Granger Lake levels? Going this weekend--

How much did Granger come up? Got Friday off and am gonna go hit either Friendship or the Overlook-- wonder if you can even fish at the overlook right now?

Thanks!!

Was 512 earlier today, that's 8 ft. high. probably rise another foot or two by Friday. Were not releasing any water as of noon today. If I can get this old worn out body up and going may try Friday also. Look at Texas Water Data.

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/granger/

Be curious to hear how you do. We are going to be there next weekend and I'm planning on bank fishing at least some of the time. Any tips for out there? I've only fished from a boat and never the bank. We are going to be at Wilson Fox park for the weekend.

any update...?

I plan on the hitting the banks sunday morning around the friendship area...

There are several areas closed due to high lake level. Better check their website.

This was Wednesday Taylor park.

Friendship park is totally inaccessible to bank fishing man, boat ramp is fine, but unless you want to wade through debris and logs and muddy water with unknown ground depth, pretty risky to anyone without boat. They were not releasing water Saturday. I thought catfish bite will be good but no luck at Wilson fox park. Maybe give couple of days to settle.

Looks like they are calling for more rain this week. You guys be careful if ya'll go by boat or wade in. Walk in a lot of rattlesnakes will be displaced. I can't go for a few more weekends anyway. Had back surgery on the 14th.

Any tips for doing some catfishing from the bank at Fox park? We are going to be camping next weekend and wanted to try something to pass the time.

I went Friday morning to Granger-- Lake levels are as said above-- friendship, you're gonna get wet if bank fishing-- Taylor ramp closed-- We went to the overlook (the beach is under water) and fished off the rocks-- got 1 19 inch blue in about 4-5 hours -- Went back saturday night to fish the dam with some friends and we ended up with one 22 incher, one 19 incher and a 12 incher-- one crappie- all cats caught on danny kings.

Sure was slow but at least not skunked!

Taylor Park boat ramp is closed? Any idea how long? I know they started letting water out today.

The bait shop exxon lady didn't give that much info

Fox,Taylor,and Willis boat ramps are closed down. I heard Friendship was still open Saturday.

Yeah, I saw boats putting in on Friday at Friendship--

Seems like they use to close the boat ramps when the lake hit 514. Wilson Fox and Taylor would always be the last to close. Guess they have to be more cautious now days on some of these lakes with the jet ski. Plus with those sewer dump stations on these creeks and rivers, you just don't really know what is floating down anymore.

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/lake/lakefacilities.htm

This is where I check to see whats open and whats not. How do yall read the information for Granger? It says Boat ramp Courtsey Dock. So I read that as, oh the dock is closed. Do they mean the actual ramp is closed too?

I always ask the lady at the Exxon/Bait shop for any word on where the fish are/ramp status (if rain)

The Fox ramp was open on Sunday when I went.

Not sure, I tried to call the number listed and it is disconnected....Good to hear it was open on Sunday. Also, it looks like they are releasing water now.

Here's the Corp of Engineer at Lake Granger #512-859-2668. I usually give them a call Mon-Fri between 9:00am and 3:00pm. A lot of time the Corp pass the info to The Exxon in Circleville.
I always call the C.O.E. seen the Game Warden given out tickets to those who launched a boat in one duck season. Pawpaw always told me get the info from the horse mouth. Would of saved those guys some money that day.

That is the number that is cutoff, I called three times today.

Just a quick update, talked to the guide I am fishing with this weekend at Granger, he said that ramps were open. I feel like he said one was closed but the rest were open but for some reason I can't remember which one.

Taylor was closed Sunday due to road going to boat ramp washed out.

Just talked to Granger on the phone. All ramps are open except for Taylor because of the washed out road.

Yep, that was it.

Was it pretty bad? The road?

Apparently there was a sink hole or something.

Yeah I saw that too. Closed: "Boat ramp courtesy dock"

How about boat ramp AND courtesy dock?

Maybe it's the school teacher coming out in me, but it should read,"Boat ramp, and courtesy dock". Regardless the ramp at Taylor Park is closed.

I just called the number. It is working now again. Something with the weather the other day had it not working they said.

As did I, it is back up and running.

Went out today to double check my engine repairs for a little bit. Wilson Fox park was open, actually didn't see any significant debris and at least one was biting. Only fished for an hour or so.

Of course the "Boat Ramp Courtesy Dock" was out of commission...

Nice pictures. Look at the end of the pole at that cut into those trees. I would have to try trolling my boat into that little cut. Just looks like a good spot for some cats to hang out in. I would be tempted to drop some sour maize in there also.
That is a real nice boat you got there and congrats on the cat.

Thanks! Yeah this one was about 20 feet from the trees in 3 fow. That should be dry land.

We did alright on Granger this weekend. 10 total fish. 6 Yellow Cats. The largest two were at 17 & 13 lbs. Apparently there was some kind of catfish tournament going on. Does anybody know anything about this?

Good job jmh004, WTG! Good eating right there

Granger's Lake Fest is next weekend, might be part of that.

Nice catch there.

After I fixed the boat I got down to the coast for a week-looks like I missed out on some good cat fishing back home!

Congratulations, surprised you caught so many flatheads.

Those flatheads are getting ready for the spawn. They start to spawn about this time of year on Granger. With all the fresh water coming in, it looks like a good year. Best time to fish for them is at night and up the river. Yep, the ol 12' surf rods and a nice perch will be in my boat. Along with those red Taylor Weiners, some hot dog buns, chips, those cheap oatmeal cookies and lot's of cold ice tea. Plus some cold Chocolate Yahoo's. Be ready to stay for a while. For some reason it always seems to be around 3:00 am when the big one hits.

