Boggs lake flood gate kill off

[skeeter sf150sx]

I heard that Boggs lake opened up the food gate to draw the water down when we had all the rains. My Uncle said 4 to 7 pound fish were found by the bucket loads on the banks of the golf course below the dam. Can anyone tell if this is true. That could really hurt the tournament fishing in that lake.:-(

[MikeAxsom]

You guys have really got to stop listening to all those stories about West Boggs conspiracy theories. There are a few people out there, some of which can be found around local bait shops, that seem to get some perverse thrill out of making bass anglers crazy with these lunatic claims. So, here again is the true story.

Management of West Boggs does currently include a winter drawdown for an ongoing Gizzard Shad management program. This drawdown has been started in December and completed in February for the past several years. The drawdown is completed by opening the gate at the bottom of the control structure near the dam. This draws water from the lake bottom, where there is typically little or no oxygen, and which is a place fish tend to avoid for that reason.

There really is no such thing as a “flood gate” at West Boggs. The control structure is designed with an open top, in which there are two weirs that are simply concrete walls. Anytime the water level rises above those walls, it spills over and runs out below the dam. These weirs are stationary and there is nothing there to move or adjust, or to open. Thus if the lake is already full and we get heavy rains, the excess water can not be held. It just flows over the top of the weirs until it drops back to the normal level. The design is such that the excess water runs out slowly over a few days instead of all at once. This protects the area below the dam from flooding.

If there were fish in the overflow, it would be likely to be very stressful on them as they would first fall about 30 feet down a chute, and then be pushed through the pipes that lead to the drop structure below the dam. Many would probably not survive. But again, there is no conspiracy against bass fishing and we are not trying to ruin the lake. So when you hear these stupid stories, make sure you get the name of the person telling it to you, and then post that here. Then everyone will begin to see that there are just a few really stupid people out there who want to be seen as the experts, when all they really know is selling worms.

[kenny]

I heard a story, last year at drawn down that a tree knocked the screenoff of your under water drian and alot of fish got out ,Is there any truth to that.

[BASSENATOR]

Mike I work at a local bait shop and I take part of your story as a insult.

[MikeAxsom]

If you are not one of the people that starts and spreads these silly stories to make yourself look like a fisheries managment expert, you should not feel at all implicated in anything I said. I was ONLY refering to those few that do engauge in that. And if you have spent any time around any baitshop, you'll know all too well what I'm talking about.

[MikeAxsom]

Thanks for helping prove my point. There is no such thing as a fish screen in a dam bottom intake. Any such screen would be subjected to a massive amount of pressure on the upstream side. Instead of preventing a fish from getting out, the likely result would be that a fish that got near it would be sucked through the screen in bits the size of the holes in the screen. Alternately the fish might just be sucked against the screen and held there to die, and then be sucked through the screen as it decomposed. At 33 feet, which is the actual depth of the West Boggs intake, the pressure would be equal to roughly two atmospheres of pressure. So, the answer to your question is “no”, there is no truth to the story. According to the design prints, the nearest thing to a screen on the intake is a trash rack made of angle iron spaced about 16 inches apart.

[Moose1am]

Thanks for clearing this up Mike. A couple of points that I would like to make about dissolved oxygen in the Hypolimnion or deep lakes bottom.

Some lakes that are not fertile will not become oxygen depleted in the hypolimnion. That's because there is very little food for any bacteria to eat and therefore the bacteria will not be depleting the oxygen levels on the lake's bottom. These lakes occur normally up North and are called Canadian Shield Lakes or Oligotrophic lakes

Eutrophic lakes are fertile lakes and they often get oxygen depletion in the SUMMER TIME when the lake stratifies due to temperature and water density variations from top to bottom. Hot water is lighter than cold water and will rise above cold water. The thermocline is the area where hot water at the top epilimnion is separated from the cold water hypolimnion. The area where the water temp changes rapidly in just a foot or so is the thermocline or metalimnion.

But when fall arrives in Oct and Nov here in INDIANA the thermocline will break up and the lake will turn over. This mixes the now top cooling surface waters with the lakes colder bottom waters as at this time the lake's water temps from top to the bottom are about the same. Therefore the densities of all the lakes water layers are the same and free to mix. Rains and high winds can also help break up the thermocline.

So by Dec when you start to draw the Lake down the waters at the bottom of your lake should have just as much dissolved oxygen as the middle layers and even the top layers. All the waters mixing together and the colder water inhibiting the bacteria respiration contribute to increasing the oxygen levels in the lakes three layers.

Thus the water that is let out of the **** at 33 ft below the surface may still have plenty of dissolved oxygen in it. This water will surging though the **** will become turbulent and that also will help add more dissolved oxygen to the water.

Cooling air temps in the month of Dec will cool the lake waters temps down well below 50 deg F and into the 40's and we know that cold water holds much more dissolved oxygen than hot water.

Now you all know the rest of the story.


Regards,

Moose1am

[MikeAxsom]

Moose1am, you are correct about the general mechanics of de-stratification, and there are many other variables in aquatic chemistry at various times of the year. But the point is that these are all just factors that occur in and around lakes. The stories made up around the bait shops to explain them almost always include the dramatic twist that we managers are somehow doing something on purpose to screw up the fishing. That is nonsense. We're trying to make our living by providing fishing good enough for people to be willing to pay to participate in. Killing off the fish would not be a good part of the plan.

[Topwater2004]

Mike,

I just wanted to clear up the rumor about buckets full of 7lb bass being killed off near the golf course. It was not buckets full, but truck loads full. Tri-axle type truck loads.

I seen this just after completing a hole in one. It was a great day on the golf course, I shot a career best 24 under par.

One thing we all know is true, anglers never lie about fish and golfers never lie about their game. Its all true.

Don't worry about those bait shops either, no self respecting bass angler ever uses bait anyway.

One question though, when is the draw down taking place? I am on vacation next week and might drive down in the middle of the week.

topwater

[MikeAxsom]

Wow! 24 under par!

The drawdown this year will begin in mid-December, but should not be a problem for boat launch untill about the first of January.

[Moose1am]

Mike:
It sounds like you are doing a very good job up there at Boggs. Just keep reporting the true facts and most people will see the light. There will always be someone stirring the pot. Ignore them for the most part after you set the fact straight.

Most people can see though the BS and know what's happening.

Good luck in this endevor. The truth will win in the in.
Regards,

Moose1am

[slipbobber]

Don't you think you should take care of the e-coli problem down at Boggs instead of always worrying aboout the shad?Was looking to buy a house on there until I read in the newspaper about this problem.