tenkiller archives

I sent a message to the Corps of Engineers about the lake level at Tenkiller. Here the response I got.


Due to having 13 lakes that release water directly into the Arkansas River and more lakes upstream of those, we have a management plan that takes all these lakes into consideration; including each lake's current pool elevation, anticipated inflows, and their historical frequency of filling their flood pools.

During the last storm event, Tenkiller Lake did not receive as much flood water as some of the other projects in the system. That placed Tenkiller a little lower on the priority list for releases. Instead, we had to release water from lakes with higher flood pools first.

We try to release as much as we can without flooding Van Buren and Ft. Smith. As the flood pools of all the lakes in the system become lower, we decrease the total amount of water that flows into Arkansas in an effort to reduce hazardous conditions in the navigation channel.

Currently, we are in the last portion of releasing all the flood water in the system. We anticipate increasing the releases from Tenkiller Lake no later than Thursday afternoon; 5 April. Barring more rain, we expect Tenkiller to be back to the top of conservation pool by the end of next week.

This is the second message i received from them.

We have an update, our latest predictions show that the pool will not return to normal level until approximately April 23.

Of course this is all barring we don't get any more rain on it's water shed.

8' and falling..Yeah Boy....Ranger

6.20' high and falling. Water level falling fast and should be at normal for the tournament. Can't get sweeter than that. With the water levels falling this fast all ramps will most likely be open from top to bottom of the lake. I will probably be taking my fifth wheel over this week and setting up for a weeks worth of camping or more so all of you that want to sit around a campfire and chew the fat are truly welcome. I will post where I am if it comes together......Ranger

I went out Saturday with my daughter, Dad and Grandpa. It was the first time of having the boat out of the garage this spring and apparently one of the two batteries for my electric motor decided to die over the winter. Also had a bad connection between the charger and the starting batt. so had to swap the one good batt out of the electric motor to start the motor....Anyway, due to not being a full operation, we just stayed around Burnt Cabin and fished a few areas. Mostly just threw bobbers and minnows around timber, brush and shoreline cover. Caught a bunch of small bass, but no crappie. Like I said, didn't have the electric motor to work the banks, so drive...anchor...fish for 20 min...move...drop anchor....fish...

Did have fun, fishing with bobbers is almost always fun, but no crappie and I didn't go around looking for crappies at depth either since I couldn't have stayed on them without my electric. Not much of a report, but I can say the water is still high. Got the boat in a Burnt Cabin, but the very top of the ramp is just visible enough to see where to back in. No debris in the water to speak of and the water was pretty clear. It has a long way to go to get to normal levels. Thanks to everyone on the site for the help.

will have a report for you tomorrow....Ranger

Unloaded on Pettit North ramp and its certainly out of the water. Cherokee ramp is also in service again. Elk Creek is still locked so dont waste your time there. This morning the bite was very slow and there was certainly a current going down the lake. The lake was at 4.86' high at unloading and WT was 69 and at loading time it was 4.32' and 73 degrees. At noon we had 7 crappie in the LW and ended up with 22 very nice fish. Had 10.72 lbs in a 7 fish limit. The afternoon bite was much better thats forsure. The females eggs look much closer than any I have seen at Eufaula. Had to really look for them today and places I caught fish last Tuesday I didn't catch a single fish today. So pinpointing fish for Saturdays Tourney is still up in the air right now. Fish I caught were in 16' to 24' DOW.......Ranger

Got my boat carpet washed this morning..fished in the wind,rain,sunshine, and cloudy conditions all day. Gore Tex is an amazing artical of clothing. Finished with 13 keepers and probably that many more dinks. The bite was totally off today and the WT was cold too never warming up over 67 degrees. Fished alot of stuff from Cookson to HWY 51 bdg. It wasn't any better in 1 spot more than another. Fished wood in 12' to 27' and caught some fish at all depths. Ended up with a 1.15, 1.14, 1.11,and 2 @ 1.07, with 1 of them being a black male. Water clarity is still awesome and the lake has some current which has something to do with the bite being off too. Water level is just over 4' high and all gates are closed as per the Corps website but the turbines are running full tilt. The lake went down about 4" to 5" while I was there today......Ranger

very decent results this thurs up in the "bend"

Charlie my tourney Partner fished Tenkiller today and finished up with 19 total keepers cleaning 15 and checked out the mid lake area from Sizemore to Snake Ck.. Said the males were black and females ready to bust......Ranger

Ranger,, what color have you been catchin em on ,,if i remember correctly the last time i crappie fished over there ,which was about mmm 5 years ago we would catch em on red& chrt, and blue and white, and some blk & chrt 1 1/2 tubes and sometimes on bass assassins in the blue colors,, last year when i was smallmouth fishing down torwards the dam i would occassionaly catch one on a 3" smoke with red flake grub,,when i did they were bigguns,,but that was the extint of my crappie catching over there,,, do you fish in the back of barnacle bills any ,,back towards the 2 ramps we used to catch em back there from time to time ???
see you on the water,,

