Table Rock Lake

Just wanted to give some info out to anyone possibly coming to Table Rock for Memorial weekend or any weekend coming up. If you dont know we are about 14" above normal rain for the year. The lake crested a few weeks back at a record height. I went yesterday and here is what it looks like.

Lake temp 65 degrees...Temps this week are supposed to be mid 80's all week so that temp should rise.

We launched in Branson at State Park and it was a mad house. There are not many launches open and the ones that are open are very busy. We will be in Kimberling City next weekend and as of now the only launch open there is at the Port of Kimberling.

Once you get on the water there is not much debris. I did not see any logs or stuff you would think would be floating around with the lake so high.

If anyone wants to know anything else just ask and I will try to help ya out.

And... There are a LOT of snakes out and about.

beach, that is what i heard from tim last night.

My Dad had to blast a few off the dock this past weekend. LARGE water moccasins!

Just had to bring that up didn't you Beach...

dang, thats not good news. i was planning to launch at Aunts Creek, but i hear the launch isn't even open...dock is underwater...

so the only launches are the state park and 13? how is parking at those? sucky?

rolling with the tandem trailer and the dually truck the rig is like 40ft long.

have a feeling after this weekends crazyiness, i am going to appreciate my regular setup 100 times more, the one were i walk out my door and get on the boatdock in my front yard.


Eric you gonna be out and about? Where do you usually hang out by? we'll have a couple boats down there...we should meet up, would love to see your new boat.

(Message edited by tj_in_kc on May 19, 2008)

I didnt see any snakes this time but there are quite a few of them around by the docks. You can launch at Indian Point which is between Branson and Kimberling City.

TJ,
I would normally say parking and launching is not a problem at Port of Kimberling but since it is the only one open around Kimberling City this weekend might be a bitch. I am heading down Sat morning and were staying at a condo at the Kimberling Inn until Monday. I think your SMS buddies will also be down there as well. Lemme know what your plans are and we can definately meet up. I wanna see your v ride as well.

Why is there more snakes?

All our docks are underwater at Sunset Cove.

Damn. this sucks. i don't know whether we should even go now. we were planning on hitting the town in springfield on Friday night and heading to the lake on Sat and Sun...if launching is going to be impossible...maybe we should just stay up here?

are there any easy places to launch/park??

never been to Indian Point...what's that like?

Think it would be any better???

You will be able to launch, dont worry about it. Last year State Park launch was so busy 4th of July they had a golf cart to shuttle you from another parking lot to the courtesy dock. It might take a lil longer to launch but I'm not worried about it.

Anyone have any pictures? I had seen some pictures from about 3 weeks ago of the water being as high as the bridge at Kimberling City. Can you get under the bridges at Kimberling City and Shell Knob? We are going to be down there a couple weeks after Memorial Day.

someone sent me these about a month ago but the lake level hasn't really changed much.

Was that bridge washed out at one point? There looks to be a water line about 5-8ft up on the sides. I hope it drops soon. We are going the beginning of June. From what I understand, we are going to have to swim to our boat at Campbell point.

I was at a meeting at the Corps of Engineers this morning. Here is the scoop. Water levels will likely stay consistent (maybe down a foot or two)through the summer. Now, that's not all bad, you have LOTS more water to use! The bad thing is the parking/launching issue.
The corps asked us "resort owners" if we could possibly shuttle folks after they launch to alleviate some of the parking issues. No problem. We will be happy to do that, maybe even put boats in for people staying with us instead of them having to drive down, launch, come back here, then us take them back to the launch.
The other thing they are going to do is try to open up more parking areas. For example, at Bull Shoals (Missouri side), one of the current best launches has very limited parking, so they are going to open up a closed down Corps Park for truck/boat trailer parking.
We are all working very hard to make sure everyone still has a great summer! Don't be afraid to come to the lakes, we'll work it all out, and have a great time. Maybe we'll all learn a little patience, too!

Can you even get a boat with a tower under the bridge? Looks pretty low...not that we will needed to. We are staying near Shell Knob and will be meeting up with some friends near Kimberling City. Can't wait to get on the water down there.

boardcrazy, i dunno, definately not on a plane.

i haven't been down there, but i did talk to a buddy of mine who tried to go under the bridge on a plane yesterday and ripped the bimini top off his Sea Ray when it caught on the bridge.

Lauri, what resort are you with? I think we might switch. Called our resort lastnight and they were clueless. We don't want to have a hassle, if somewhere makes it easy we'll stay there, otherwise probably just stay in KC.

Well, at least it will be a shorter walk up to the Clam!

Anyone know if Pomme is also effected by high water?

WOW those picture hit home. Last time we were there in 06, the house boat we rented cleared that bridge by a good 10-20 feet.

