Boggs drawdown status

[TR21Bassin]

Does anyone know the status of the West Boggs drawdown? Is it done? Have they closed the spillway?

Charlie

[CatFan96]

I believe in the past that they waited until the likelihood of really cold weather has passed.

[MikeAxsom]

The drawdown was complete in mid January, when the lake hit the target depth of eight feet below normal pool. The gate was closed then and the lake will refill naturally with rain and/or snow melt. The heavy storms of earlier this week actually raised the level almost four feet in 24 hours, and it is now only four feet below normal. A careful angler could launch a smaller boat now, and another good rain or two and you might get through the tunnels. I'd guess the lake will be back full earlier than normal this year.

[Moose1am]

I wish you could put out some water temperature gages that would measure the water temperature at the various levels in the lake over time. A couple of these would help you and IDNR biologists figure out how cold the water has to get and for how long before the gizzard shad are affected and die.

How many shad did you see floating in the water's this winter? Did you get a big kill?

I went to Bluegrass F&W area's Otter Pit and found a few dead shad near the shoreline a month or so ago. It was after the cold spell and as the ice was starting to melt. There was about 1" of very clear ice on the water at this time and it was just starting to melt around the edges of the lake. And there was a little open water (maybe 4") at the edge of the concrete Ramp. Concrete heats up with the sunlight and melted the ice faster than the area where there was just soil. So there was just a little bit of open water right at the edge of the concrete and water junction. This is where the Small 4" or smaller gizzard shad were located.

I have read that the shad will go to the shallows as the water starts warming up. Normally they may be in the deeper waters when the water is cooling down. During the cool down the warmer waters are located at the bottom of the lake. Warmer by only a few deg F. So when the sun comes out and starts to warm the shallows or surface water the warmer water may shift to the shallows during the warmer days. Remember we are talking about relative warmth. I guess the fish somehow can figure out that the sun is warming up the shallows. But then again they can see the sunlight just like we humans. We know from past experience that sunlight means warmth. Maybe the fish are not so dumb after all. But they still fall for the old fake crank bait or minnow on the hook routine. So they are not that smart. LOL

Hope you got the results you were looking for Mike. Getting rid of those larger gizzard shad is hard to do.

It's a shame that we don't live further south where the lakes could support Threadfin Shad. Those make excellent food for the bass, crappie and other game fish. That's why those lakes down in Arkansas are so easily fished. They are full of big crappie that have been feeding up on those smaller threadfin shad all year long. They must have fantastic growth rates and little fishing pressure. Heck anyone could become a crappie guide on a lake like that especially if they took some time to put in their own fishing structure all over the lake. That's a lot of work but that's how you catch a lot of crappie. The hard part is putting in all the brush and marking that on your gps unit.

The drawdown was complete in mid January, when the lake hit the target depth of eight feet below normal pool. The gate was closed then and the lake will refill naturally with rain and/or snow melt. The heavy storms of earlier this week actually raised the level almost four feet in 24 hours, and it is now only four feet below normal. A careful angler could launch a smaller boat now, and another good rain or two and you might get through the tunnels. I'd guess the lake will be back full earlier than normal this year.