Back in the day this lake was putting out big DD's on a regular basis. I know the water level has really hurt access to the lake. When was the last time a big fish was reported from this lake? Do they have a plan to get this lake back to where it once was? A quality fishery.

Lake record: Bass, Largemouth 15.17lbs 25.50in. Apr 4, 1999

My understanding is that it's a shell of itself from back in the day. My cousin had the record for just a minute with a 13+ pounder. It looked like it was going to be a fork or better and there were lots of guides and building going on around the lake. Now abandoned.

I'm sure there are some in there. I know they still catch crappie, sand bass, hybrids, catfish etc but you really never hear anything about the bass. If they are catching they are doing a good job of keeping it secret!

Current lake record is around a 450lb hog. Can't do much fishing but it is great for hog hunting.

What ramps are still accessible?

None.....

As far as I know, the only thing you can put in the water is a small john boat.... If you want to carry it...

We've been hybrid fishing it the past 7 years when we can. I've seen less than 5 LMB's caught in over a 200 trips.

And of the 5 we seen caught 3 Lb. is about the biggest.

You would think with the 1000's of swim baits, top water, crank baits we'd have caught a good one, but no.

It's so low this winter that it might not open at all this year.

denny

Why not put 100 or 200 brood fish and males in there while it's inaccessible? It would seem to be an easy fix...

Stocking history shows almost a million Florida's over 2009 and 2010.....where the French did the go?

Lake level is -9.......it was -12 same day last year.....

With no grass and no where to hide any bass fry would easily be munched up by the hybrids and sandies.

So make some hiding places.....it's like the lake has just been abandoned

It has, many factors non fishing related.

Both ramps are open with the Dr Creek unit being better than the a South Sulphur ramp. Was there yesterday ( South unit ) water is coming up and as of today is just at 9 feet low. Most likely the south unit would be trolling motor only to start.
Great place to catch catfish but the few times I have tried to catch LMB it just did not happen in the last few years.
My PB comes off Cooper but that was 9 years ago.

I went up there for the first time last summer one day. Fished hard all day without a bite on open water humps. Decided I would stick with Fork from now on. Fork can still humble me, but at least I've got a shot at a monster. I try out some of these other smaller lakes hoping to find some less educated fish. All I seem to find is that I'm not the fisherman I'd like to be...

Cooper..such a sad story.
The money TP&W spent, and basically wasted on the Sulphur Park is embarrassing.
Perhaps in the next 25 yrs or so when the drought ends and the population in DFW subsides, Cooper will hold water once again and rebound to its former self........NOT!

I think it was the Gardner's caught the big fish and built cabins and guide out there

Not many bass in the lake anymore. Had a sand bass trip over there last year in April and we had a 5 lb bass on that threw the bait. That is the first bass I seen since back in the days. Even the white bass were very poor. I wished the TPW would restock it but just to much money and not enough people using the resources over there. Like you said about the parks what a waist of money.

Back when the lake first opened it was awesome for small 10-15" fish. I would go out on a Sunday afternoon and two of us would easily boat 100 fish in the afternoon. You could just about throw any colored worm and they would hit it. Got rid of a hole bunch of strange colored worms I had bought over the years.

As it matured a little it also was putting out some nice fish. I saw a 10.5 caught and weighed in at a club tournament. Also was a few 30-35 pound stringers winning tournaments. Really loved that lake, thought (as did TPW) it would be the next Fork. My personal best was an 8 1/2. Then it just kind of fell off the face of the fishing world. Water got real muddy, drought hit it hard and it just never fished the same.

A pretty sad ending for what was a pretty great fishery. Camped many times at both state parks. Both are very nice facilities. Was back there maybe three years ago and it is just not the same. Did not get a bite and I knew that lake pretty well.

The first time I ever saw the lake I caught a 7 pounder and a couple over 5. That was probably 1999 or 2000. I caught my PB on May 1, 2000. It was a 10.25 that was the third 10 pounder I had seen caught in a 15 minute span. A week later in the tournament I hung into a good fish on the same tree and thought maybe I had caught my big girl again...but it was "only" a 6 pounder.

Cooper was a great, great lake. I used to drive right over or around Fork to get to it until the combination of drought and water being pulled out of it killed the water quality and apparently most of the bass. The state park facilities were maybe the best I had ever used. As everyone else has said, it is a real shame that they have gone to waste.

Even if it fills up it won't be long before its right back down again. I doubt anymore money will ever be spent on it. Too risky to spend a lot of money on something that has so much uncertainty.

How much would it cost for TP&WD to stock fingerlings into it?

I fished it quite a bit back in it's hay day. That lake could humble you very quickly or you could have a phenomenal day.

Summer time during the hottest part of they day could be outstanding. I remember one trip in August catching big ol bass one after another throwing DD22's.

They did that in 09 and 10.....apparently they were eaten by hybrids... No grass or timber or any other cover...