The Bearded Clam should be goin strong. I am not for sure about getting under the bridge but I would be shocked if you cant get a boat under it. If not then thank god for 4 ballast tanks, hope with them full I can get under it. They had a boat show at the Port of Kimberling last weekend so the area is all right for Memorial weekend. My uncle said that "the swing" is pretty much not there. You can just pull up your boat and the rope is partly under water. I will at least check it out and see if anyone if tieing up and partying but I would doubt it will be as packed as it normally is. Anyone hear of Cow Creek being the new party cove of Table Rock?

we are heading up on saturday morning and staying over at indian pointe. spoke with the owner of the resort and they said their ramp was still open.

eric, big cow, is the party area.

Well we might need to hit up big cos and try it out. I am not for sure which cove it is how do you get to it from Kimberling City?

If you can, post some some new pictures of the water level at the bridge when you get down there. I am curious to see if there is much difference. If you decide to go under the bridge, you might want to take it a little slower then the guy that ripped his bimini off.

I doubt the clearance on that bridge is as tight as it looks. The bridge is a lot higher on the north end than the south end. I would assume that there is still 15+ feet of clearance on the north end. The lake is only 15 feet up right? It's like a 35-40' drop off the north end usually, so you should still be dealing with 20' or so of clearance.

TJ, sorry, didn't see your question till now. We own Soak Up the Sun Cabins, Water Sports & More. We are on Hwy 160 in Theodosia. Not right on the water, but less than a mile to the marina, no dirt roads!
Our website is www.soakupthesuninc.com
We'd love to have you stay with us. Just give us a call. We even have a few cabins open for this weekend.
We'll make it as easy as possible for you!

(Message edited by soak_up_the_sun on May 23, 2008)

Thanks for the info Lauri, we'll come check your place out this summer, looks fun! Can't this weekend though, as it seems like you are on Bull Shoals and we have to meet family on the water at Table Rock.

Anyone that runs on Table Rock often know how deep it is in most places?

i have 100 ft lines on my anchors, as my lake is only 20-30 in most places. is Table Rock deeper???

much deeper. heading up in the saturday morning

100 foot will be good in alot of places. I know by some of the cliffs it gets to be around 150 feet. It is a pretty deep lake. For example I was on the Arkansas side last Sat and the lake temp was 65 degrees and its pretty deep where we were. My uncle has his house boat in Cape Fair and it is much shallower there and the lake temp was 74 degrees.

dang, looks like i might have to stop at Bass Pro and get some longer lines...

big cow is that were you guys are all meeting up?? anywhere that is marked on a map? not sure how to find it...

anywho, might see you guys down there on Saturday afternoon!

If you are coming from Kimberling City Big Cow is one cove EAST or past mile marker 6 on the right, unless you are coming from Indian Point then its one cove before 6 on your left.

coming from State Park Marina. so i'll follow the indian point directions.

Anyone ever drove from State Park to Kimberling City? How far is that by water? an hour?

about a 45 minute drive by water.

We got from State Park marina to the swing which is on the other side of Kimberling City in about an hour. That was in very rough water too. I would say around 30 minutes or so to cow creek.

DO NOT DRIVE from state park to Kimberling City. Its not too far but Silver Dollar City is right between the 2 and that traffic SUCKS!!!!Its prolly quicker to go the other way around the lake and come to Kimberling City. Whats ur plans for the weekend? Tie up and drink or try to find smooth water somewhere?

Sorry I'm missing you guys this weekend, gotta ride up to KC for a bachelor party. Might be at the rock monday!

Anybody have an update on Table Rock? Not heading there until July but just wondering if it has gone down any. I saw on Shell Knob's web-site it is up 14' right now. Post some recent pics if you have any. Thanks!

Going in July as well, going to be way up north at Cape Fair....any clue what its like up there?

If no one has posted any pictures by the middle of June I will throw some up. We will be done the 17th for five days. We are staying near Shell Knob. Cape Fair is the sweetest area to ride...

boardcrazy...i put some up last week.

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/584556.html?1212026553

I will be there saturday for the week. I will post pics and give a report when I get home.

Thanks, TJ...I missed that one.

I have been down the past 4 weeks and the lake is fine. I have had no debris to deal with. Hardest thing is launching your boat. Some launches are still closed so call ahead to make sure the launch you want to use is open. Water temp is up to 75 around Kimberling and it feels great. MOst of the marinas are open and you can get fuel. Lake levels are still up but they posed no probelm to me what so ever or the lake. My Uncle said Cape Fair is still pretty dirty but that part of the lake is usually the dirtiest compared to the rest.

We launched at State Park Marina on MM Day and to my surprise it wasn't even busy.

well okay it was busy, but nothing like i expected. Had to prob showing up at 10am and getting the boat in the water in 10min.

any pictures for this weekend?

Pretty much what Eric said. Lake is up, but no debre, and fairly clear from what I was expecting. Friday, we got a ton of rain though, so I would expect it to go back up.

Does anyone know the current conditions of Table Rock Lake now? I know it is still up, but does anyone know how high? Can you pass under the Kimberling City Bridge again?