Nice catch, catfish are shallow now, if you got up early in the morning, catch some shad on the beach, cut bait to bottom, they are biting. I pulled up a 10lb blue cat just fishing for 30 mins one last week, was catching white bass, they were chasing shad like crazy after spawn. Every cast one fish, lure or live shad. It has been the best year for Granger so far.

I guess I'll leave them yellows to you then, 3:00 am I'm either at work or snoring!

I understand those 3:00 am jobs. Used to work one myself for 17 years. On our days off we would set limb lines up the river to catch those big yellows. Should of been sleeping, but usually we played dominoes waiting to go run our lines.

I plan on going to Granger later in the week. It's currently 6' high, with a lot of rain to come. How far will they let the lake get up before they close it?

528' is flood stage. That is where the water comes over the spillway. They use to close it at 520'. But I also seen them close it at 515'.

Man, with all this fresh water, should be a good yellow cat week. I'm going in the morning just to rod and reel. This weekend we are setting out lines. Just renewed my boat insurance.

Let me know how you do rod n reeling. We will be putting out some lines later in the week as well.

We did ok rod and reeling. Brought home 8 nice keepers. Needed some shad with the lake being up like it is. Can't throw a cast net yet, back is still healing from surgery. Seeing on how this rain effects us. If we get to much, they will close the parks. Right now the dam gates are closed, so the lake is raising.

Looks like all the right areas for the lake to come up just got hammered this morning. I was hoping to go out this afternoon. Will have to wait and see about that.

I think the ramps will be under water by Saturday. Willis creek is catching a ton of water right now. Was really wanting to fish this weekend.

Lake came up over 2' from yesterday rain. Setting at over 513 right now. If they don't close the ramps, it will be a short back to the water. Still looks like Taylor is closed by the corp web sight. That and Wilson Fox east are usually the last ramps to close.

Just looked at the Ag Web 90 forecast. Once we get through June the rain goes back to normal to just below normal. Lake should stay above normal through the summer. Looks like a roller coaster ride for cat fishing this summer.

Did anyone go to Wilson Fox today? is the ramp still open? Thanks;

Havent been but here is some info.

Date:2016-06-03 Time:14:00
Water Level:513.62
Conservation Pool: 504.00

FLOOD CLOSURES:
Taylor Park: Boat ramp and Courtesy Dock.

Willis Creek: Courtesy Dock.

Friendship Park: Day Use Area and Swim Beach.

Wilson H. Fox Park: Courtesy Dock, fishing dock and Swim Beach.

Just talked to the Corp on Granger. Willis Creek, Friendship and the East Boat Ramp at Wilson Fox is still open. But getting real close to the top. If the lake keeps raising they will be closing soon.

Yegua Cat do you have a good corp No# for Granger? The one that I called is out of service.

Wilson Fox is still open as of 9 am this morning. Had a little luck last night. Yellow cats were not biting, on my lines anyways.

Talked to a buddy today at about 4 pm, hammered the crappie, he thinks they will close the lake tomorrow.

Not much traffic on the lake that's for sure.

Got off work and headed to the lake around 4pm. I went to check on the status of the ramps,was hoping to go Sunday. I went to friendship first,the ramp was underwater and they had the entrance blocked off. I went to fox next and talked to the gate attendant she said that all ramps are closed until further notice. Probably be awhile before they open them.

The phone # I use is 512-859-2668.

Yea, they will be down for a while. Gates are still closed. They will have to let the flooding go down in the lower Brazos before they start to lower these lakes. Looks like the blue and channel cats will spawn with little pressure again this year. In 2 to 3 years, these floods will start to show in the numbers of blues and channel cat populations.

Yegua, would you say there's more blues than channels in Granger? I've only caught one channel cat in the three years I've been fishing there. We normally go after the yellows, but we catch a very good number of 2-4 lbs blue cats too. In fact that's all we caught Thursday night. 10 blues, all 2-4 lbs.

I hardly EVER catch channels at granger--- got one at the spillway last weekend- seen flatheads/blues mainly-

The blue cat do out number the channels on Granger. I have noticed over the last 7 years the number of channel cats caught have been going down for us. A lot of the channel cats we caught looked sick. They had no body weight. Nice heads and nice long bodies, just no weight to them. The channels we caught last year had nice size bodies to go with their length and head size. They looked healthier. Maybe the drought hurt them.

When we do catch channels we catch them back up in the timber Taylor Park area, in Willis Creek or the Gabriel. In the creek and river we catch them in the moving water. With the last 2 springs and early summer the lake being full this should help with their reproduction. Lot of years the timber we are fishing was dry and the channels could not get into Willis creek because the lake being so down. They say a channel cat can grow up to 10" in his first year. I guess well se how much better it gets this year. Should be 2 good spawning season for them now.

Corp is letting 3464cfs of water as we speak.

Sounds good. I hate bank fishing.

Heck, I haven't been out for a month, guess I'll have to wait another.

Anybody heard anything about the ramps on Granger?

still closed

Yeah that's what I was seeing too, just hoping somebody knew something different. I was going to try and go out there tomorrow and Tuesday but oh well.

Talked to Granger Corp this past Friday.Planes are to open ramps June 24.

I took my lab over to let him do some swimming retrieves Friday. It was down about 7 foot from the top of Friendship boat ramp. Did a little bank fishing. No luck, but did hook into one big gar. Almost got him to the bank before he bit throw my line. Hopefully some good fishing Sat.