brief ride on Table Rock showed all sorts of stuff floating in the water.

Watching the water going out the spill way gates certainly was an impressive sight.

Here's a question. Since the water flows from the Beaver Dam area towards the Dam over by Branson, would one think that there would be less debris over by Beaver? That is the area of the lake that we will be staying. (Wishful thinking?)

We just got back from Table Rock. The lake crested yesterday at 933.3. That put the water very close to our cabin. We had bass fisherman trolling through our front yard fishing the last two days...no kidding.

The dock...one heck of a swim to get to it and a wee bit too cold for my taste.

The water in our cove was discolored but there didn't appear to be any big debris floating around. There didn't seem to be much big stuff at the dam either. The news reports that it will be months before the lake get close to normal pool.

Where on the lake is your cabin located at? Is it on the West or East side?

We are 3 coves west of Kimberling City on the north side of the lake. Joe Bald Road / Hoot Owl Point area.

To all you TRL experts- We're scheduled to spend a week there in the middle of August. IF your weather returns to normal, what is your best guess as to the condition of the lake by then?

You have to remember that this is uncharted terriroty. The water levels have never been this high. So, it's really a guessing/analyzing game and im pretty sure no one on this board is an "expert" at that.

By middle August, which is 4 months from now, I would expect waters to be a little high, 2-3-4 ft above power pool with a lot of dock damage that has not been fix. I would expect the entertainment industry (Branson) to be at 100% operations. By then, I think the lake will be boatable, just stay in areas you have studied on the maps. There are islands in the lake, and with the high water, if you don't know where the hell you're going, you could find one.

But, I think you will probably be OKIE by mid August.

D

2Suns - I expect it will be in reasonably good shape by August. But, like D-Rod said, this level of flooding has never been seen on this group of lakes.

I'll try to keep this thread updated as the conditions change. And, as it gets closer to your planned trip feel free to PM me for a condition report. Once the water goes down so I can get to my place, I will be there every weekend.

The long term forecasts show little chance of rain over the next couple of weeks; 20%-40% chance on a few days. That's common this time of year. So, I'm hopeful they will be able to get the lakes back down to a normal level within a couple of weeks.

D-rod, Opus

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as the summer wears on.

Again, thanks for the insight.

I, too, will be waiting Opus's reports! I hope TRL can recover much faster than my local lake in KS did last year when we had record flooding. Parts of it still are not open and it's been 10 months.

If you don't see an update when you need one, just ask me.

O.K., K.W. Post your pic's!

Hopefully the brown trout fishing isn't better because of the higher water levels.

Hey 2Suns,

By August the lake should be back down close to normal if the area falls back into a normal rain pattern. If it is a hot summer the Corp. will generate a lot of electricity and pull the lake down.

Personally, I like the lake above the normal pool of 915. It seems the lake is at its best at 917 to 919. So, the selfish side of me hopes that is the norm for the season.

The big question is how much the water will clear up. In 2001 when the lake flooded to 923 the lake clarity was not quite up to snuff...10' visibility versus 20'+.

Faster moving water is less clear than slower water that has had time to settle. Unfortunately, with each flood, the lake ends up more dirty, thus less clear. It is also a part of the aging process as phosphate accelerate algae growth from run off.

It's at 930...I don't expect to be below 920 before August.

D - What's your prognosis for the count of bad stuff in the water (i.e. inadvertantly higher fecal count)?

It's hard for me to predict. I'm not an environmental engineer or scientist. I have just been studying waterways and these types of things for a couple of weeks in chemistry.

The watershed is a relatively unpopulated area without large quantities of farm land. I tend to think this is good news for the integrity of the lakes/river because a good portion of the runoff will not come areas polluted (farmland is considered a pollutant). Since the area is rocky without much traditional dirt, that is helpful too.

It will be interesting to see what happens. We hope a limiting reagent was not introduced in mass quantities. If that happened, then we should expect major changes. When an environmental nut rants about one small substance changing an entire system, he/she is not kidding. It doesn't take much to throw the delicate system out of balance.

Okay folks there are 4 Table Rock pics posted in the Photo Gallery. Just look for my screen name under the recently posted pics.

I was on Table Rock this weekend. The water is much cleaner than it was a couple of weeks ago. It was BROWN, now it is relatively clear, with just a green tint to it. I ran from Campbell Point, to Kimberling City. There was very little debris floating in the water.

It is still very high, at about 929.5 feet. The word from the Corps of Engineers is that they won't have it back down to "normal" level until mid-late July ("normal" is 915 feet).

I'm just hoping it gets down to 926, or lower, soon. Until then, I can't drive in to my place. Meanwhile, I'm canoeing in and out.

Thanks for the continuing updates! They're much appreciated. Sounds like things are improving a bit faster than I expected.

Good news for those of us making plans to go there this summer. Thanks Opus!