Went to the Somerville dam last Saturday (November 2nd). The water was still low almost 6 feet. It seems that it has risen since Saturday about 2 feet. If we get a little more rain it might go all the way to normal level. I still cannot understand why in the last month before Saturday it only raised 2 feet? How was that possible given all the rain we had in the past month or so?

I'll be out there tomorrow so I can post a report on the water levels then.

The upper part of the reservoir was mostly likely dry. It probably took a lot of water just to fill in the dry areas. Right now it is 3.5 foot below normal pool. It needs to come up another few feet to make the creek fishing any good. Hopefully we can get one more good storm.

If you view West about Sundown from a plane you can see why our Texas lakes no longer come up after smaller rains......have to 1st fill thousands of man made stock tanks (many new since last drought)across the scene before much runoff occurs for the reservoirs.

May not have gotten rain on the watershed. It could rain 12" over here in Caldwell but that wont help all that much. Need to rain like hell between Caldwell and giddings from what I understand. That is where most of the watershed is. I live out close to Deanville and I can tell you I was going to go out and check my garden a couple of days ago but could not find my life jacket. That's how much rain we have had in the last 3 weeks or so. Still have water standing in my back yard.

Here's your Yegua creek update



At the current rate of rise we should be in for a good late winter/spring fishing season.

Thanks for sharing, Ben. Might have to drag the yak out there one of these weekends.

Great news! one thing about Lake Somerville, it dont take long to fill back up when its down!
thanks for posting!

The lake is still 3.5 feet low but climbing slowly back from just over 7 feet low in early September. If the wet weather continues and the lake makes pool level sometime in December we will have a very good spring up the Yegua and other creeks feeding the lake.

I've seen the lake go from 7 feet below pool to 10 feet above in less then a month.. Hurricanes will do that don't ya'know!

lets keep our rain dance goin!!!forecast is for more rain this wkend....

A trip to Newman's Bottom is in order to check on the status of the Yegua and fish for crappie. Any of you want to join me on the creek?

Might go Saturday if the weather is warm otherwise if it's cold I'll go hunting and shoot a deer or pig..

I would love to join, but I'm busy this Saturday. The weather is supposed to be cold & nasty anyways. I may be able to go the Friday after Thanksgiving. I've been itching to go fish the Yegua.

Biologist Mark Webb, the Natural Resource Specialist for Texas Parks & Wildlife Inland Fisheries Division, needs some answers to two of life's most perplexing questions often asked of a fisherman. Been fishing? Catch anything? These two questions are at the heart of what Mark Webb does for a living and the answers to those two questions determine much more than you might think.

I'll give a good example of where the fisherman's answers to these two questions help decide where and what happens to a lake as to the stocking of hybrid bass.

About forty years ago TPWD began stocking a hybrid bass (created when a striped bass was crossed with a whitebass) into select lakes around the state, Lake Somerville being one. The fledgling program initially used just two criteria to determine which lakes were going to be stocked, those two being: The "size of the lake" and a sustained "large forage base" (shad) to optimize the rapid growth potential of the hybrid fish.

The success of the hybrid bass stocking program is evident today in the number of lakes with good populations of the frequently pursued, fast growing, hard fighting fish. Many anglers gear up specifically to target stripers and hybrid bass in those lakes that have them. For me personally, it's always a thrill to tie into a big old Somerville hybrid lurking under a surfacing school of his smaller cousins the prolific whitebass. It's like catching a freight train when they make that first run to the bottom..

Over the years challenges to the hybrid stocking program created a "supply and demand" dilemma of the non-reproducing hybrids. Simply put there was not enough fish being raised and more lakes that would meet the qualifications for stocking beckoning for a share of the goods. Political issues aside, TPWD began to use a third criteria to determine which lakes were to be stocked. The third criteria was "utilization of the resource" or in other terms "fishing pressure, interest and harvesting". It made no sense to stock hybrid bass in lakes where no one fished for them over lakes that might benefit and develop a strong following of faithful fishers.

The supply of hatchery raised hybrid bass did not scaled up with demand for a host of reasons like funding cuts and golden algae problems at the hatchery. TPWD being faced with a limited number of fish available for stocking and a third criteria to consider were forced to make adjustments to the program.

That takes us back to biologist Mark Webb's two questions and how TPWD might get those questions answered to help determine the "utilization of the resource" specifically at Lake Somerville.

Lake Somerville has been on the hybrid bass stocking list since 1975 and has seen its share of ups and downs. Recent angler surveys on Lake Somerville haven't reflected what the historical data shows to be true about the hybrid fishing. This anomaly could be due to a change in the fishing or fishermen but more likely it is simply a void in the data collection.

To fill the void in the data biologist Mark Webb needs to hear directly from any fishermen that target whitebass and/or hybrids on lake Somerville as soon as possible. Anyone that fishes the Yegua or other feeder creeks in the spring for whitebass are included and encouraged to send Mark an email message saying that you fish the lake/creek on average (# of days) and catch on average (# of fish) but please don't inflate the numbers

Send email to: mark.webb@tpwd.texas.gov

It is really wet out there! We received 2-1/2 inches since Thursday in the Bryan area and I suspect the Yegua basin had similar totals. More rain is predicted for the next four days with Mondays forecast being the heaviest. Lake Somerville is still 3.5 feet low but that's up from 7 feet below pool before the September - October rains brought relief from the drought. One more foot of rise and the creeks will connect back to the lake. Two foot more and we can kayak up the Yegua to fish for crappie and whitebass! I suspect the lake will be in good shape come January for the best spring creek fishing in 5 years or so..