We are about to either have to keep a boat in the water 24/7 on the beach or spend the money to repair/dredge our ramp. The prop wash behind the ramp is knee deep and most boats barely get over it. Unless we get a huge rain were gonna make other arrangements. I was curious what some of the other full time guides are going to do.

Also if any fishing clubs or anyone wants to help out on getting the ramp deeper let me know. I was quoted 4k this morning to dredge it out plus the fee to haul away the sand.

Chuck where do you launch from? Can the area needing to be dredged be reached from land with an excavator or will it require a barge? If it can be reached from land I may be able to help. Let me know.

Probably a barge is needed. I am able to back my boat trailer off the ramp onto the top of this high spot. My front tires stay on the ramp so I'd say it's 40ft from the ramp to the top. It probably needs to be dredged another 20-30ft past that to clear it for a while.

I was afraid of that. I have all the equipment needed except the barge.

Chuck,

Are you launching from Log Cabin? 4 weeks ago that was the best place to launch IMO. Not sure now, my 19.5 is sitting high and dry in the back yard. Wish there was a launch on CC I could use....

BHR
Kemp, TX

Yes I'm talking about log cabin ramp. It's getting really shallow.

Hopefully after Monday the Lake will get a lil Water in it, ( I said Hopefully )

If it was going to put me out of business, I'd pay the 4K to get it fixed. See if the owners would be willing to raise the launch fee by $2 for a period of 1 year no matter of water level payed back to you. It'd be a win/win. Looks like the drought may last longer than we think, if it is the only ramp open - you might make a killing!

Well after some research I can put a private ramp in for less so if needed that could be my solution. I guess I'll have the lake to myself if it comes to that.

Touch times man! Hope it all works out!

Chuck u might be able to get some trustworthy fellow TFFers to put some in on a private ramp for access. I would chip in for a ramp on the weekends.

It had better be deep water access - most likely lakes will loose another six to ten feet this next year !!!

Pray to God thats not gonna come to pass though !!!

Not in East Texas the annual rainfall in this region is 4x the amount of south texas. We will be to level soon, I feel it in my bones.

Chuck have you looked into Air Docks? Its a big ballon that picks your boat out of the water. A few of the guys I boat with on Texoma got them because of the no dock thing and zebra mussel. They beach all weekend while at thier lake house.

Four times nothing is still nothing. All the weather gerus say we will skip the spring wet season this year. La Niña is becoming established. See this link. When that happens our weather is always dry. See these pages for more information.

The weathermen can't tell me what the weather will be this weekend, why should I think they can tell me what its going to be for the next ten years.

Because it is much easier to forecast long term trends than day by day weather. Here is another good article on the weather forecast which is updated to today.

Link me to the one in 2001 saying in 2011 we would see the worst drought in ages. I also believe in 2006 they were saying the same thing and in 2007 we had floods. These people like to write papers to make the news and other people link to them to show how smart they feel.

I will throw this in there for what its worth (on drought)

"Some years ago during a particularly bad drought, I was eating at a diner in Birmingham Ala. prior to a fishing tournament I was in, seated at a table behind me were three well dressed folks who were attending a Baptist Seminar there. One was a Preacher, and the other two were female members in I assume his church. There was a "heated argument" going on between the two black women seated with him which was causing stares from folks eating, the subject was El Nino, and La Nina weather causes.

The pastor after sitting quietly in this debate for some time simply stated :

"Ladies I will put this to rest once and for all - its not El Nino , or La Nina,

Its El Goddo !!!

I nearly fell outta my chair laughing and something for us all to consider -

"Man is not in control of our destiny, but we sure had better PLAN for it"


CHUCK may be the only one with a guide business next year

Wow. That's rough. Sure wish somebody had a better solution. Lakeguide may have the best option.

The Gulf of Mexico stays a pretty constant level.

In 2006 I was helping manage the Lake Weatherford Marina and the lake went down 10 feet. The marina almost went bankrupt. Many in the area, including Benbrook, did go under. Up until that time the drought was one of the worst since 1955. As you say, the drought was broken in a single flood in 2007 and we had to scramble to adjust our ramps and boat moorings to avoid sinking something.

As for feeling smart because I can read and understand what the scientists are saying, I do not. I do respect the work of other scientists since I made my living designing rockets and missiles for 37 years before I retired.

Ain't it the truth Steve - where I'd rather be right now

Chuck,
I am sorry we got so far off topic with the weather forecast argument.

I think if you can afford to build a private ramp for your guide service you would be wise to do so. The marina owners and managers can tell you what it is like to be at the mercy of the weather and the governing bodies of the lakes. They are certainly not thinking of you when they make decisions.

Yea I've just got to get approval from tcwd now.

with those big boats that you have and all of that horsepower, you could get a welder to make a good sized dredge, maybe 6 feet, and a winch table to dredge the mud out yourself. all you need is a table to mount on the back of your boat, a winch tower with clutch, and chain. back the boat up to the hidh spot, slide the dredge over and drag it to deeper water. you could make a killing dredging out private docks as well.

I guess thats the advantage of not being a ONE lake guide... lots of lakes = more boat ramps to use.

For me - Play Golf,