Grapevine blues

Hey everyone.... are any of you fishing grapevine right now?

I went out today after over a year of not fishing due to the high waters and not having the time to drive elsewhere. There is SO MUCH WATER! It took a good while just to find shad. The were up near flooded trees but the cats where nowhere to be found

One little channel for the day... but at least my boat is going strong!

Where are they!

PS: Silver Lake marina has what appears to be the only open launch... They have lost me for a customer for the future... their normal ramp fee is 10 bucks and the gauging b-tards didn't even have the courtesy to hide that fact by printing out new ramp fee forms... they literally scratched out the "1" and wrote a "2" over it to change it from 10 to $20.00

No point in fishing Gvine until the water goes down. There is probably double the water in gvine and the fish population didn't double.

All the fish in GV have swam up Denton Creek about 20 miles or so. Those that went up in Marshall Creek have already been caught

why is grapevine so high still? considering lewisville is right next to it. can someone inform me why it takes this lake so long to go back to normal?

Grapevine can hold more water than Lewisville (not to mention Ray Roberts dumping into Lewisville also) and thus is not the priority when it comes to getting the water out. The lake has been dropping a good half a ft a day for the last few days. Should be normal in a few weeks depending on if we get flooded again or not.

They can never let out too much to prevent flooding at any point downstream. Lewisville is fed by multiple big creeks as well as by the Trinity from Ray Roberts so they need to keep it lower sooner in case RR needs to let out more water. Grapevine is not fed by another upstream reservoir.

Is there any fishing to be done below the damn at GV?

I used to fish below the dam a lot when I lived in GV back in the 70's. Early morning was good for channel cat. I had a tube and flippers to get in the water when it was shut off and paddle up to the ramp where I could stand on the bottom. Fished with chicken blood and calcutta pole. Channels would run the shad up against the bottom of the ramp and the feeding frenzy was something else. Filled many a basket down there but I was young and the 1/2 mile walk coming out uphill carrying 40-50 lbs of fish didn't bother me. I think you can still fish there but it's along walk carrying gear.

Katie Woods High water is open and yes there is limited parking. Meadowmere Grass 2 to 5 ft. Shad or chicken in Dead Red. Lots of eaters both blue and channels and a couple blues to 30lbs. Just find the shallow Grass and give it a shot.

I have to dispel some rumors. I have probably spent more time on this lake than anyone during the last 10 years....sonhere goes....

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No fish can swim up Marshall Creek. It has been silted up since the Carter Administration...maybe even before. There was a community called Marshall Creek. It was absorbed into Trophy Club a long time ago. The city of Trophy Club named a park after the community. It has since been renamed Trophy Club Park. Grapevine lake is an impoundment of Denton Creek. You can travel approximately 9 miles upstream conditions permitting.

Denton Creek below the dam cannot handle the water that Elm Fork of the Trinity can. Total releases are managed by the columns that the lower Trinity can take. Non-Corps lakes wish as Richland Chambers have priority. Lewisville always gets let out first because its dam is not in good shape.

Lewisville can hold tons more water than Grapevine. It is more than double the size. A foot up on Lewisville is much more water than a foot on GVINE.

No...the government will probay send a swat team.

At last...that was 40 years ago. I wouldn't pass the no trespassing signs if I were you.

Good advice...but it isn't nworth the trouble.

Actually, I am thinking of the spillway with the no trespassing signs. The outlet goes through a golf course.

Being Worth the trouble is a individual decision
if you choose not to fish that is you. As far as being on the water more than any body else, I average over 100 days a year on Grapevine and have fished It since 1980. If a ramp is open it is your opportunity to fish you can't catch anything sitting at home. Understanding limited parking can be a pain but everyone has a different idea of the worth of doing what we love to do. Unless it's to dangerous to be on the water or access is totally closed I'm on the lake or standing on the bank fishing.

I stand corrected. As you can see...I am pretty grumpy about being shut off my favorite make for so long. I still think the catch rate is going to pretty low.

Brian is right. Trespassing that spot will get you a $175 ticket. Trust me, been ticketed there before. I have fished every floodgate in north Texas and most now have restricted areas. The best spots are usually restricted. You can still catch occasionally but with high water it is almost always a waste of time especially this time of year when a lot of fish are moving up the streams. Now creek fishing is another story. The secondary feeder creeks that feed Denton creek can be great fishing if you don't mind doing a lot of walking and exploring to find them. The fish stack up in and are easily caught. You can fish lewisville floodgate as it is open. You have to pay to fish there but it can b great fishing if you know how to fish floodgates. I always fished for flatheads there before I got a boat. PM me if you wanna know how to fish for big flatheads at lewisville floodgate. PS. The feeder creeks I'm talking about are closer to where the creeks cross 35w. East of 35 there is a municipal airport on 407. We fish behind that airport on foot.

The worst part is they do it even when it isn't flooded. That reminds me of a story. About 5 years ago I was pulling into a gas station and I saw a group of about 3 or 4 boys pushing their bikes out of a creek channel. They couldn't have been more than 10 - 12 years old. All of a sudden a police officer turns his lights on pulls a U-turn in the middle of a busy road and flags the kids over. As I am pumping my gas I hear him lecturing them about trespassing on city property. I was thinking about all the time I spent catching minnows in the creek near my house. I think most of us would constantly be in trouble if we grew up in modern times.

