Man before all this attention Sqaw Creek was great , I would go out Friday , Saturday and Sunday right after it was opened , but as usual word gets out and the ignorant takes over , there's still quality fish , just have to find them .

Here's my two cents. Fishing pressure is the biggest factor. To me tournaments don't add or subtract from that. All of the weekly tourneys are small in size...15-25 entrants by my best guess. I donate on occasion to those.

However, the fact that a tourney is on Squaw has no affect on whether or not I fish there. If I plan to go there and there is a small tourney and the mood catches me right, then I will donate to the winners. If not, sometimes I will just fish. With the small purses I doubt that many of the guys fishing those tourneys are doing it for the money....it's seems more for bragging rights with your buddies and a couple of bucks for gas and baits.

With that being said, if a 100+ boats are out there on a weekend day I don't think a 15-25 boat tourney will tax a fishery more than if those 15-25 were just fun fishing. Is there mortality associated with retaining fish...everything I've ever read says "yes". If you do the math, let's say 20 boats are in a tourney and everyone not only catches five keepers but decides to weigh them. That is a total of 100 fish. For the heck of it assume a 25% mortality rate...that's 25 fish per weekend tourney. Is 25 more than zero...yes. However, If I were to calculate this scenerio over the course of a month assuming 2 tourneys per weekend, then the lake would lose 200 fish per month. I don't have any idea how many fish are in that lake, but seeing my own catch rates and others I wouldn't hesitate to say any tourney related mortality is inconsequential to the number of fish swimming around that pond.

If tourneys were to go away, I still think the lake would draw 100+ boats on the weekend during peak season. My theory is the 100+ boats with 2-3 guys fishing and sticking 10-40 fish an outing, that will slow the fishing down due to the overall fishing pressure. However, all things considered Squaw is a good value. Where else in the Metroplex can you catch 10-40 fish in an outing during the cold months?

By the way, while I don't know them I really appreciate the park employees and having access to such a good fishery. I'm not made of money, but I think the $30 access fee is minimal. If going to $50 helps make the money work for the park folks, count me in.

Tight lines.
Mark

My pants don't fit anymore

That's because of the McRibs, not popcorn.

Good point

The Lake's water temps are up 10-15 degrees wormer then the past 3 years. The past 3 years we have had a snow or ice storm by now. Bass don't move up in hot water lakes like normal seasonal lakes.

This will just allow you to work on your off shore skills. Go deep. Crazy we where out there fishing 35-40 deep catching 5lbers.
Also take good notes on your trips in hot water lakes. From year to year you will be able to find the water temp they move up on not the month.

That lake is awesome and is in great shape.

I remember when they closed it. Many a tear was shed on the TFF.

My guess is Squaw Creek is a private lake and they got TPWD to stock it and then opened it up for public to use.

I would guess it has something to do with goodwill

LOL

Agree with 2103 and 2014. 2015 was very warm. I don't think the water temp at Lewisville got below the upper 40's in the winter of 2015-2016.

I personally never understood why a trail would hold a tournament on a 3000 acre pay for play private lake.

In the winter months it's a good draw opposed to a cold water lake. Better draw means more money- it's a solid business decision.

In its favor for continued good fishing:

1) Limited days per week to fish, one bank only day;

2) Seasonality really limits the lake's popularity to only 4 or so months a year;

3) Very limited bank fishing opportunities, what, maybe a total of 3 or 4 miles of shoreline;

4) Almost no kayak/jon boat/small boat pressure;

5) Because of the entrance fees, I don't think Squaw sees as many out there "fishing for food," if so, I think they target cats and tilapia over bass.

* It'd be great to see some creel reports if TPWD conducted them, then published its results. Just a guess, not even an educated one on my part, that any result fluctuations out there over the years may have to do with the water temperature data. If cold fronts, hot summer days, barometric pressure, etc. can quickly affect the bite, how about the odd scheduling of power plants playing sort of a mind game on fish?

Also, it'd be nice to know what the effects of that super hot seasonal water are on baitfish populations. We sort of know how bass handle it; but, do the shad out there flourish? Of course, I suppose the bass could eat like kings on small tilapia fry. That populations seems to really have grown out there over the past few years.

Brad

It's true lakes cycles, but the general trend is downward. Part of that is natural deterioration of the reservoir, part of that is just human population mathematics. Fork will never fish as well as she did in the decade after she opened. Typically when lakes do have an improvement it's because of some natural factor (like high water) that protected it from the usual beating it receives. For this reason I suspect you'll see quite a few lakes turn "on" in the coming years, it'll be short blip in a long slow decline though. Sadly that improvement will provide fuel to the folks who argue fisheries are impervious to our actions. Our kids will get the bill for that short sighted view.

I hate regulation as much as the next guy, but I believe more of it will be required in the future if we want to protect any semblance of the fisheries we have to day. It's a mind-numbingly na�ve to think humans don't impact fish populations. I'm sure somebody was saying the same thing in the late 1800's when Bison hunters whittled the heard down from 30 million to a few dozen animals. Same thing happened to whitetails mid century. Regulation is the only thing that saved either of them. Well that, and the fact so few animals were left the sport become unenjoyably so many left it all together.

Imagine if lumberjacks held tournaments and showed up to your local park on the weekends to whack on as many trees as possible. Would you be in favor of some regulation for that? For some reason, because we can't "see" fish people seem to think it's a resource that can't be damaged. It blows my mind.

Listen I enjoy tournaments as well (sort of), but there has to be a check and balance. Tournaments "concentrate" pressure that would otherwise be more easily absorbed by the states fisheries. Personally I'd like to see a little capitalism injected to the process. Each lake should have a certain number of tournament tags assigned to it, and circuits and clubs should be able to bid on them as they see fit. Let them go to the highest bidder, but limit the number to limit the pressure.

I recognize my view isn't a popular onc, but I think it's well grounded in logic.

Squaw is not a private lake but for security reasons they can shut it down at anytime.