I'm glad I'm getting older and have been fishing since I was a little kid, including virtually every weekend for 30 years. I gave up hunting 30 years ago and have fished year round, including winter. That's about to stop or slow down drastically for me. I have done my share of fishing January and February tournaments in 40 degree water and have no desire to continue it. All you guys who like fishing for a couple of bites a day can have it.

Are power plant lakes crowded? Yes, and there is a reason for that. It's because most people like catching fish, and they get a lot more bites in 70 degree water than 40 degree water. Something about fish being cold blooded animals and metabolism...

Our country is so screwed.

Then why not build natural gas-fired power plants? Or heaven forbid, nuclear. Nothing is "cheap" to build, yet incredibly expensive things are built every day. A 3-bedroom house used to be $25K to build. Today it is $250K. I am not looking at the closing of power plants from strictly a fishing point of view. I want affordable electricity to be readily available. The thought of replacing even the lowest kilowatt generating power plant with solar and wind is a joke. See article below.

https://www.rickety.us/2009/08/1-3-billion-wind-turbines-needed-to-replace-coal/#:~:text=1.3%20Billion%20Wind%20Turbines%20Needed%20to%20Replace%20Coal,...%205%20Update%20...%206%20External%20Articles%20

Brick?

Concrete.

You can pull 15-25% cement out of ready mix concrete and replace with fly ash.

Fly ash is a cementitious material.

I assume “kamper” likes H&H spinnerbaits. 😀

Flyash has other qualities besides using less cement to get the desired concrete strength, it acts as a retardant to slow the hydration process, that gives the finishers more time to finish and it also helps with shrinkage cracks. it also helps concrete reach greater strength years down the road. I have caught a lot of bass on an H & H spinner, yellow and black in every farm pond i could sneak in on lol

100% caused by the EPA(federal govt). Can you say: “Rolling Blackouts”?

All I know is it is a sad thing.Seems all we can do is just hang on these days.

I haven't fished M/C in YEARS! How's the busted up ramp? Has it been fixed?

None of this has anything to do with taking care of the American people. The leftist elite agenda is about destroying the country and creating two classes of people. The ruling class and the working class. Believe me, when EV's go against what they're trying to do, they'll come up with something else.

To clarify please- Is the power plant only closing, & the lake will still be open to public fishing? Thanks all.

Will they continue to run it until then or will they begin to shudder it immediately?

man this sucks to hear, for more than one reason. Always a fun little lake, havent been in a few years and even then it wasnt always running.

It wasn't running any of the times I was there this month. I guess it could be closed down for maintenance, but if it is permanently closing in March why do maintenance now?

Plant came back online today.

That plant is very unpredictable for when it runs. I’ve sold the ash out of Pirkey and Welsh for the last 10 years. Very aware of schedule.

Much of it has to do with economics. Extreme cold/hot weather brings more energy demand. But Pirkey is always a mystery. Just never know when it’s going to be up or down. Never understood it and AEP keeps their info very close to the vest.

It’s a shame, because it is one of the most cleanest well maintained plants I’ve been around.

I have fished cold water lakes and power plant lakes. As far as club fishing is concerned, rarely has a power plant lake been much of a yearly change maker. I used to fish a power plant lake in the Waco area. It was a small two thousand acre, approximately, body of water. It was very unique as it had reeds around most of the shoreline and in two to four feet of water. It was a natural gas power plant. It was shuttered, said due to the "high" cost of natural gas. What most of these plants that are retiring have in common is not the type of energy needed for them to operate, but that they are as much as seventy years old. True, most allowed fishing on basically private bodies of water. The water was treated so it had a perfect PH level. This provided an ideal fish habitat. Yes, there were moments of great fishing during inclement weather. However, I and others, caught much heavier stringers out of the traditionally colder waters of the larger local lakes.
Now, if you are really concerned about who, what, and where you will get the electricity in the not-too-distant future, one just needs to ask ERCOT who, what, and where the "replacement" energy plants will be built? Will these plants need lakes to supplement energy generation? This issue has been the victim of sleight of hand, distractions, and claims of having "been fixed". Allowing this issue to come to a point where a "Saviour Solution" will come calling should concern those that are more susceptible. Which is most of us. I believe that solar and wind is needed but what has the long plan been? Who has that secret? Was there ever a plan? For Texans that is, not politicians. (Smiley face here) Wind kept North Texas, DFW area, from suffering blackouts this last summer. But as the area continues to grow this is barely a gap measure. Seems our leadership is not doing their jobs. Unless being reality stars is the only answer to running a state as great as Texas. I emphasis that questions be asked, and answers be vetted against performance. Or lack of.