Unloaded at Pettit today and fished up the lake in the morning all the way to Carters Landing and the bite was off to say the least. Never caught a fish above the bridge and only 5 keepers from Cherokee to Pettit. Worked my way down the lake all the way to Chicken Creek and ended up with 30 keepers. Cleaned 19 and let the big ole momma's go right back into the wood I caught em from. So hopefully they will stay home and bite again Saturday. (fingers crossed...lol...) WT was 66 when I started and got up to 69 whan I left at 5pm. DOW today was from 12' to 24' and caught fish in most depths. Even caught a few smallies today in the 1 1/2 lb range and what a beautiful fish. Today we caught em on red/chart super tubes, several colors of Slab Bandits as long as it had cahrt in it, pumkin/chart beavers in 1 1/2" length, and silver flake baby shad's....Ranger

Fished today with limited success. Went down lake, then the wind picked up and I spent the next half hour trying to get off the lake. Ya gotta love that Oklahoma wind! Heck I didn't see waves that big when I was in Hawaii !

Well decided to head to the lake after the fishing Saturday in the tournament. I concentrated on the upper end of the lake in some off colored water that EB mentioned. Yes I pulled the spider rig out and thats all I did from 10 am to 6 pm. I ended the day with only 5 keepers and about that many small crappie and bass. One of two things were off. Either EB fibbed to me or the fish weren't hitting after that second front came through. Well after talking to eveyone on the lake, well it seemed liked everyone noone was doing any good and all mentioned that the weekend was much better than to day. So I know EB wouldn't lead me astray.I ended up giving my 5 fish to an elderly couple fishing off the bank and they were so proud of them that I think I could have gotten a homemade pie from the lady if I had asked for one. They needed them way more than I.

Now question for EB. Did you go under both bridges and fish acrooss from the marina or did you go under just one bridge and straight which would have been Caney Creek? Plus I need a class on tying those knots for the hooks. I looked them up on the internet and I guess I'm just to dumb to get it right.

Jamie my partner from the tourney fished today also and he only had 16 keepers caught but he spent only 4 hrs on the water due to his hydro air pump housing breaking and filling his Champion up with water. He searched for 4 hrs for a replacement and there wasn't one any where on the lake to be had. So he plugged the intake and discharge for the pump and was able to resume his adventure. He said they really had a turn off the later in the day it got. He caught his fish from trees in 35' to 45' DOW and was catching them in the tops of the trees from 12' to 18'.
He also talked to some friends of ours from Muskogee that fish Tenkiller alot and they had 24 but fished most of the day...Ranger

Mark, I didn't mind not catching many. I was simply trying the EB style of fishing. I know I am no where near the fisherman he is when it comes to rigging. It was such a nice day on the water I just kept rigging the whole time. I rigged nearly every ince of Dry Creek then I went over to Caney Creek and started rigging there. That is where most came from and they to where over brush piles. I was just giving EB a hard time about rigging Tenkiller. He is a super guy and willing to share info with you. That some times is hard for some people to do.

Jiggin, on tourn day EB was in dry creek riggin, I don't know if he was over on Caney but definitely was on Dry creek .

Dry Creek, across from marina and up (right bank as you come under the bridge heading up the creek). We didn't go on up in Caney, but I was told the water was good in there too.

Hang in there Jigging, we just might have gotten lucky Saturday. We were targeting points across from the marina in dry creek. That was the first time Winger and I had ever been in there, I put the nose of my boat in 12 fow and we fished 8-10ft deep. I know there was three piles in there because I had JD hung up in everyone of them LOL. I would love to go back there and rig it more. Ive been talking to ranger about the technique yall were fishing in clear water. He said the big fish were caught in tree tops in 60fow. Man thats foreign to me, but interesting. The big mistake that Winger and I made on tourny day was. You dont have to beg them to bite! We tried that too long! I would love to come back up there and take you rigging! Just need to get together! EB

Wish I was fishing it it certainly beats Kitchen Demolition.....Take EB up on it Jamie you will not be sorry. Besides you need to show him how to fish the deep trees and such..cast and drag the shallow piles too.....whne your thru with him I will take over...lol.....Ranger

I hear ya Mark, I just finished a bath and have another one to do plus the kitchen. Told the wife it will have to wait till after fishing season. Her reply is it's fishing season for you year round. Working shift work doesn't help much either. When I'm on mids I get about 3-4 hrs of sleep during the day and I wake feeling so tired and don't want to do anything. Then my days off it makes it hard to want to go by myself since the boys are gone. I guess my problem is I didn't hit any deep tree tops during the tournament. The deepest piles we hit were 20'.

Brian, I am ready any time, you just let me know and we will go back up there. I am always willing to learn something new. We can take my boat or yours doesn't matter. I know my electronics may not be as good as your though. I think I found a couple of those piles myself. Makes it hard when your are by yourself and all 6 poles hang up on you. Plus the woind blowing a little at that time. Wow what a mess that was. I really would like to hook up with you on Eufaula during that shallow summer bite as well. Actually any time would be fine. I need to learn how to rig better. Maybe my boat speed was to slow Monday or even to fast I don't know.

