What you need to know if you plan on wading these fisheries.
Taneycomo Generation
If you plan on coming to fish any of the tailwaters in the Ozark’s you will need to know a little bit about the power generation and how to figure out if it is too deep or fast to wade. The number you can call to see how many generators are online and what the is level is before you go to fish is 417-336-5083.
If there is no generation, the tailwater/river level will be somewhere around 701.3 feet above sea level. So if they are running 2 units and the level is 703.5 then it is up 2.2 feet from what it is when the water is off. This is something to think about if driving from far away or if you plan on going night fishing and need to know what the water is doing. In general, if the water has been shut down, safe wading is possible when the tailwater reaches 702.2. If the level is higher than that, fish along the hatchery side from the bank, and around the hatchery outflows until the water drops a little more. Because Taneycomo is technically a lake, it's hard to predict how much time it takes for the water to drop out to 701.3 because of unique dynamics. Generally it's one to three hours.
White River & Norfork Generation
The number for the White and Norfork tailwater is870-431-5311. It's only 1.5 hours from Branson, so if you can get away and want to fish some of the best water around I would highly recommend you giving it a shot. They named all of Bass Pro Shops fly shops after this river. I guess that says it all.
The power generation recording for these tailwaters will tell you how many generators are on line and when the session began and when the last power session ended. There are ways to find low water "windows" on the White using this information, so please contact me to learn more about this dynamic. The water seems to drop at a around one mile per hour pace, but it rises at four miles per hour. Thus, at any given spot, the water will rise four times quicker than it drops. Always be aware of rising water as the only audible warning system is at the dams and can only be heard for a mile or so.