How far south to get decent water on April 1st?

Hello,

Living in Minnesota, I am thinking about packing the kids up to find some decent water temps when they are out of school for spring break. Any lakes around Kansas City, or in Arkansas or Oklahoma that people are traditionally out on the first week of April?

Trying to get somewhere within 10 hours of drive time from Minneapolis.... Thanks in advance!

jk

I'll b on the water in northern oklahoma, hopefully by mid March again!

Man it really depends on the year, and your definition of decent water temp. Typically in the KC area lake temps are in the mid to upper 60s still in early April. Last year I would say was more like upper 50s and in 2012 was probably 70 already by then.

As a general rule though, it's not warm to be riding that time of year. You might see if there's something along the way with a nuke plant, they are typically 10 degrees ahead of natural lakes by the discharge chutes. Clinton Lake in Illinois was one we used to ride when I lived there.

KC would be a good weekend for April 1st though cause the cable opens up for the season and they do a big event.

Like I said though, it's really a crap shoot in the Midwest. I went to Lkae Travis in TX one year for spring break riding when I was in college and we froze our asses off. The year before, we were way further north on Lake Martin (closer to Dallas) and on a nuke plant and we had good water/weather.

The weather will be the biggest thing, 60 deg water is tolerable on a sunny 80 degree day with no wind and a heater shirt. 60 degree water is less fun on an overcast, windy day in the 60s where you just can't get warm in the boat after your set.

Coming down south on I-35 your next set of choices past KC are Table Rock, Beaver and Grand. I'm with Dustin. It's a big gamble to make any reasonable prediction of the weather in this area at that time of year. Last year we had a wet and cold spring following a cold and snowy winter. This winter has not been as quite as snowy, until since Valentines Day. The hospital across the street from my office has a fleet of bulldozers building a pyramid of snow ... about 20 feet high ... to date.

I would think your better bet would be the Arkansas River lakes around Conway and Russelville (Russelville has a nuclear power plant but it also has big cooling tower, I do not know if it disharges into the lake) ... or even further south to the lakes around Hot Springs. Look at this way ... at least the alligators will be largely dormant.

I live in kc and normally try to get the boat out the first week of April. I have always worn a full wetsuit at least til end of April. Although we have had snow in April as well...

I had to look this up real quick on wikipedia. I think Russelville sounds good.

The lake at Russelville Arkansas is Lake Dardanelle. I can personally say that, the lake AND the surrounding area are very scenic. The lake has 2 nuclear power plants on the shore. " Unit two is the only one that uses a cooling tower; Unit One releases heat into Lake Dardanelle."

If you really want an adventure, you could take scenic Highway 7 from Harrison to Russelville, and drive along the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks. I've been through Western Minnesota, to Willmar. Highways straight as an arrow ... flat landscape ... with 20 or 30 foot wide shoulders !?!?! In contrast, you're just gonna marvel at Arkansas highway engineering ... or not.

I tried this once years ago, I drove down to a State Park lake in Georgia for Spring break, Great weather! then, it turned out they were Closed and didn't open until May! But, I have to admit, they had the Best catfish!

Thanks for all the help guys... Going to pencil something in and see what happens in the next couple of weeks!

Try Clinton Lake in IL. think they open early April.

I'm in KC and depending on weather my boat is out of the caves and in the water by last week of march first week of April.

Still need a wetsuit for a while though.

couple power plant lakes in East Texas. Martin lake, Pirkey.

back when I was young and stupid we'd start riding around mid march in spring suits. a 5 gallon cooler full of hot water goes a long way. dunk your suit and you'll stay warm when you jump in

Did you decide? Regarding Branson, my co-worker tells me that there are two (2) indoor water parks in Branson that are open now, and, Silver Dollar City will be open by then. Regarding fishing in the area, it's a great time of year to go trout fishing on Taneycomo. Even better, it's the peak of the white bass spawning run. It's like the salmon spawning runs in Alaska. Both you can do both from shore. I like Beaver Creek, which is about 5 miles east of nearby Forsyth. I hear James River might be even better, but I know it would be more crowded, and a boat would serve you better there. The Corps of Engineers easement around Bull Shoals is much more generous. You can drive all around the shoreline. Then there's also the Buffalo River Hiking Trails, which are just 45 minutes to the south. While I still think it would be too early to count on wakeboarding, at least the serviceberry and red bud will be in bloom, at least making you think more intently about Spring.