I started fishing LLELA back in the 80s. I used to ride my bike down there at least 2 times a week all summer. Fished it hard into my 20s. We first started catching striper drifting Shad under slip bobbers. I hung a Flathead one day and my life was changed forever. Those Lewisville floodgates are exactly where I caught big cat fever when I was a kid. I was completely obsessed with catching them after that 1st one. I’ve caught a ton of flatheads out of there back in it’s hay day. They filled in about 500 acres of swamp land when they built 190 interchange back in 1999 and that destroyed a huge part of their prime habitat. That and everybody hauling them out of there to eat. There is no way to fish it like I use to because there would be 12 yahoo’s on top of you as soon as you hang a big fish. Before you could blink an eye there would be 5 jack wagons trying to cast exactly where you were just fishing.. I take my son down to the LELLA trails to hike in the spring and summer and to see what it has become of the floodgates is sad. There is trash left all over the ground and even dirty diapers slung up onto the rocks. What type of person just throws their trash on the ground or slings a dirty diaper behind a rock? A sorry one! . Most of the floodgates I used to fish like Lewisville, PK, and Texoma are practically unfishable these days due to all the inconsiderate folks that fish them.

Here is the very first Flathead I ever caught on rod and reel back in 1988 out of those floodgates . I was 14 but I still remember that day like it was yesterday. That fish made a huge impact on my life. Back then we carried Polaroid instant cameras in our tackle boxes and I still have a stack of em. Great times!

El Gato unfortunately you are correct about the trash issue. Great pic and it's awesome you still have it. I do have one question for you, do you still have that hat?

I lost that hat and almost my life crossing the Brazos river below the Possum Kingdom floodgates while the BRA was generating power. I held onto my tackle box, fishing rod, and cast net but I couldn’t save the hat. Those were some fun times.

At least the hat is replaceable. Your not!!!