Truman Lake Grand Arm Water Clarity

The Grand arm has been unusually heavily colored most of the summer and into the fall. It extends down lake throughout the entire arm and into areas below Bucksaw and to the Long Shoal area, parts of which are usually more clear. It doesn't settle or clear during periods when there isn't any runoff or stream inflow. After the heavy rains last week the water color coming in the upper end of the arm is cleaner than the water it's displacing. There seems to be high levels of an algae type coating on trees and rocks. Also see what i think are large, abnormally large, amounts of plankton on the graph, massive amounts which i first thought were shad but it's not. I'd be interested in any scientific opinion or knowledge. Thanks in advance.

I'm very interested in the answer to this too. Seen same stuff all year.

Great observations Steve. Has been a funny year for clarity/color of the lake. Just never seemed to "recover" like normal after the early rains. In the last tournament I fished this year I noticed when hitting the trolling motor in 12-15 ft of water that it looked like I was in a foot of water. Like I was stirring mud. Not the normal green tint like when there is an algae bloom or turn over. Maybe one of our guys can give some input. I may ask Mike Bayless next time he is in the store.

Got the same problem on the Pomme arm.Looks nasty.

Well this is a slow reply, but the same thing is going on with the Grand and has been for several years. Here is what I think we are seeing. The Corps of Engineers takes monthly water quality readings at 16 sites around the lake and up some of the tributaries. One of the sites is at Hwy. K south of Urich. This site records the highest level of phosphorus of all sites. This site and another site on the Marais des Cygnes contributed 56% of the total phosphorus measured during 2013. The site on the S. Grand at Hwy 13 shows the 4th highest amount of phosphorus entering the lake. The phosphorus is bound to sediment. During this time period we have also had several large algae blooms on the S. Grand above Sparrowfoot. In 2001 and one a large log jam was removed on the S. Grand near Urich. Following the removal of this log jam we documented massive amounts of bank failure. Large chunks of bank were falling into the river. This is still continuing. This is very fertile soil. There has also been a pretty large expansion south of KC along the I-49 corridor. Most of this area drains to the S. Grand. I think most of what we are now seeing are the results of this. I used to duck hunt upstream of Hwy 13 near the railroad trussel. Now it's very hard to find what is left of the channel. On the other hand I do see some things hopefully moving in the right direction. One thing that I have noticed on both the S. Grand and the Osage is an increase in the number and area being covered with willows and other vegetation. A prime example is the area west of Clinton, south of Hwy 18 on at the S. Grand. This area is trapping logs and silt and willows are growing on this area. On the Osage both up and downstream of Hwy 13 there is a lot more willow growth than there was 10 years ago. As these areas continue to silt in and get covered with plant growth they will provide a good filter to trap silt and hopefully improve water quality over time. Some phosphorus is a good thing, to much phosphorus isn't. I hope this helps answer the question.

Great explanation. Thanks for the response and water sampling info.

Thanks for the reply Mike. Good to have all your knowledge to help answer questions on here.