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FRONT PAGE By Steven Bardin and Gary Klein
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE
The Scouting Report on Grand Lake O ’ the Cherokees
Examining the playing field for REDCREST 2022
GROVE , Okla . – Fed by the Elk , Neosho and Spring rivers flowing into northeast Oklahoma , the reservoir known as Grand Lake O ’ the Cherokees – which will serve as the playing field for REDCREST 2022 ( March 23-27 ) – was formed in 1940 with the completion of Pensacola Dam between the small towns of Langley and Disney . Encompassing 46,500 surface acres , Grand Lake has a maximum depth of 140 feet and contains an astounding 1,669,350 acre-feet of water . It ’ s also proven itself an abundant provider of bass-fishing opportunities and an excellent venue for bass tournaments , which makes it a truly grand venue for the third REDCREST ever contested .
The basics
The 10,300-square-mile Grand Lake watershed extends into four states ( Oklahoma , Kansas , Missouri and Arkansas ) and covers nearly 6.6 million acres of land . Most of the watershed falls along the Neosho River in Kansas and only eight percent is found within Oklahoma . The watershed is home to half a million people but is mostly agricultural land with 5 million acres dedicated to crop or grassland uses .
Like the majority of our older reservoirs in the U . S ., Grand suffers from both nutrification and sedimentation . These processes have led to decreased water clarity , loss of depth , increased algal blooms , degraded water quality and even restrictions on the consumption of fish at times . Luckily , in 2007 , a nonprofit called the Grand Lake Watershed Alliance Foundation was established to allow citizens to become active across all four states to help improve their impact on the reservoir . You can find more – including their action strategies – at glwaf . org .
Managing Grand ’ s water levels
Pensacola Dam is owned and operated by the Grand River Dam Authority ( GRDA ), which utilizes the dam for power production . The GRDA works with the United States Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE ) to control the lake level and maintain appropriate downstream flows , maintaining the lake level below 745 feet mean sea level .
The GRDA ’ s annual elevation plan since 2017 has been to control the reservoir capacity between 742 and 744 feet . This plan draws the lake down beginning August 1 to a level of 743 feet and again on September 15 to a level of 742 feet . This level is maintained all winter and spring . Throughout May and into June , the GRDA allows the elevation to increase to 744 feet , which is maintained until their annual drawdowns begin again .
If Grand ’ s water level increases beyond 745 feet , the USACE takes control and manages the floodgates to regulate the water flowing downstream into the Arkansas River system . Grand has reached flood pool status numerous times in recent history – one of the worst was in 2019 when the lake swelled beyond the 745-foot mark to 755 feet . The USACE took control of the floodgates in May and worked to release water throughout May , June and into late July before restoring the lake to below 745 feet .
Managing Grand ’ s fish population
The fish population in Grand Lake is managed by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation ( ODWC ) as part of the Northeast Region . Forage consists primarily of gizzard shad , threadfin shad and bluegill sunfish . Largemouth , smallmouth and spotted bass all can be found in Grand , but largemouth certainly have the largest population size .
The ODWC historically enforced six fish per day at a 14-inch minimum length limit on Grand Lake . The
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