Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

As some of you may recall my trailer and truck were damaged 4th of July weekend while parked at an east texas boat launch... well the body shop called and said the truck's ready ( adjuster hasn't even looked at the trailer yet but it's still very much useable ) so I was planning to hook em up and head to the lake this weekend... now I'm rethinking it. Saw a local newstory ( n.w. louisiana ) talking about the extreme heat we've been having ( it was 104 degrees today ) and with no rain to speak of for weeks the water level in the area lakes is very very low. We usually go to Caddo lake, and on the louisiana side it's normally not over 10 to 12 feet deep anyway... The news story I saw tonight just happened to interview the owner of the boat dealership where I bought my boat. I think he said that because of the low water, they had 14 boats in the shop right now because people had damaged thier lower units hitting logs and stumps, that normally would be well below the water..... I'll probably go, I'll just stay in the boat channel as much as possible, and definetly won't be out after dark.

ROLAND I feel your pain. I live in South Texas and the two lakes I go to (Canyon & Medina) are down drastically. They have closed four launches at Canyon due to the lack of rain. Tree's are right below the water line and many boaters have ruined their day out. Medina lake is down 30-40 feet. The private launch that we use is not viable until we get some decent rain. It sounds drastic but we are hoping for a tropical storm to come into the Texas coast to break this drought. We are currently at stage three water restrictions and stage four is close at hand.

Roland, I have been on Caddo lake twice in my life. I will not go on that lake not only are there stumps but old oil well heads and stuff. That lake when low or high is like boating in a mine field. yea the lakes are low right now due to lack of rain. Bistineau is dropping and it was only 5feet from being full. The last week it has dropped another 6 inches. You might be better off going to Lake of the Pines during this time of shortage of water in our lakes. When the water is either high or low is a dangerous situation on any lake in the south due to stumps and stuff.

Don't go too fast and post a lookout up front. Rocks and steel are pretty tough but at fairly low speeds you should be able to deal with a log
There should be places in the lake that are fairly clear but you really need local knowledge. Chugging around slow is still better than sitting at home on the couch

Roland, I was on Toledo Bend over the 4th. It was right at 9 feet below full pool level. Saw some crazy stuff such as a guy swimming his boat back to the landing, someone stopped and gave him a tow before I could get over to him. I also saw one PWC towing another PWC back to the landing but the tow was paddling, they had both run up on some gravel and evidently ingested it into the impellers. They waved everyone off due to the water depth.

So I put in anyway and motor around a little. Right out in what one would assume to be deep water there were a number of boats beached with people wading around in about 2 feet of water on top of a hill, the boats were tied to the very visible stumps sticking out of the water. This was in a so called "recreational area" that had been clear cut before the lake filled up. I was in a boat lane about 75 feet away in 20 feet of water. I finally headed back to the camp and decided to follow a ski boat pulling a skier in the boat lane. He was hauling and I figured it was safe. I was following slowly in the boats path and hit a stump, bending my prop (aluminum). I guess he was up on step and just went over it. I motored slowly back to the dock and changed my prop. I have decided to stay out of Toledo and similar waters until the levels come up. Too much risk.

wed wrote: I was following slowly in the boats path and hit a stump, bending my prop (aluminum). I guess he was up on step and just went over it. I motored slowly back to the dock and changed my prop. I have decided to stay out of Toledo and similar waters until the levels come up. Too much risk.

Oh man, sorry to hear that you damaged a prop... like my original post said, that tv report said the local boat shop had 14 boats in with damage to the lower units because of the low water..... I still want to go back out this weekend, but think I'll drive back over to east texas ( karnack ) and put in at the river there at the texas state park..... Jimrs, if you know the name of that river please let me know... I always thought it was part of caddo lake because I've actually put in over here in Mooringsport near my home and driven the boat over to a restaurant near the state park in east texas... like I said I always thought it was part of Caddo, but several people have told me that its a river, just don't know which one... in any event, the water seems to be deeper at that river as long as you stay in the main part, but swing off to any of those "off chutes" and you're asking for trouble.... and yes, this is the same launch where my 4-Runner and trailer where hit by some kid while we were out on the river.. thank goodness the boat wasn't on the trailer....

Roland, as far as I know the only river is the Red and I don't like it either. Lake of the pines is north of Longview it's a smaller lake than Caddo there is a hwy between Marshall and Longview that goes right to it. But now I'm not sure about the water level there either. We have been in this drought for a while around here were in our third year of little or no rain and most of the lakes are hurting. The last three years the lakes filled with the water from Ark floods we were just on the outside of the rainfall. I hope it changes soon.

Jimrs...This river is right down the road from the highway 43 bridge in Karnack... ring a bell? I always thought it was like a tributary to caddo lake but I have heard some of the locals there refer to as the river...

Lake levels in Texas can be checked at http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/cgi-bi ... Hydrologic and I'm sure other states have pages also. We canceled a trip to Lake Travis due to the falling level (very similar to 2009) http://travis.uslakes.info/Level.asp and we ran off the ramp at our lake 2 weeks ago. My son and I had to hold our breath while getting a good grip on the rear of the trailer to lift it out. We were careful when loading while checking the ramp end with a docking hook. The weekend before that we hit something in open water - most likely a stump - no damage found. There are several sandbars that are now usable and even exposed. We see folks using them where normally it is too deep. Some of the nastier stumps are marked with little floating buoys but some of the lake has turned into a minefield. Navionics hidef charts on chips does a good job of plotting the standing and fallen timber. Most GPS/fishfinders can use those chips.

I know this is an old thread, but I was just looking around and came across this. The river/bayou is Black Cypress. (Little Cypress and Big Cypress also feed into Caddo) It feeds into Lake O the Pines and into Caddo. You can launch in downtown Jefferson and either go up river to Lake O the Pines, or downriver to Caddo. There is also a launch on TX hiway 43 near Karnack close to Caddo Lake State Park. This is really the far upper end of Caddo. Pretty big water here. From Jefferson I have never been up river to the Pines but gone from Pines tp Jefferson. You need to wait for higher water levels. I have a friend who frequently does the float from Jefferson down to Big Pines Lodge on Caddo. (Great catfish/ best hushpuppies anywhere!) Hope this helps.

Lake Isabella, CA where I go is at 15% of cap. very low alot of old trees that are now showing.