Living almost on the lake my son and I have bank fished it quiet a bit catching mostly catfish. The last time it was full we were catfishing one day and I brought my finesse rig with me. There was a patch of hydrilla where we were fishing and it just kept knawing at me to pitch a finesse worm in it. I told my son; just messing with him, that I was going to catch a LMB out of a certain spot in that hydrilla. I flipped the worm in an opening in the weeds and immediately connected with a 2 pounder. That was the last LMB I caught out of it.
I think it was the 2010 waterfowl season it was full again. We were in the back of the lake on the south side and it was unseasonably warm and the last day of the season. We had our spread out before daylight and as the sun began to rise fish started breaking in the lily pads and aquatic weeds in the shallows. I'm pretty sure it was LMB's.
One thing good about the aquatic growth in this lake is once it gets water over it, it rebounds pretty quick. There will be lily pads almost instantly and the grasses will soon follow. I think this lake would fish like Twok if it stayed deep enough to keep aquatic growth. I think it would surprise you the number of LMB's you might catch. They will more than likely be caught in vegetation that is in a foot of water or less. If it fills the rest of the way I'll be out trying to find them........

Holy hell.....she's only -5.95

I know, im watching as well. sabine creek runs by Royse City, Sabine river at flood pool for last few weeks..Cooper had such promise before the drawdown..Maybe it can recover.

Oh the days we had out there in the late 90's. It all started when decided to do some work on the dam and draw the lake down for repairs. That started the killing of the grass. Then the droughts came and the pulling of water. The lake was never the same after that. I will never forget the day that Jimmy Smith and his son met me and my buddy out there on hot August day. Between our two boats we caught over 400 fish. All on Texas rigged worms in 15-25 ft of water. Jimmy kept saying "we're in Nam man"! It was crazy!

Cooper was great. I had some great days out there. I don't think it will ever come back.

Manhunter turned me on to Cooper, we fished it on a tourney but it was already suffering then..Only place we caught fish was doctors..At the time decent pepper grass..Probably wasted now...

It is a POS catfish lake now. Totally ruined a very good bass lake. What bass were in there are now at fork anyway

Cooper was great back in the "day". Caught many, many 5 to 7 lb bass there. Big Creek being just down the road was an added bonus. Hear that Big Creek is a "total waste" these days?? Last trip to Cooper was an epic fail.......looked like a different lake from the one I remembered. Begs the question....who is managing or mismanaging the lake? TP&W made a big investment of our tax dollars on the lake....so what's up with them? Sooner or later we (bass fishermen) have got to get organized and demand that our lakes get properly managed. Lots of money going into big tournaments and big retail stores.....politicians can smell a dollar from miles away....so why can't we get some attention focused on things like this? Political patronage is the order of the day.....where the money goes ....political favors go. Just sayin'

All TPW needs to do is leave hydrilla alone .. It solves the world's problems..... Every bad thing that happened at Fork is the result of spraying to kill the grass.....to say otherwise is disingenuous at best

You would have thought Conroe would have proven that out..Spraying is always the worst route, 2nd is carp...Im still shocked at how fast Cooper and Cedar Creek have taken in water..Twok right after them..Trinity lakes besides Cedar Creek still lagging..

I believe that all these lakes(Trinity and Sabine) will be full by end of April at the latest..El Nina is in charge..

I concur about the management..I believe the demand for water is in constant contrast to conservation for recreation..

Our money, and the impacts to local lake economies is widely known, but only acknowledged when lakes are down..West Texas Water us in a shambles because of under anticipating usage, and bad management of resources. North East Texas is going to have to face the need for more lakes and the cost to secure the property...

Bad management on Lavon/Fork will choke the Trinity off soon enough..Only two-three ft of water at full pool where it opens into lake Ray Hubbard..Thank you Dallas for that Grabbass..

-4.92 @ 1:30 PM today

I haven't heard anything about big creek. At one time it as a great fishing small lake

it is el nino, or la nina, btw.

You got me...The crying child..

Cooper was not built to be a Bass lake. It will never be a Bass lake no matter how much money Bass fishing brings in. It was built to provide water to the metromess. If I'm not mistaken they can take 5M gallons a day in the summer. It will never stay full. Living a mile from the lake I'd love to see it stay full but I know that will never happen. There is one camp, one RV park, and one bait store out here. If the lake stayed full there would be motels,more places to eat, boat storage, and etc.

So why were million of taxpayer dollars spent building two very nice state park facilities on Cooper? Did the politicians and TPWD not know it wasn't going to be a "bass lake" when they decided to waste our money on ramps and cabins that became nothing more than a really expensive ghost town?

The state parks do a good business with campers even though you couldn't use any of the ramps last summer. They are full almost every weekend. The parks were built for campers. Come out and have a look sometime. They are far from expensive ghost towns. Don't get me wrong I'm all for Cooper being a "bass lake" but it will never happen.

If I remember correctly Gov. Anne "Wrinkles" put a halt on building big lakes....she said we had plenty of lakes and water resources. With population growth being what it is today that sure looks like a poor decision. I'm not aware of a single big lake building project in the last 20 years.....How much has the states population grown during that same time period? What are the politicians in Austin doing....heads in a dark place?? Maybe I'm wrong but "more people = more water" no matter how you do the math

It's "The Christ Child"

I live down on the dam road and I'd definately love to see it stay full if for no other reason than to help the economy around Delta county. I wish the Corps of Engineers would let it fill to the top of the spillway and just leave it be intead of draining it back down to 440 feet above sea level. The parks would have to be relocated slightly and maybe a road or two raised in certain areas. Even when it is 13 feet plus low it would still be fully functional. The only draw back to that as far as I see would be weather or not the dam could handle the added pressure. The real bonus would be possibly not having to build some if not all of the other lakes that are in the works. I have the map of those proposed lakes and it looks like 2/3 of Delta County will be gone when they are completed. Not good.....