** The ever shrinking Medina Lake **

August is gone and September has arrived !! Hopefully cooler temps and rain for us as fall nears ~ My brother needed to run his Skeeter and get a bend on his fishing rod, so a trip it was to the lake. Off to Medina Lake a lake we grew up fishing, what a sad site to see ~ the lake is currently at 85+ ft low and launching off the jagged rocks is preferred for a kayak not a bass boat and definitely with a 4x4 which we have ~ the schoolies finally arrived, but small in size. The depth at the dam was 118 ft, now it stands at 31 ft ~ loading the boat took two people and WOW what a chore that was, he said he won't be doing that anytime soon again !!

August 2012 - 60 ft low



August 2013 - 85 ft low

Texas is in big trouble. Has there ever been a drought this serious since all of these reservior's were built?

Very sad sight indeed. Just like Lake Travis in Austin. It will take a major hurricane to help these lakes!

I hate to say it but we need a hurricane!

Texas went through a Drought in 1957 that lasted 4 years. I hope this is not a repeat.

Two years ago needed a hurricane , up to needing 2 now

That's a sad sight, as it is with many of our lakes. The general population does not realize just how severe the drought is!

Thanks for the report. Based on your feedback I won't be launching there anytime soon.
I live a few minutes from there and can't use the lake.
Hopefully we will get some rain soon!

Yes Sir I think you are right!

Chingado!! what a sad sight.

Sad, a lot of Texas lakes are in and are getting in bad shape for fishing. If this continues, for water for drinking as well! !

What we need is a continuous spree of Tropical storms. One every other week, for 2 months.

Wow it's gonna take some majors storms to stall over that area to fill that back up

ha ha ,, OK dont take this personal or too serious,, "conspiracy theory", The feds can control the weather.. Saw a thang on tv bout chem-trails ( con-trails) with chemicals. Obama must be pissed at us . must be testing the weaponized version on Texas. Just for laughs ok,, dont get all in a wad.

not saying the drought is a laughing matter,, jeez ,, shoulda kept my mouth shut,,

So sad, I have so many good memories on that lake. I know the river is not running at all below the lake and just pools in the deeper spots, just heart breaking

The rivers and lakes of the Hill Country are drying up. We need rain bad. The mighty Guadalupe is only flowing at 10 % of its normal rate of flow. I don't know what the Medina river's rate of flow is, but it has to be bad. We need a tropical depression that will park rain over a large portion of the state for days until the lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers fill.

How bad do you think it's effecting the bass population?

A lot of 13" fish, Im not much of a bass fisherman and still caught some.Plenty of water. Still a big tank, what I don't know is how stale water affects fish lively hood. No inflow to speak of. We fished tonite for cats and crappie. Just a pair of catfish but my 6yo had a fun time with them. I caught 0. This morning my 9yo and I caught some bass just across from joes place. Tonite there was a lot of 1" shad near the main lake where we were fishing. I just didn't want to fish the brush and go up river for real fish. Nice boat ride and time with sons.
As to launching, really only 4x4 should be launching. In 2wd just sitting at angle, the truck did the slow roll backwards while parked and turned off.I have a standard so maybe different with auto. Used 4 low the rest the time turning truck off to use transmission to stop it with no issues. Don't have to get back tires wet, just the angle sucks.Steep. I'm sure at the Labor Day Pow Wow in Bandera, the injuns did a rain dance. No worries. County park ramp should be open soon!

Also follow the river channel, about 30' to the old island. Goes to 25' in front of it per my depthfinder. Going out of Reds towards the dam, twice I hit a tree top in between Reds and Pops. Looks open clean water, just be careful. What the heck was that moment. Twice. Good luck

Sad Sight indeed!

Great pictures. Sad real sad. Pray for a tropical storm or two.