Shut the dam gate!

[Bytizawn]

One night around 11:30 PM, while my wife and were fishing for catfish this happened.
Like I said it was just short of midnight and the coolness of the water of the Osage River felt really good. The day before had been so sultry and hot and this was a cool and also exciting way to spend an evening doing what we like to do; fish.
We were sitting on a "No Fishing above this line", line. It "runs" from shore to shore, in an imaginary line, that is "drawn" on the water, from yellow painted lines on the shore, one across the river from each other and drawn the same distance on both sides, from the dam at about a couple hundred feet below Bagnal Dam, in Osage Beach, Mo.
We had been home at around 6:00PM and seen on a usgs water gauge on the computer that the dam was letting out a bunch of water and so we packed up some grub and a couple coolers for the fish we caught, if any, and grabbed the already on hand and in the basement fridge, seven cups of liver that we had bought a couple days for an time such as this, and left. We knew that the catfish's bite was on! IT was too! For a while and then,,...

Sitting there watching the rod in the holder, baited with liver, and set over the side of the boat, straight down, I tried to also soak in all there was about the night. The lights on the dam were bright and the "boils" that the water was making all around looked huge to the size of our little 16 foot boat, that anchored in the mix of it all. There was the playing of a band somewhere close there mixed in it all too, and the BITE WAS ON! They were pouring all they could pour out of those huge turbins there that produced electricity, and in so had created a feeding frenzy and with only a half hour since we had been there we already had four on the stringer and two of those were six and seven pounders and the other two were running three and four, and the action was furious trying to bait, play fish, net, and back out, for it was just that crazy. Us and one other boat was the only one there and I could see sometimes that they too were catching fish and were busy too with the bite, when,,...

My wife heard a noise and I am hard of hearing, and she said, "What it that?" What is what, and then I heard it too kind of a clanking steel sound. It got close enough, as it was on top of the dam and coming soon to be as close as it was gonna get before it passed by some 75 feet or so above us and on a rail for I soon saw it. It was a rail type little "car" or "box" and My wife said "What is that?" Now I have been fishing there since I was 15 years old and I am pushing 60 and I say: "I don't know.", as it went on passed us and stopped over the flood gates on the end of the dam. I paid little attention for they are always doing something around there the turbins and hydro "stuff" belongs to an electric company and they work 24/7 sometimes and kinda' blew it off when all of sudden,,....

A guy opens a side window on the little box with windows in it and hollers down; "You better move we're opening up the flood gates!" Well were sitting in direct line of about fifth flood gate down and there were 11 of them in all. I thought, well here in about ten minutes or so they will start so we better reel in and put the rods up and before I could relay my thoughts to my wife the guy in the little box yells down; "I said move!" and as he stops yelling he begins to open the first of the 11 flood gates! So.............

We threw the rods down in the bottom of the boat and began rapidly raising the anchors, and at the same time I had hit the starter button on my little Honda 9.9 and it started thank goodness on the first lick, and I had my anchor up just as my Wife yells; "My anchor is hung!" and he lets the next #2 floodgate open and bulge immediately thousands of gallons of water. I yelled

[Bigby]

And you must of cut the anchor line or got it loose? what happened?

[coreymassey]

???

[south point]

[Bytizawn]

Sorry 'bout that, got company so stopped and sent what I had.
Well... Since the engine was already started and ready to go, I told my wife to sit down, hang on, and make sure that the straps were tight on her life vest. t She and I already had our life jackets on, as we always do, and so I chose to try to power it loose. I got out a knife I carry close to me, just for an emergency of this kind, and I put the little motor in forward and gunned the motor,,.... and the front of the boat pulled hard, downward, and it looked like we were going to tip over and then,,... it popped loose!
I immediately headed down stream. Now there were about five flood gates going full blast. I then saw a big boat, on down stream, some 100 yards, and anchored. Later on, I guessed it a DNR boat or some sort of government witness boat, to the gates being opened,,...anyhow, I looked back to see the water coming through the flood gates and as I did, the other boat which was doing the same thing as us and leaving as fast as they could, was about three boat lengths back and to our right about 200 foot. I noticed that the operator of this small jon boat, probably a 16 footer too, was looking backwards watching the turbulent waters behind him and the flood gates that were gushing out thousands of gallons per second now, and WAS NOT seeing that he was about 75 yards from this big 25 footer that was anchored and observing, and all of a sudden the guys on the big boat started yelling and screaming and they honked a loud horn, and at the VERY last second that he had to save him for colliding with the big boat,,...he turned and didn't hit it! I would have bet he was gonna' hit as my wife and I were screaming "He's gonna' hit, he's gonna' hit!" Thank goodness we were wrong but it was that close. WE headed to the ramp some two hundred yards downstream and QUICKLY loaded out our boat. I drove back up on the parking lot there just as the last of the 11 gates were opened. It was something to see! All that power and tons of millions of gallons pf water rushing of the surface of Lake of the Ozarks and through the flood gates giving drainage to about five feet of surface water. It was something to see a 1/4 mile away but so humbling at 200 feet and in a little boat!
We put the fish on ice, drank a cup of coffee, and thanked the one that needed thanked! We then drove back home with plenty enough catfish to eat. At one time when the first gate opened I did not say it but looking back I am sure my mind was saying ; "Shut the dam gate!"

If you are ever "up there", on the line and,,... even if the bite is on; if someone in a little box, up on top of the dam, opens a little window and hollers out; "You better leave, we're opening up the flood gates!", you will now know, that "they", are doing just that, as they are telling you,,... you better get away, and fast,,... and do that in a hurry!
Thanks for letting me share.

[Charley41]

i've offten wonder about that.. be tie up to that cable if they blew a horn or something.. dosn't seem right they just yell at you becuase i wouldn't even hear them...thanks

[dfar]

Well now that just further convinced me that I won't be doing any fishin close to the dam outlet.

[Bigby]

That's crazy, figured they would of waited until everyone was out of the way, I would of drove up to the powerhouse wanting to kick some butt.

[Speck]

Wow!!! Glad y'all made it out OK. That would have increased the pucker factor 1000 fold!!!!

[beagle man]

man what a bunch of jerks, they should have a horn like taneycomo does,,,,,, swisssssshhhhh