Anyone remember how much it is to park and use the launch there? I've tried calling them the past couple of days and get the answering machine. I went last spring a few times, but can't remember the cost for the launch box. Also, anyone know if it's okay to drive down to the river and launch, then park back up in the parking lot? Last spring, I just pushed the canoe down the grass slope to the river. The boat ramp was closed. Pulling back up the hill was no fun. Thanks!

Can't tell you on the cost, but used to be anywhere on that lake just about, you could drive down right next to the waters edge via a boat launch. Don't know why they got so anal about it in recent years but they have, and it's probably because of the people who left their manners at home, not a lot of fun these days.

You might try across the river there at Wharton's dock. It's a few hundred yards downstream on the Bandera side of the lake, and you have to go through the town of Bandera cross the river and take the road that turns off to the Flying L ranch and follow it about eight miles to Whartons Dock.

Old beer joint there that's probably older than Pop's place, and don't even know if it's open, but seems like someone always had a business there.

with the lake being over 45' low i don't think there is any water up there. it doesn't take much of drop and pops is out of water

I fished the Medina since I was a kid in the early sixties and the lake was always down more than it was up, and that long stretch of river has rapids and deep pools, and rapids and pools and so on until it finally hits the backed up water of the lake which can be a long ways from Pops place. As long as there is still water flowing in that river and into those pools they will hold a good number of fish.

It used to be some of the best white bass fishing around in the spring, when you could just walk a mile or two in either direction from Pops along that river, but dragging a heavy stinger was a chore.

I thought about that. There was enough water to put a canoe in last spring, but I know the lake has dropped even more since then. I wonder how much rain they got upstream this fall? I looked at the gage for Medina river in Bandera, it's at 4.something, but there are no gages between there and the lake.

If there is any rapids at all that the whites can swim upstream I wouldn't hesitate to give it a try. I used to walk the banks and cast from shore, but never fished out of a canoe which would work great.

Of course I was a lot younger then and it didn't bother me at all to spend the entire day walking several miles dragging a stringer of fish.

I'm going to give it a shot. At the very least I'll get to see what the water levels look like for the rest of the spring. If there is no water, I'll just go to the park and fish the trees on the other side of the lake. Maybe the crappie will be hungry.

Medina is very very low! You can walk across the river at pops without getting your feet wet. You might find 6' deep water at Thousand trail area.

I've never seen it that low, but the oldtimers that I used to talk to said back in the fifties the lake all but dried up, and you could walk to the dam in paper shoes and not get them wet. So I guess it could get worse, but hopefully we get some rains this spring.

They are calling for a bit of rain over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully the rain is good and heavy.

I hope so, and a prolonged heavy rain in the hills up above the lakes is where it needs to be. That said I've seen most all the lakes in our area at one time come up overnight, but that was with a very strong system camped overhead, and don't think this is one, but it should help.

Jimbo, I'm anxious to go for some whites on the Medina as well. Wanna go hit it sometime in Feb?

With Medina Lake so low, do the white bass even make a seasonal run? If not, do the group up somewhere? I remember back in the 80's my dad would take us to the cliff closest to Goat Hill Park. We would anchor in 50 ft of water,drop a live minnow to the bottom and crank up 2-4 cranks. We always came back with fish. But that was when the lake was up. Where do they go when its low????

If there is any water at all coming into the lake they will venture up current as far as they can, but most will more than likely spawn off the windswept points and in the coves.

The big problem with the lake down and trying to make it up to the upper reaches of the lake is access. Most property on the upper end is private access and it's a long ways from the public launches, and might be a bit treacherous also with the stumps.

Jimbo, thanks for the info. Last spring I tried takeing my boat up river past Pops, that was a no-go. I did go to the lake this past fall. It was so low trees were sticking up across the lake. Is it safe to launch at reds and make it all the way to thousand trails? If not, is there any other place closer up the lake to launch. I do have a 4wd truck, I also put the boat trailer axles on the bottom side of the leaf springs to gain more clearance. Im ready for alittle roughness to get my boat in the water if needed.

Im determined to catch fish out of Medina like the good old days.It is my home lake. Growing up in Helotes, Medina Lake was right there.