Well fished Eufaula till 2:30 came home and cleaned 23. After that I asked the wife if she wanted to run up to Tenkiller for a couple of hours. Hit the water at 5 pm and fished till 6:45. Caught 7 really nice crappie all on pumpkin/charetruese tripple ripple on a road runner. All were over brush in about 20 fow. Had 4 females and 3 males. So my total catch on teh day was 30 in all.

what part of Eufaual Jamie..lol...just pm the location.....Ranger

Jiggin you did better than me. Spent all day saturday and didn't even scrape together a limit. It was a beautiful day!!!
We tried everything from a foot to 18 same old thing pick up a couple at a pile and move on. It takes a lot of piles at that rate.

Redge, 5 of those came off of one pile. It was the same pile that my son and I caught 4 off of during the tournament. After that we hit 5 more piles and only caught the other 2. I did noticed something yestareday that I did not see a week earlier during the tournament. That was all the moss floating around the lake and the amount that was growing near the bank. Sure seems that it growing earlier this year and way more than I am use to seeing.

The seven we caught came in at 10.32 lbs. Sure wished I had those during tournament day instead of the ones we weighed in. Oh well thats fishing.

fished today with the weekend crowd ,, got on the water at 6:30 fished the deep brush till almost 10:00 and never got a bite gave up and went lookin for some shallower brush and trees found some in 8-10 fow at 10:30 and got to fish for 30 min on the shallower cover before the storm rolled through and pushed me off the lake ended up catchin 8 keepers and about 2 doz throwbacks in that 30 minutes i had to work with they all got thrown back in where they came from,,,,

Fished this morning, kept a dozen nice fish. Got off the water before the storm.
Morning fish on brush piles in 10- 15 fow. Fished this afternoon, saw lots of fish but only 3 keepers? What the heck full moon perfect weather, they ought to be tearing it up?

Kirk the females still have eggs or they mostly spawned out...Most the fish I caught this weekend on Eufaula are spawned out mostly, there were a couple late bloomers but for the most part they were empty......Have you heard from Heath (slabs)..tried calling a time or two to check up on him but no answer......Ranger

Still full of eggs, same as usual pick up a few and move. Perfect weekend if I could just figure out the fish, but I am having a blast learning!

Went out this morning, had to work for them! Can't get it pinned down. It seems the more I learn, the less I know! Ranger haven't heard from Heath either.

Heres 3 days worth of reports...Tuesday- 2 friends of mine caught 44 keepers from 82 Bridge to Snake Creek...kept 30 of course..Wednesday_ my partner from the tourney caught 30 and had some really quality fish with a few still having some eggs left..Today he went back and had to hunt for em but ended up with 30 more but with alot of 10 1/2" to 11" males......sounds like Tenkiller is still producing a few limits...Ranger

Man what a difference a day makes! Got to the lake a little late on Friday because of the rain, picked up some really nice fish before dark. Went this morning and evening and couldn't hardly buy a bite from a crappie ! Maybe tommorrows the day. Ranger all females yesterday still had eggs, bright with blood vessels.

My partner from the tourney fished from above the bridge to below burnt cabin today and only caught 9 crappie all 10" to 10 1/2" fish. I would say and so did he that its over for the spawn on Tenkiller....its time to fish post spawn and hit the trees I am a thinking..The fish will move to the points and wood in 20' to 25' DOW......Ranger

Fished Sunday morning,couldn't find the crappie. Couldn't keep them green fish off the hook, even caught them 2 at a time! Thought I had found the crappie on a point until I pulled 4 LMB up on 4 tries all 2-3 lb. gave up and moved.

Squirrel hunted Saturday and went fishing Sunday, did good on the crappie with some tips from kdlong. Great bite early and kept out of the rain, only had 1 female that still had eggs.

redge glad i could help a brother fisherman out. anytime buddy just yell real loud. and ranger i didn't give away all our secret spots just a little tip.

Got the afternoon off and made a parts run. A little elec work, black tape, and a few cold Millers and I'm back in action. Test run Thursday afternoon. Cross your fingers, I'm cursed.

Man from the looks of that thing I am surprised you resurrected it! Good luck! We are cutting hay this week, that and the holiday weekend with all of the wild people on the lake, won't be on the water til late next week.

Well went over tonight after amature hour was over, hit the water at 6. Caught some really quality fish, females still had eggs. Going in the morning. Only 1dink this afternoon.

went yesterday morning before the party crowd showed up ,,caught a few decent fish but it was tough cause the wind had about a 10 foot bow in my line ,,still workin on figuring the crappie out over there cause this is the first year in about 6 that i have crappie fished over there,,the piles that i fished yeaterday were full of dinks mostly, and dont have enough piles marked yet to bounce around and find the bigguns but im still workin on it,,i spend about 3/4 of my time lookin for stuff to fish i do believe i could speed the process up by sinkin my own and quit tryin to find everyone elses ,,we will see
Thanks

Did some bowfishing on Tenkiller this weekend and seen about 15 slab crappie floating in misc locations on north end of lake...seemed a little weird.