Daily flows go from flood to drought, depending on electrical or irrigation demands. Some reservoirs are drained dry in drought years. The most recent threat to tailwater trout fisheries is the introduction of whirling disease. Word on the street says that the Beaverhead River is infected and we all know about the problems the Madison and the Colorado rivers are having with the disease. Once infected there is no cure.
Prevention is the only course of action available to fisheries managers.
If you fish an infected stream, don't carry any fish out of the watershed and disinfect your waders or hipboots using chlorine bleach. Even that may not be enough to prevent the spread of this parasite. Once past the realization that a tailwater is a gigantic spring creek with uniform water temperatures, lots of nutrients and high production, management plays a very important role in realizing the full potential of a tailwater trout fishery. Special regulations make a mediocre fishery, a great fishery. The point I'm trying to make is, regardless of the potential to produce great trout fishing, without regulations to limit the take and allow the trout time to grow, we have just another good trout fishery.