Just wanted to let every one know out here in west Texas that Lake Champion just a few miles south of Colorado City will be closed from October 20, till sometimes in spring of 2017. They are locking the gates to fisher park where the ramps are at as the city has turned the lease it has over to a local lawyer who is going to repair all camper hookups, ramps, store, and fishing dock.
Only way on the lake is if you own property on the lake and have your own ramp.
We were told at a meeting that after repairs it would be seventy dollars per year per vehicle and an extra twenty if you want to launch the boat. They will also have a daily rate but can't remember what it was.
Just wanted to let all the fishermen that drive over from the west and near by towns know so they can make other plans. Lake Sweetwater, Oak Creek, and Lake Trammel you just have to have a ten dollar permit per year for the family which covers all three lakes.

I left out that seniors only had to have a boat pass. Sorry I forgot that.

Just closed last week on the sale of our lake trailer down there. I guess I can see the good and bad of this but that's a pretty steep fee for a lake that low and that has a tough time catching any runoff. Farmland around that lake is heavily terraced and very little rain and runoff actually make it to the lake.

Sounds like you sold just in time. Lol course the buyer might not think so. I put this on here because I know a lot of Odessa and Midland folks used to come over to fish the lake. Thought that might save them a dissapointed trip. I think the lake will come back but might not be as strong a fishery for a while. It really was a big bass lake for years though and West Texas secret...

I was down there a couple weeks ago working on the sale and drove over to the ramp to bank fish a while. Fished for about an hour and caught 10 small ones on top water. I hope this guy knows what he is doing. Insert any number of lawyer jokes here. Lol.

Does that lake fall under the Colorado River Water District?

Wondering if yearly permit would get you on Lake JB Thomas, Colorado City, Champion, and O.H. Ivie??

If that is the case, that's not too bad.

Nevermind, I see that that permit doesn't cover either of the lakes in Colorado City, yeah that is steep.

Thanks for the update. He has alot of work to do for sure. Been neglected a long time.

Hey all, I'm Ty Wood, the "lawyer" working on Champion (like ksalmon said, insert lawyer joke here). Thanks for the post Bassin Fever. I've been trying to get the word out on temporary closure. I hate to interfere with any plans but work is in full swing and its pretty hairy out there at the moment. There's brush, holes and equipment everywhere. We have an excavator grubbing brush in the marina and along the shore and boat ramps. Its a real mess but good progress is being made. We are going to get the gates back open as early this spring as possible.

I got involved because the local city government was getting ready to permanently close the gates on the park. It had gotten so out of control that a neighbor recently had their house shot up by idiots doing target practice in the marina. Drugs, trash, you name it. My wife grew up on the lake and I've been going out there my whole life. We couldn't let that go away.

We're making all the repairs out of our own pockets. I can't run with the City of Sweetwater who runs Trammel, etc or The CRMD who runs JB Thomas. We tried to set the fees up like the local state park. $4.00 will get you in for a day pass. It's another $3.00 if you have a boat. The other option is $70 will get a family of 5 in for a whole year with a vehicle pass. I asked myself if I would be willing to pay $6 per month to take my family out there as much as I wanted. The answer was yes. You can also get an annual boat pass.

12 and under or 65 and older are free. So are members of local law enforcement. The boat fees all go back to fish habitat and stocking programs (we've already built a bunch of fish attractors that you'll be able to get GPS coordinates to). I'm working with Inland Fisheries on how best to spend that money and what we can add to their stocking program each year. They stocked 75k striped bass and 65k channel cat earlier this year.

The annual pass also automatically pays you up for a year long big bass contest (with a kid division and an adult division). We'll get more details out on that later. The other big thing is that there will be actual facilities rather than what's out there now. No more bush and your socks.

The water is looking really good. There are 690 surface acres right now (28% capacity). The water has been coming steadily up for 2 years now. We had a 3 inch rain a few weeks ago and it came up 2 ft in 24 hours. It doesn't take much. With, the limited use this year, all the brush getting flooded and us helping things along, the fishing could get old school epic with a little time.

If any of you guys have ideas that you would like to see happen at this lake let me know. I will do my best to make it happen.

Also, just a correction, seniors don't have to have a boat pass. That's free too.Kayaks, canoes, etc. don't need a boat pass either.

I applaud you Ty. The world needs more people like you.
Sounds like you are doing a great service to the local people out of your pocket.

It was kinda sad seeing the ghost town out there a few weeks ago when we were there. Excited to see someone make improvements .

Thanks for sharing your project Mr. Wood. Champion is a great memory for me with many very enjoyable days of fishing.

I'm glad to hear that the place is getting cleaned up. Been going out there for a few years and would love to see the lake fill back up hopefully.

Any update on the progress at Champion?