Low Lake Level

[JimmyBaja]

Anyone know what the plan is for the lake level? It's pretty low at 907.5

[skeeter]

Until the area get's appreciable rainfall or the demands for electricity generation decrease, the Lake will keep dropping. Those two heavy, but brief, rains that moved through with the tornadoes Dec. 30 & 31 helped a little but not enough and there has only been .002" since then.

Good time to get out and scout exposed structure if you've never seen the water level down before.

It can and has gone much lower and with nothing but snow in the forecast, it probably will continue to drop.

[Martin]

Another 5 feet or so (down) would be just fine with me. But that's just me, a selfish fisherman. lol

[edwin]

I recall seeing it at 890 when I was a teenager...totally diff't lake!

[Cajunangler]

I mentioned the following comment in another topic BUT be sure and take care when using the State Park ramp. There is an abundant amount of rocks on the ramp and the lower the water level gets the more they become an issue for getting sucked into a prop. I had that happen on my motor when I was driving it on the trailer. Unfortunately, I have to believe that kids have caused this issue by throwing rocks from the ramp when the level was much higher. I can't believe there were rocks left on the ramp when it was constructed, and I doubt there is ever enough current to move rocks onto the ramp. Parents and the State Park officials need to discourage rock throwing since there are plenty of "non ramp" rocky areas that throwing rocks would not affect.

[Sore Thumbs]

Cajun. I think that if you won the Lottery you'd complain about paying the taxes. Lol.

[Sam]

Chances are, between now and spring, it'll be one of two things.

(1) Lake levels will stay low through the winter and we won't get much rain. That means this spring's fishing will be good but the survival rate of the fry will be poor, hurting fishing several years down the road.

(2) It'll rain like all get-out in the late winter and spring, making the lakes high, muddy, and mostly unfishable. Spring fishing will be poor, but we'll get a good crop of young 'uns for future years.

Each extreme is both good and bad, I guess. My favorite situation is when the lakes get 4 or 5 feet above normal in late winter then stay there through the spring, with no mud or floods. That gets some land bushes in the water for cover and keeps the fishing good - but it doesn't happen that way very often.

[skeeter]

I recall seeing it at 890 when I was a teenager...totally diff't lake!

Yep, I recall that too. It takes a lot of water to fill 'er back up from that level and affects wells, marinas, docks, launch ramps and so on.

Most docks were high and dry up on the bank and many launch ramps ended way before the water line. Numerous boat owners put in off the end of old Hwy "H" at Baxter where the old blacktop road continued out into the lake but that won't be available because during the $1.3 million re-hab of the Baxter campground the Corps' contractor removed the old concrete ramp down at the end of "H", removed the old asphalt and moved the swim beach right where the end of the road runs into the Lake.

There were a couple of enterprising guys who took a video camera out and made tapes of the exposed banks and sold them to anyone interested. Amazing what showed up.

Some of the Marina owners have told me the Corps is "required" to keep the Lake no lower than 890msl.

[Cajunangler]

Well, Sore Thumbs, I really doubt if you would be overly excited about sucking up rocks into your prop at the end of the day. And since I can't believe the rocks were deposited there by mother nature I have to assume that someone helped them get there.

As to complaining about taxes if I won the lottery, that would be hard to achieve since I never buy tickets for it. I know someone has to win but the odds are a little too great for me to waste money in hopes of that lucky day. But I am assuming (and we all know what that means) you feel like my comments lately have been more negative than positive, and to that I can only say that most of my complaints deal with people who don't care enough to have both common courtesy and respect when their actions directly affect others. Two things a lot of people don't feel necessary any more.

[Sam]

I've seen that before in various places - rocks as big as bowling balls on a launch ramp. It comes from people swimming and fooling around the ramps when the weather is warm, of course. Those rocks are probably 8 feet underwater when they're thrown in there, then the water level drops and they become a problem. I appreciate that you let us know to watch out for them.

I like my prop the way it is, so I always use the power trim when putting in or taking out. If there's two of us launching I'll be in the boat with the motor clear out of the water. My partner backs the trailer in and hits the brakes, sliding the boat off and clear away from the ramp. Then I lower the motor and start it. Taking out, I've got the motor tilted so the prop is just barely underwater, then once I'm on the trailer I turn the motor off and raise it out of the water. Besides rocks on the ramps, sometimes there are potholes in parking lots that can bang up outboards that aren't raised.