Little Missouri Fly Fishing

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.

I actually think they will 🙏🙏🙏.

Sad days to come 😢, do you think they will stock this year.

As I noted, they closed the bunger valve on the 17th so they could do work on the electrical stuff at the base of the dam. As of 5:00am this morning it is still closed. There were a lot of workers there yesterday but I assume as soon as they are finished, they will open the valve again?? 

No water flowing in the river lets you see how nasty the bottom of the river really is from all the crap coming thru the bunger valve. The fishing has been REALLY bad these past two days ( a couple of fish each day in a 2 hour span). Gonna try them again today and see if they have adjusted to the current conditions of no flow.

Nothing new on the work project for the trash racks. Last word from Janet at Sawaha was for them to start work the end of this month. If so, I would think they would start pulling the lake down to the 533' foot level really soon?🤔🤔. Who knows what the Corp will do!! 

‼️ I fished this morning for 2 hours and never got a bite!!🤔😱😬☹️.

Thanks for the reports, Mike.  Judy and I hope to get to Lil'Mo later this fall if the CoE doesn't ruin everything.  She is needing her "fly rod fix" as she had her shoulder rebuilt about 4 weeks ago and will be more than ready to try it out by late October.
SEARK Jim