Went to Lake Somerville Sunday morning to find it about 10+ feet above pool and rising fast..
Could be setting up for another Memorial Day flood...
249.25 as of Sunday evening May 5th.. All boat ramps are closed.
If what fishtx says about the Yegua still being in full flood stage then the lake will be over FM1948, CR125, CR 124, CR132 and others by mid-week.

Here's the 2015 and 2016 flood video..

Lake is 12.5 ft high. Gates are closed, and doubtful if they will open them up anytime soon as the brazos river is high and more rain is predicted. Here we go again, again.

fishytx, is the Yegus Creek flood gauge at Irwin Bridge ? How wide would the creek be at 16 feet high, 1/4 to 1/2 mile ?

I know this is bank fishing but is it still acceptable to launch off of the bank at Welch with a flats boat and 4x4? Also does anybody have a forecast or prediction on how bad this will actually get? Thanks!

Forecast? look at the graph from 2015, 2016 & 2017..
If the Brazos river is already flooded then the COE has little choice but to hold back the excess coming into Lake Somerville.
I suspect with more rain coming and the Yegua already swollen with floodwater the lake will once again breach the emergency spillway.
The only question is when.. My guess is two weeks or less if it rains again..

graphic source http://somerville.lakesonline.com/Level.asp

Check out the NOAA website - the gauges are located on the Middle Yegua Creek and East Yegua Creek, both several miles upstream of Irwin bridge. The charts show the water levels receding in both creeks at this time. The water readings are given in stage (feet), but that is typically not the same as water depth.

From NOAA website:
Stage - the level of the water surface of a river or stream above an established gage datum at a given location. The gage datum is a horizontal surface used as a zero point for measurement of water level. This gage datum level usually is located slightly below the lowest point of the stream bottom such that the stage is greater than the maximum depth of water.

I'm afraid this is the new normal for Lake Somerville.. May 2016 & 2017 blip is just excessive springtime rain but the 2017 September blip is the hurricane season. Imagine two high water events in a single year !

Are there any rules/laws about taking a kayak out when the ramps are closed? I know right now most of the boat ramps are closed I am just wondering if I would get in trouble for launching a kayak to go fish for a day on an empty lake. With the weather forecast this week calling for more rain I know we might make it back to the 21 feet high like we did a few years ago.

I have never seen them close down the lake. I've launched my kayak in these conditions many times. I've also seen people find a way to launch boats. I've never seen any type of message on the COE website stating that the lake is closed to boat traffic.

The only time I saw restrictions was in the area in front of the uncontrolled spillway when water was spilling over. A buddy of mine almost went over the uncontrolled spillway in his kayak and there was someone tied up in their float tube to the vertical concrete wall on the edge of the uncontrolled spillway. The game wardens saw that this was a very dangerous situation and they closed off that area. They had no problem with others fishing out on the main lake.

Lake level is currently 13 feet above normal.

I have no clue where the flow gages are located, I just looked at the flood stage charts they show on the internet. Any and all rain we get in the next few weeks has no where to go in the ground, the tanks are over flowing as well, so all rain will just run off into the creeks and end up in the lake. We need a break from the rains for a little while, that's for sure.

Hey guys! I'm new to the forum. I've been fishing my whole life and currently all I'm able to do is bank fish and I hit neighborhood ponds daily. The last couple of months I've been going to Somerville. I seem to constantly have bad luck whether it be people in the spots I know or 13 feet of high water like today. I'm out here trying today on a vacation day, but i literally have no idea what to do. I'm in overlook now and I don't see any bank action. Where would y'all fish if the water is this high. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Travis

The lake is actually 15 foot high so it's tough to find places to fish right now. The COE is releasing water so you might try fishing in the spillway. It's likely the shad are still spawning early in the morning so you might be able to catch some white bass at Welch park or on the lake side of the dam early in the morning.

If I were to go fish the spillway this weekend what species would you recommend I target? I am heading up tonight and I think it might be too windy for the kayak out on the main lake tomorrow.

1) White Bass
2) Hybrid Bass
3) Catfish

Cat fish, I saw two huge cat fish to be caught yesterday, it�s so heavy the two young men were struggling to get it to their truck.