Wolf Creek Dam Generation

First off, the river is HIGH to say the least...I've been down there plenty in the fall/late fall/early winter in years past and had some great days. This year in October we went and caught a few fish just before the water got to high to wade. The water started coming up (early in my opinion) and that was the end of that day. Went down yesterday (Saturday) and all we saw was high water and it never did seem to come back down at all. No wading yesterday.

When I got back home yesterday I immediately got online and checked the generation schedule for yesterday and today...all it basically told me about today (Sunday) was they would be operating two or more generators from 5:00 am till midnight. Is there anyway to know how much water they will be releasing on any given day? They put that "cover your butt" message on there about how the generation schedule is subject to change without notice. My only guess is they're pulling a lot of water through in order to prepare for work to begin on the dam after the first of the year.

If nothing else at least I learned a couple of things yesterday, plus the guys at Strange Bait were helpful too. If anyone here can give me a little more insight into reading the generation schedule it would be greatly appreciated, and if not then I guess I'll learn it just like I've learned everything else, which has been from the school of hard knocks.

I just got back from burnside, my home town. and the water was as low as ive ever seen it this time of year. must have something to do with the repairs on the dam?

We went down Saturday 11/25 and they had to be running at least 4 generators because we were floating along at a pretty fast clip. We've learned you have to fish off the bottom to catch anything. We dropped super dupers and little cleo's along the bottom and caught some fish, but there were some others there fishing walleye rigs with worms saying they were catching a bunch of fish...didn't see them pull any in as we floated together for an hour, so I think they were telling fishin' stories.

As far as being able to tell if the water is low or high...when the generation schedule says they're letting 10,000 cu. ft. per second or less then the river is very fishable (no wading of course with 2 generators). But when it's up past 10,000 I find it very hard and not much fun. There was a discussion a long time ago about the generation schedule and I read that the oxygen level was down in the river and they were pumping water with open sluice gates to bring up the O level. Said it would be running like that for 6-8 wks, and that was 4-5 wks ago. I would assume it has something to do with bringing down the lake to winter pool as well.

I'm with you though...we need a better generation schedule to fish effectively...hope that happens soon. I miss wading.

The lake is higher than normal right now. 701 and change but as for the generation schedule it is hard to go by that ,they are letting alot of water thru the gates which doesn't show up on the electricity side of the charts. Go to [url]www.lrn.usace.army.mil/lakeinfo/[/url] .It is the best website to see lake info I have found.

Thanks for the link Spotboy...I haven't had much time yet to get into it much and try to figure out how to read it...Once I do I wouldn't mind hooking up with you via cell phone to discuss.

Shoot me an email when ever you get a chance.

Email is: [email][email protected][/email]

thanks spotboy...

Once the home page appears click on the year to date charts for Wolf Creek ****. They also have Dale Hollow and other lakes. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you will find how much water is going thru the ****. Time, The first stage reading is the lake level measured in sea level readings. The second stage is the river level ( I think !!) then how much water is going thru the turbines, then the flood gates. REMEMBER that is cubic feet per second !! Had my wife (Dr. degree in math) find
the formula to see how many gallons per second , and it was ALOT

Sounds similar to what the TVA.com shows. TVA.com shows the cu. ft. per second, and usually that's what I go by...but this site seems to be more exact about the discharge of water.

Thanks...

What ramp do you use on the river?