Hello all I have a BIG tournament coming up on Lake Somerville and I have never been there and I can barely find anything on the lake so I figured I'd talk to the anglers themselves. So can anybody help me out? I'm not searching for everyones honey holes I just want general knowledge like what cover to fish and what kind of techniques work the best for the lake. THe tournament is Mid-October. Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks, KJ

I was out there monday out by overlook park and we caught good fish around the big rock island in about 12 ft of water... the only thing is if we dont get any rain by october there might not be a tournament i had heard that they closed the all ramps on this past tuesday but im not sure.....

I have a place out there. Rumor is they're shutting down untili significant rain. Some ramps dont see water for 25 feet past concrete....too dangerous.

Nails Creek boat ramp is more like a half mile from the water!

I was there Sunday. The ramp was open at Overlook and I had no problem using it. I would guess that it is the only one open. Be carefully if you go out there. The lake is not normally very deep. It is about 10 feet low now and is dangerous.

A friend posted this photo of the Birch Creek Ramp on FB a few minutes ago. Looks like two lanes are closed. Said that they were able to launch jet skis from the other side but he wouldn't recommend launching a boat.

I live 10 min from Somerville so I fish it alot the lake is very low and the only boat ramp open is overlook without any rain it will be closed in several weeks so I wouldnt plan on any tournaments .....

Wow, that picture is amazing. I haven't been there in a while but I've been following the lake levels on the COE website. I've never fished the lake when it's this low.

COE website says 3 ramps are open, including Birch Creek. Obviously, that's not right. Last time their website was updated was July 12th, so it looks like it's out of date.

The shallow water will come up on you quick, so be careful on plane. If you are running anywhere close to the bank or around points, make sure you've got enough water under your boat. Especially with the lake this low.

I doubt if there will be any cover in the lake, so I would look for drops. There one just south of the dam gates. Goes from flat to 20+ feet quick. There's also another good drop on the east side of Yeuga Park just south of the boat ramp. Welch Park will also have some deeper water. As will the deep side of Deer Island.

Of course, both of these will look much different with the lake this low.

Thanks everyone! I saw that there is no "back-up" lake scheduled. The tournament is the FLW College Regionals, and one might think that with a tournament this big they would have a back-up lake but I guess not.... I guess I'll start doing rain dances every night before I go to bed.

Was out last week and Rocky Creek was still opened. Both Rocky and Yeague Creek were closed a couple of weeks ago for construction.

Crazy! My highschool regionals are held in conjunction with your college regionals. I wonder what lake we are going to use?

Birch was open last Wednesday. Only 2 lanes are open. I have a fairly large deck boat and have to back way down to get it off the trailer but it can be done. Just be careful. If you are looking down the ramps toward the water I would use the left ramp. The lake is way low. Need to be very careful. You can now see a lot of the used to be hidden stumps that were over by deer island and now the sandbar that is over by birch creek. Bad time to just go flying across the lake. Word is if it drops another 2 - 2.5 feet, the corps is closing it for boating.

What ramps are open I am planning on going Saturday?

rocky creek park, overlook park and Birch Creek Park....these ramps are good but if the Corp of Engineers shuts it down it won't matter...I would call ahead before you go... fished saturday, its dangerous if you dont know your way around the lake!!!

Thanks for the info, I know the lake pretty well and will take it easy. Just wanting to see it in these conditions. Are the pads thick this year or have they died off with all the low water?