I was talking to a gentleman last week that was contracted to do some work at the park on Lake Fairfield. He was telling me that he was told they were considering restocking the lake with reds this year. I don't know this person well so I'm not sure if this information is reliable or not. Has anybody talked to TP&W that could confirm or deny this info??

It is my understanding that they have not experienced a fish kill there in a few years now. I also understand that the power plant is not running nearly as much as it once did. I have not kept up with the lake since the last fish kill there. I know we really had some good times catching reds there in the winter. Would love to see that place be a viable fishery again.

I am not up to speed in the redfish but, I think the power plant plays a big part in their survival.

The redfish would not survive the winter without the power plant. No way around that. The original fish kills were caused by a combination of low water, excessive nutrient levels due to the fact that the lake very rarely if ever overflows to flush nutrients, and high water temps. First cool spell of the year would cause an algae bloom and thus suck the oxygen out of the water causing a fish kill. If the power plant shut down redfish would not be an option in the lake. However reducing generation by a small percent could actually help prevent another fish kill in theory because it would lower the water temp a small amount.

Last I heard they would not even consider stocking Reds again until there were several consecutive years without a fish kill and even then it wasn't a sure thing it would be done. This was back in August so I'll see if anything has changed and share what I hear.

According to the management supervisor for the area, "We continue to have annual fish kills....as long as the annual kills continue we will not be conducting any stockings."

Maybe a dumb question but doesn't there have to be fish in the lake to see if there is a fish kill? The one in 2010 killed off pretty much everything but tilapia I think.

Although I haven't fished it since that kill, how could there not be fish other than tilapia there? Weather it perch, bass, crappie, or cats, whatever survived I'm sure would reproduce. Another kill would happen, but it wouldn't take out everything.
I'm only relaying what was sent to me particular to this post. The response I received did mention angler reports of catching largemouth bass however that wasn't what was questioned here so I didn't relay it that part.

A friend of mine had a very nice 1/2ac pond in his back yard he wanted to dig out and make it deeper. He drained it and removed all the fish and dug it deeper. He never restocked his pond! Today it is full of any kind of fish you want to catch. Mother Nature takes care of her own.

was out there several weeks ago throwing the net and trying to get tilapia and netted several small largemouths , one perch and several large shad. There was a lot of bass fisherman out there as well. The plant wasn't running but the water temps was 72 at the discharge and 62 by the dam

I sure do miss the trips halfway to the Coast for a Redfish Fix.

So true.....My dad did the same thing and the result was the same.

Yeah HTF does that happen???? Nature is weird??!!!

I believe someone on this forum said that the kingfisher bird would catch fish and stock other bodies of water.

If you guys want to catch some big redfish and not go all the way to the coast there is a place. It's still quite a drive but calaveras lake in san antonio texas has some big reds. I lived there for several years and caught lots of good reds. The biggest I landed was 39" but have seen some caught even bigger.

I have a friend with TPWD that actually works at FF lake. Talked to him a week ago, and he said a couple of guys had actually caught a couple of nice sized reds. Although, there have been almost no other reports on reds. Channel cat have continued to be caught, although in just average numbers, before, during and after the last 3-4 fish kills. Black bass have recovered nicely, with some great numbers coming out of there this winter. No hogs, but lots of good stringer fish. Also, there were a few nice sized bluegill caught last summer.

I'm not suggesting the lake is completely back, but I will say that "some" of every species that was in there before the fish kills did survive. The lower numbers of all species should actually benefit the lake's recovery.
My source also told me that they have not had any significant, recordable fish kills in two years.
He said, contrary to any "reports", they don't expect any stockings until the state biologists give the lake the ok. And he said they don't expect that any time soon. He actually said he really hopes they never stock reds again, lol!

This is not some guy filling a formal report. He works at the lake and knows first hand what's really going on, and I've known him for years. I feel like this as accurate as you'll get on info.

I will say this. I live about 15 miles from the lake and have fished it since the mid 70s. I haven't put my boat on that lake in probably 3-4 years, but I will be hitting it this spring just because of what this guy has been telling me.