I went this past weekend and the water is just about the same. You can pass easily under the northern half of the bridge and you CANT pass under part of the southern half of the bridge. Launching is still a problem. You can launch from the Port of Kimberling on the west side of the peninsula. Your launching from what used to be a parking lot. Last Sat the lake was very busy. I do know that there are not any rooms, condos, cabins, or camping in Kimberling City for the 4th weekend.

Check this out, looks like the lake is up about 9.8 feet from the previous year. It was up much higher the last few months.

http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Daily/white.txt

FYI.....I experienced my first water patrol checkpoint this past weekend. They are really cracking down on people tieing up. They had 6 water patrol boats sitting at the entrance to Big Cow and stopping everyone and I mean everyone that was leaving Big Cow. They were mostly checking for boat safety gear but I also had to do a sobriety thing. I passed ;)It would not surprise me if they were sitting at Big Cow again over the 4th of July weekend. Make sure you got a sober driver...In case your wondering I was not legal. I was missing a throw thingy, a fire extinguisher(I couldnt find it but I think I have one lol) some boat paper that I have no clue where it is, and I failed to have enough life jackets out in the boat. Ya, didnt know you had to have life jackets out of storage and in the middle of the boat while cruising. makes sense though...Other than that the guy was real nice and commented on how he liked my boat.

Hey Eric... Did you get any tickets, or just told to correct the issues. They seriously want you to get out the life jackets for all people in the boat? How in depth was the sobriety thing? I am heading down there on the 12th of July for a week! Can't wait.
Thanks!

The life jackets being out is a bunch of •••••

I did not get any tickets just a written warning. I am pretty sure if I told him I hadnt been drinking I would not of had to do it but I am too honest I guess and I only had 3 or 4 beers in a 8 hour period so I knew I was fine. I had to recite from D to S and then do then pen thing with the eye. I was pretty nervous doing that one cause my boat was rockin with the waves so my head was turning a lil. You are supposed to have life jackets out for however makny people you have in the boat. I dont know of anyone that does this but the point is if the boat were to wreck or capsize you cant get to the jacket if they are in storage. Understandable but just not practical in my opinion. I will continue to break the law on the one....lol

I saw the picture of Big Cedar above - any idea if they open?

I believe everything is open as far as resorts are concerned. Nobody is allowed to build below flood stage, and the lake didn't get past it, it just got to it.

All the resorts are open at Bull Shoals. We finally got the nerve to put the boat in, and it actually went much easier that we thought it would.
The main launch ramp at Theodosia Marina is still under water, but they have a "temporary" ramp set up. You basically are launching in the campground, and that's what scared us so bad.
We printed out a map of the campground, and studied where the structures were, and got in with no problem.
Anyway, the lake is awesome! Very little traffic on the water, and butter every day.
Our boat is happily in its dock, again, and we're looking forward to a great summer!

Heading down to TRL on Sat. how high and what were the conditions of the lake over the weekend....we'll be up in Cape Fair.

Headed down on Wednesday, Shell Knob area...any updates?

I was in the Kimberling area it wasnt bad. It will not stop raining. I think the lake went up 3 feet last weekend but I didnt notice anything. My Uncle said Cape Fair had alot of red water cause of the rise of the lake and bringing back some clay. He said you dont want to hardly get in it but he was prolly exaggerating. Anything else just ask....Have fun

Crap! any pictures....

Any info that anyone one has about the Northern part of the lake would be great!

man that sucks! we are going this wednesday. we usually go to cape fair but not if the water is to high. what about shell knob is it a good place to ride and is the water cleaner down there?

The lake is up and its pretty impressive to see but you can still do most everything you used to. There are alot of campsites that are still under water. I know the boat launch is open in Cape Fair but you have to park a little ways away once you launch. I would bet the red water is gone now. It rained over the weekend alot but its supposed to be over 90 almost all week so that should help. I wouldnt worry about it. We were at Kimberling all weekend and we found a cove a mile from the bridge and it was pretty good water. No butter but good enough to ride.

We were down there for a week 2 weeks ago and to tell you the truth, other than the camp ground across from Kimberling being under water, that's about the only difference we noticed. Other than the bridges and the cliffs being lower, we had no issues. I think the water did go up last week, as we were leaving on Saturday (the 28th) we had a huge storm the Friday night with a lot of rain. We ate at Club Louie on the Landing and saw a dock with 3 boats still attached floating down Taneycomo. Lots of debris there that morning.

How was the water clearity?

water clarity is fine... Sure looked gorgeous tonight!

I was there (Shell Knob) from the 9th-14th...Lake is up but doesn't affect anything really. Was kind of a b##tch to launch/load at Campbell point. Water clarity isn't as clear as normal but still pretty good. Bottom line, lake is fine have fun!

Figured I'd post a couple pics up of the trip to "The Rock"...This is Jarred riding behind my Moomba, he rides for Ronix and Mastercraft.