You are relative newcomer then. I lived on GV for 13 years and started fishing it in 1963 when my family moved here to the area. Seen a lot of changes out there over the years. Saw my first wild alligator in Marshall creek while wade fishing for crappie back in the mid 70's. I've seen the lake come and go as a fishery. I used to share a boat house with some people back in McPherson slough in the 70's. I haven't been below the dam in many years but I used to have permission to go in on Cross Creek ranch and fish the creek about a mile downstream from the dam. Ranch foreman was a good friend of mine. Doesn't surprise me that there is no longer access since the golf course came about. For that matter most of the lake has restricted access now with all the development. When the water is high and running muddy there are places to fish Denton Creek all the way to Hwy 380 NE of Decatur, Hwy 377, Hwy 35, Hwy 156 bridges. Caught several flatheads out of Denton creek by the old Aero Valley airport fm338 bridge(washed out several years ago) and at the mouth of Elizabeth creek and Denton Creeks. I highly doubt there is anybody on here that has spent any more time on GV than I have although not much in the last few years.

Hell, I was ticketed back then when you could get away with anything. If it said restricted I was fishing it. Me and my buddy were on a first name basis with the game wardens at the best floodgates because we had been busted so many times. If you have ever fished the floodgates below tawakoni or possum kingdom u know what I am talking about. Both those floodgates are insanely good if u can get up in those restricted areas...striper are stacked in there like matchsticks...world class. Don't try it....u WILL get busted these days 100% of the time...for the price of that ticket you can hire a guide.

I guess you can no longer park under the bridge on old hwy 121 and walk up elm fork to the old railroad bridge columns below Lewisville dam? I used to love that place for spring crappie.

Would that be the old Aero Valley airport on FM338? The last time I was by there (about 10 years ago) they had closed the road off on the south side from 114 and the only way in was from the north side off of 407 and having to drive across the airport runway road. There was a really good rock hole down from the bridge bout 1/4 mile.

If someone is looking to fish below a dam then RayBob has the setup. Better get there early. Every time I go up I see cars down there before daylight. I heard it's been hot all year.

We should have a friendly TFF tournament once Gvine gets somewhat back to normal. Maybe an evening tournament. I say two men teams...two fish. Rod and real only. Something cheap...More about bragging rights than price money.

Sounds like a plan.

I was gonna say to you other GV regulars that we should get an email list up and going... we could team up if we happen to be out at the same time. If ya'll have VHF radio communicating would be a cinch! Could make for honing in on the fish that much easier.

Silver Lake Fishing Barge.
In the summer of 1963 I landed my first summer job. I was 16 years old and needed some money to spend on girls and such so I found an add for help wanted and got the job running the snack bar on Silver Lake Fishing Barge cooking hamburgers and breakfast orders etc. for the all niter fishing customers. There were no boat slips then, only the barge with both indoor and outdoor fishing. Almost bit off more than I could chew since it was a 24/7 job and I just stayed out there all the time. Had me a cot to sleep on and people would just wake me up if they needed something. An old gentleman named Mr. Roberts ran the bait end and rented out little aluminum jon boats with 2 hp motors for people that wanted to go out in the lake to fish. As you can imagine I had lots of spare time so I would catch perch for Mr Roberts to sell and bait his trotline which he had tied to the end of the barge and run up into the end of the cove toward the old stock tank dam. About once a week he would catch a big yellow cat and keep it tied off to the barge for people to see. I ain't saying he ever sold any of them big fish but they always seemed to disappear after a few days. I saw a lot of fish pulled out of the water that summer and a lot of people come and go. Often wondered why the women would squeal so much when they caught even a tiny little fish.
Business was good specially on the weekends and I made enough money with tips and salary to buy my first car, a yellow 1955 Mercury Montclair 2 door hardtop with fender skirts. Me and that old car continued our education after that summer when I went back to school for my senior year and I was a hot commodity with the girls because I had a car to drive to school among other things:)
I have a lot of good memories from that old lake and if it ever opens up again I hope to make a few more.

Not many people knew there was once a fishing barge off that point. I fished it a few times in that late 60's early 70's before we got our first boat.

I wish they never put in the slips. Giant marinas are ugly. Especially when all three major marinas are owned by the same company

I nailed a fence post trying to get my boat off the water for maintenance. What was supposed to be an oil and spark plug change turned into a new prop and rebuilt lower unit. Needless to say I wont be back on Grapevine until its somewhat back to normal I'm scurred. That was expensive. Btw the high water ramp at Silver Lake was a pain to maneuver a pontoon boat around the light poles not to mention the fence post I hit. Oh well its just money.

The Town of Marshall Creek was taken in by Roanoke. Marshall Creek Park was renamed Trophy Club Park after TC won the bid to manage the park for TPW.
There is so much water there now, I don't think you can tell the difference between Denton Creek and Marshall Creek. I was out there yesterday bank fishing for crappie. All I caught was bass.