Little Missouri Fly Fishing

Just to warn all you weekenders, as of 6:00 am this morning the bunger valve is open, the river is too high to fly fish and there has been no sigh of stocking that I've seen. Water temps are excellent at 56 degrees and the water clarity is good, they just need to add trout!! 

They have pulled the lake down about 3/4 foot in the past 36 hours of bungering!!  Another 4 feet to go means approximately another 8 days of constant flow. Just in time for trout season!!😤😤. Hope they get the trash racks fixed this time!! 

Will advise when I see any sign of stocking. Have had no word of anything happening at Albert Pike, just that the water level there is really low. We are kinda hurting for rain in this area. Remember that we are under a fire ban all over the Ouachita foot hills.

‼️ 10/20 @ 11:00 am:  they seem to be slow rolling the river, not a full river as it is when 3 generators are running. It's more than minimum flow so it's not fishable. The pull down started at 542.93, it's now 541:90, so only took about a foot off the lake in72 hours!! At this rate it will take 12 more days to get the other 4 foot off the lake. Still no fish have been stocked.

Thanks!

With drawing the lake down 5 feet will it improve or make the silt worse?

Today is the first day of the 2024-2025 trout season on the Little Missouri River and no there haven't been any trout stocked as of 12:30 today. Also, never mind the rumor I passed on yesterday, they still have not started pulling the lake down! Just can't trust the Corp. There were 4 people on the wall at Riverside wondering where the trout are??  I told them they all got "poched" before they got there 🤣🤣🤣.

They have not started repairs on the dam. It will take about 10 days solid running the bunger valve to get the lake down another 5 feet. Could start anytime, or not 🤔🤔.

The water temperature is about 60 degrees up and down the river so no problem for the Arkansas Game and Fish to stock anytime. The water clarity is really good as long as you don't drag you feet on the bottom. Still a lot of silt there. I seem to have lost all my contacts so will just have to keep checking the stocking sites to know when we get fish. Will let you know as soon as I know.

‼️  10/17 at 1:00 pm: they opened the bunger valve and it's a full river. No sigh of any fish being stocked. River is only fishable from the bank— HIGH WATER!!   If this is the start of the 5 foot pull down, it will last about 10 days, assuming no rain.

And yes, it will add more silt from the bottom of the lake, but maybe it will wash away some of the old stuff?? 

I heard today that starting tomorrow they plan on pulling the lake down 5 feet over the next week 😬😬. Just in time for trout season!!!!😤😤. They have not run any water since 19 September. I will do a full update tomorrow after I see if they start up the bunger valve. Stay tuned, May be a bumpy start to the 24/25 trout season.

No new fish yet Jeff. Hope soon!!  Must have been off a very short period because I didn't know it. Thanks for all you do.

Well, the site was off line for a bit and I'm not sure how long it was off, but it must not have been very long. I was on a couple of days ago myself.

But back up now, obviously! Still waiting to hear from "Hen" if he's seen any new fish, but I suspect that may not happen for another couple of weeks... 

Thanks Hen. It's frustrating to hear and imagine what the river looks like and it must be heartbreaking to see it everyday.  We really appreciate your reports and I pass the information on to our fly fishing club members.  Hopefuly things will start improving soon.
 

As of 5:00 this morning there has been no flow at all on the river since 17 September. No bunger and of course no generation. The water temperature is up to 62 degrees, the water is clear but the bottom is really dirty and rusty looking, kinda red ! 😬😬. The fishing is poor, as it always is this time of year. Just not many fish left in the river, they have mostly been harvested, either legally or illegally 🤔.

It's only 13 days before a new trout season. Last year they stocked for the first time on the 17th of October. Hope they are that timely this year.

They have still not started the pull down of the lake so that they can work on the trash racks that protect the generators. That was supposed to happen the end of September. The lake is at 543 and they were supposed to pull it down to 533 according to Janet at Sawaha. With our luck they will reopen the bunger valve to do that about the same time they stock fish!😱😱.

Will let you know as soon as I see a stocking truck. It should be an interesting trout season.

‼️ 9:30 Wednesday, checked the water temperature at at Hinds Bluff. It was 70 degrees!!  That's not real good. 😌

I sure hope they will.