Little Missouri Fly Fishing

At 9:30 am they opened the bunger valve. River is not wadeable!!  The lake is at 545 feet.  It will take at least 21 days to get the lake back to the target level of 534 feet. Gonna be another long dry spell for fishing on the lower Lil' Mo'. We all knew it was coming.

I would like to give the Corp 3 atta boys and 2 thumbs up 👍👍 for not opening the bunger valve until the fly festival had ended!!  Also a big thanks to all the people who worked so hard to put on the festival and to the ALTO fly fishing club. I think it was a huge success.

Thanks Mike.  I really enjoyed visiting with you this past weekend, great to see you.

As of 4:00 pm today the bunger valve is still closed!! We got 5 and 1/2 inches of rain in one day!!  The lake has come up 8 foot to 543.49 😬. Keep an eye out on the river, they could flow the river at anytime. The fly festival begins today, come and enjoy, lots of fish in the river. The Langley gage is at about 6 foot, too high for me to fish Albert Pike and lots of water to come down the river into the lake. Better fish while you can, when they start back running water it will be another long haul to get the lake back to 534.

Gage at Langley is 7.98 tonight, afraid that's going to bring the lake back up and they'll open the bunger again, if they haven't alredy.  Thanks for your updates Mike.

At 4:00 pm today with the lake at 535.2 they closed the bunger valve completely. That's the good news, the bad news is we have already had 2 inches of rain today and more to come tomorrow. I hope they don't open it right back up. ☹️. Also this will muddy up a fairly clear river.

This is great news, if it holds, for the trout festival being held here this weekend. Lots of rain tomorrow and possibly some Friday but Saturday and Sunday look great. Remember these fish have been bunger on for 30 days straight. They will be scattered all over the river but they will be fat and strong when you find them.

Thanks Jonbo.

Quote from: GORDOB on Jan 24, 2025, 01:29 PMMike, any word on Albert Pike in regards to stocking?  Haven't seen any reports of anyone fishing it. Thanks again for your reports, they're very helpful.

Look at Mike's January 15 report. He was told that they had stocked at AP at that time. Since then, who knows.

Mike, any word on Albert Pike in regards to stocking?  Haven't seen any reports of anyone fishing it. Thanks again for your reports, they're very helpful.

Yesterday with the lake at 537.50 the Corp cut the flow by about half. It's still too high to fish. I wish they would keep running a full river, cut the flow to 7% as before or stop completely. Any one of those is better than what they are doing now!! However the Corp has never asked my opinion?🤣🤣🤔. I've heard rumors that they are looking for a 534.00 level, hope they don't try to get it running at this flow, it will take forever. I'll keep you posted if something changes.

Fish did get stocked twice this month but I'll bet one of those stockings were Ouachita catch pen fish which would be 8 to 10 inch fish!! 

Festivities begin at noon on Friday.
Fly tying Friday and Saturday.
Saturday 9am tying began
10am Johnny Walker, news on Patriot Anglers projects.
Lunch
1:30pm Gordon Shaw will talk about the Joy of fly fishing with fiberglass.
3pm presentation on raft fishing in Arkansas.
Just some of the things planned.
Fishing trips.
Hope to see you there.