I didn't see anyone from the forum, but I talked to plenty of people at the lake about the fishing. Their tips pretty much lined up with everything I've heard here on the forum. I didn't see or hear of many reds being caught. I saw 2 caught at the discharge and that was it. I talked to folks at the bank fishing point who said they weren't catching anything. Met pro guide Mark Parker at the cleaning table Saturday. He was cleaning talapia to use for cut bait for cats at Richland Chambers the next day. He helped me finish cleaning my fish and gave me some good tips. Seemed like about 4 out of every 5 boats were there to net tilapia.
The only red fishing I did was trolling crankbaits behind my canoe as paddled my canoe back and forth to the hot water discharge. Plus I spent some time casting plugs up into the discharge. My plan was to use cut bait off the points in the evenings but by evening I was wore out and short on time. Next time I'll devote one day to Tilapia and one day to Reds.

bumping this up just to see if any interesting stuff might come out.. any report?

Red fishing at FF is HOT, so hot its 106 F at the outfall. IF you catch anything in that water I doubt if you can release it alive if you go there to fish be prepared to take their meat home. It was 92F at the cold intake. We had shrimp working there a week ago. I did not try any shrimp or natural bait today. As I fitted the boat/trailer for the trip home it was 99F in the shade at 1:30 PM. Slow day for all I spoke to, only got two myself.

thanks Don for the report... I was just wondering anyone's having any fun out there hooking some reds....

We went on Monday and got skunked. 3 guys fishing from 6:30 AM - Noon. We threw shrimp, shad, tilapia and an occasional spoon/slab. I didn't see anyone on the lake catch a fish. I think the rain and heat shut them down. Any other reports?

where is this fairfield lake yall talking about ?

google map, type "lake fairfield state park"

Who said it was fun. I said it was HOT! Too HOT for just two modest size reds or to untangle my anchor! I had fish marked, they just did not want to bite artificials. By resorting to any of the natural baits I'm sure I could have done better than two, but I had my skunk broken early so I was insisting they bite fancy plastic and hot steel for the rest of the day.

Time to revive this thread, hopefully someone can provide a update.

Got me all excited when I saw this thread pop up. Lol.

Wish is was that easy to revive those dead fish. Most are dead from late summer fish kills of the last two years. No restocking until the water quality issue causing the problem is fixed. Drought water shortage causes Luminent to have to pump water from the Trinity River that contains huge amounts of nutrients. With long summer days, and high water temps. the phytoplankton grow exponentially until they begin to see less day light, die and start eating O2 rather than making it. Their deaths have taken the lake DOs well below life sustaining levels. As of last I heard the water shed was too small, no solution for better water with less nutrients, or a way to purge high nutrient lake water over the lake dam and still have enough river water supply to cover any additional purge rate. Last year they could not even pump enough up to sustain the level let alone purge more over the dam.

A TCEQ preliminary decision on the Luminant Generating Company application for continued waste water discharges has been received. TPWD had comment on the original application last November, but TCEQ chose to ignore that comment in their preliminary decision. This preliminary decision permits LGC to continue operating the existing two units plus adding a third later. TPWD feels just operation of the current units without lake nutrient control has resulted in the past fish kills. It is my opinion TCEQ's preliminary decision needs fisherman's comments. I have done so formally, and anticipate this will result in a public hearing where we fisherman can add our input. It is clearly possible to stop these fish kills by controlling the lake nutrient levels, similar power plant lake operations at Calavaras and Braunig have not resulted in fish kills of similar magnitude. My comment has requested LGC must get control of the lake nutrient levels and replace the fish their past practiced have killed. I requested a hearing on a Saturday so we can get there without losing a work day. I can supply PDF files of my comment letter, TPWD comment letter, the TCEQ preliminary decision, and LGC application to all interested. If you want this information send me your email address by PM, please add your phone number if you are willing to be at that comment hearing. My phone number is 972-298-2202.



So long as they get control of the nutrients in the lake I am not opposed to even a third unit operation. If the current operating method is not changed and a third unit is brought on line it is my opinion there could be fish kills in the dead of the winter.



FYI: until these fish kills are prevented TPWD will not be stocking Bass or Red Fish in Lake Fairfield.

Sorry to keep this old thread going. I'm new to the forum and just found out about the fresh water stocked reds. Have they been restocked? Anyone been out recently have a report? Would it be a better use of my time to head on down to trading house creek?

*update*

Just went to the Tpwd website and found this regarding tradinghouse creek lake

The power plant is currently not operating, so the water is not warmed in the winter. As a result, the red drum fishery no longer exists, and stockings have been discontinued.

and this on fairfield

Fairfield Lake has experienced another late-summer fish kill, and TPWD has suspended stocking at this lake until further notice. Fish kills have been documented on this power-plant lake since 2003. They occur in August and September when hot weather and shorter days lead to a shortage of oxygen in the water. For updates, visit the Facebook page for TPWD's Tyler field office.

Angling Opportunities
Species Poor Fair Good Excellent
Largemouth Bass Yes
Catfish yes
Red Drum yes

go to Braunig or Calaveras outside San Antonio