Lavon dam releasing water! fishing Pilot Grove creek?

Now that Lavon is releasing water for the first time in years, Pilot grove creek (between lavon and hubbard) might produce some late spawn sandies/hybrids or cats.

Does anybody know a good way to get a kayak into the creek. I would like to fish the hubbard end of it, so any spots to launch on far north hubbard?

Anybody up for exploring and fishing sometime this weekend?

I am aware of this does not help you but I just left John Paul Jones Park across the north side of I 30 from bass pro shop .
The city of Garland has a loader there and just finished cleaning up the ramp and it is fully open and at a good level .
I live about five minutes from there and have not seen that ramp open in a long time. They cleaned up the brush and bushes and growth around the ramp it looks good .

Closest legal launch I know of is 66 bridge and that is about a 3.5 mile paddle to the mouth of the river. I know they were supposed to put a paddle park up around Dalton road and you can launch there if you don't mind dragging in the mud a bit, kind of rough until the lake is full really but you can cut it down to 1.4 miles or so to the river. Most people put in below the Lavon dam but that is a muddy mess with the rain and construction going on there now.

depending on how this weekend play's out for me schedule wise with family - I may be interested/able to join you in poking around. what times and for how long were you thinking? I'll PM you Thursday night or Friday by early afternoon if it is looking feasible.

I've never been to the lavon area yet and am looking to expand my knowledge of the area and fishing here in the south (limited myself mostly to grapevine north shore and denton creek after i moved down here from the north east 3 years ago).

Pilot grove is on north side of the lake, the river connecting lavon and hubbard is east fork trinity

I've run from 66 to the mouth of the East Fork many times at the current lake level, though I wouldn't do it now because there is no way to know what is floating out there now with the river flowing for the first time in about 3 years. But I'm sure you can get near the power line easily enough, and it's only a few hundred yards from there to the mouth of the river. Throw a couple of yaks on your boat and fish where few can go. The flat from the power line to the mouth will have a foot of water on it now. If you go, stay to the right going in, because anyone that is trying to run it in a bassboat will be running at least 50 mph to get across the flat.

Tiltman has a modified aluminum hull bassboat that will easily get in and out of the river now, and I'm sure he's been in there. If any of you know him, you might bribe him to give you a lift.

Best I know without getting towed or stuck in mud or trespassing is to;
Have someone drop you,your fishing stuff, and your Kayak off at the Hwy 78 bridge at the river/creek..walk it to the water and off you go..

you mean the East fork I think.

Pilot is on the north end.

ah. google has the creek between lavon and hubbard labeled as pilot grove also.


Ive thought about putting in at 78, but Im afriad of getting stuck or towed.
Has anybody tried putting in where 205 crosses "thompson branch"?

Whatever you do be careful... the low head dam right at 78 has claimed several lives during releases... I went in there in 2012 when they had 4 gates open and wouldn't do it again. That's a lot of water going through a very narrow chute in some areas that are full of obstructions. It's pretty sobering when you see a giant oak 3 foot diameter crack under the force of the current... you get pinned in there it's not gonna be pretty with more than 1 gate open.

Overall this is great news for the bass fishing on the north end of Hubbard. The Sandies and hybrids will be at 78 and above soon for a little while, but the green fish head down to the drains near the mouth but it takes a while for them to come back. Unless the lake drops super fast after this it'll get good again in the summer and fall...

Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to post on this. When things settle a little and the road dries some, I'm going to elbow in on some of those green fish, too. I took my Commander in there a couple of years ago (after getting primed by you), but I bought a Ride 115, too, and that is my river boat now. It should be great for this stretch.

Yeah... The only thing that could keep it from getting good again is if the fish can't get back in.... this release is is good.. it 'cleanses' the whole system... but it takes a while... Last time they did this it wasn't good again til the late summer/fall when the bait came back in and so did the good ones... if the mouth closes up before that then it may not be good though at all... only time will tell...

I bet there are still plenty of fish in the river that never left. Just looking at historic imagery on Google Earth for the last few years, there is still plenty of water in the river for fish to survive in. And with no fishing pressure for the last 2 years +, they should be ready to start eating anything we throw in front of them.

I have no idea how many times I've fished the river from my boat (hundreds), but there have been a few times over the last 30 years when I've been among the first to run in there after a dry spell, and the fishing was mostly non-stop. The upper reaches of the river may take a while to replenish, but I'm thinking hungry bass looking for food will be moving up the river into moving water right now.

Art you may be right... my experience has only been for the last two releases in 09 and 12... There were very few largemouth in the river proper for quite a while after those releases in my experience...

And make no mistake... The river has been accessed in the last year... Of course there are fish but it's been nothing like summer of 12 thru winter of 13... Fishing tailed off quite a bit at that point. Lots of guys fishing live bait at the power lines and throwing everything they catch in a bucket took its toll IMO...

great advice gutcheck. I didnt want to mess with that dam, which is why I wanted to put in on hubbard and paddle north. Any advice on that plan?

Your 205 plan is probably your best shot... I've looked over there and wondered if it was okay to park.. It can also be muddy as hell there too. I have talked to some guys in the river who pit in there so it's possible...

Unless you're going to fish in Pilot Creek, I doubt if you will see much action until the current slows down considerably.

G, if you look on GE, you can see where people have driven down to the mouth of the river and launched small craft. I'm sure there have been fish taken from the river, but it really is a pretty robust fishery. It should be just fine. I will put in at 78 and paddle down and fish just for the scenery and the peace and quiet.

when you launch at 78, are you taking that dirt road that doubles back to the river, a few hundred yards east of the bridge?