Fayette Lake Boat Ramps

I wanted to let everyone know about these ramps. If you should go to this lake be real sure to watch out for the slime. They drop the water level on this lake every winter by 12 to 18 inches and it is so slick right now. There have been vehicles that have slipped or slid down the ramp into the lake and several anglers have slipped and bust their rear ends. You feel like you're walking on ice, so please use cation on these ramps. Several anglers including myself have called to file a complaint and they are looking in to this and trying to come up with a way to make it safer. But until something is done, please be very careful. A lot of boaters have already taken a few spills, one was hurt pretty bad. But the hazard is high and it has no mercy on anyone. It happens in a split second.
Be safe and catch a bunch, fishytx.

What is the reasoning for lowering the water level?

The local volunteer fire dept could come out and give it a high pressure wash down. But, that's pretty simple ane no one from the state would think that far ahead.

heck, i'd come pressure wash it for free if given permission. I think that would get the algae off down to the water line.

The lake is a LCRA facility; its purpose is to provide cooling water for the powerplant. The primary purpose of the facility is power generation, not recreational angling. The reservoir provides great fishing, but great fishing is a benefit that the LCRA is not required to provide.

How many public reservoirs in Texas provide cleaning of algae off of the ramps when the water levels drop? I would imagine that if someone attempted to force the LCRA to provide such a service, or to hold the LCRA liable for injuries on the ramps, that they would simply close the reservoir to the public. It's what I would do in their shoes.

Well, they do make some money charging for various uses, but they should get the ramps safe.

Yep - power washer outta take care of the slime

Would think this applies to many lakes.

Thank goodness for people like you who sit around and think of ways for people that give of themselves by volunteering to have more things to volunteer for. Some people do, some take. What a guy!

You want to bring your power washer to the ramps and wash them? I'll volunteer to help you.

I'm not trying to be a s!!!! a!!. I am still waiting for this question to be answered.

Good luck getting an answer. Not even sure who you would ask. I have pulled several cars out that were about to go under. If you get your rear wheels into the water, you probably will not stop going backward.

This is always "The Great Mystery" with power plant lakes. "We lowered the lake to work on the dam". Anyone seen anyone working on the dam at FCL? "We lowered the lake so people can work on their docks". There are no private docks on FCL. "We lowered the lake so we can work on the ramps." Is any work going on at the ramps?

There has got to be a Fayette County power plant worker on TFF.

PS - I have heard many people say that power plants are doing fishermen a big favor by letting them fish there. I strongly disagree. Businesses, which is what a power plant is, is out to make money.

My personal opinion is it has to do with killing or controlling the grass/weeds around the shoreline. I think they drop it every winter to allow it to be exposed for any freezes we get and to 'dry up'. It may be pond control on their part. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The amazing thing about the internet is how quick some ordinarily nice folks are to rip other ordinarily nice folks...

I remember a poster saying last year that the the draw down is now the new normal lake level.

The OP was making a point and basically opening the discussion for suggestions of which my post was one. Why don't you try formulating a coherent thought on the topic instead of slamming what others say? Come on, try, you can do it...

"PS - I have heard many people say that power plants are doing fishermen a big favor by letting them fish there. I strongly disagree. Businesses, which is what a power plant is, is out to make money."

It's been a long time since I've been to Fayette, and I have no idea how much they charge to fish there now or how many (or even if) boats they limit it to per day. However, it's a pretty safe bet that the funds taken in from anglers do little more than cover the costs involved, if even that much.

Again, what other lakes pressure wash (or otherwise deslime) their ramps when water levels recede? It would certainly be nice, but it's just not feasible. A marina might do it somewhere, but I've never seen it. I know that we have some attorneys here. I'd be interested to her their take on the liabilities incurred by the LCRA if they became obligated to keep the ramps from being slick, and someone accidentally (or intentionally) slipped and sustained injuries. I'll bet the personal injury sharks would be fighting and climbing over each other at that person's front door.

I've slipped and slid on many, many ramps since I began fishing in the fifties. It's one of the things we have to be aware of, and be careful with.

If lawyers get involved they will shut the access down.

Good point, Jim, but I would be interested to see to what extent, if any, a ramp operator who charges for ramp use would be held liable for an incident involving injury or property damage. By virtue of charging for it's use, it "should" be implied that the controlling entity, be it LCRA or whomever, would be at least partially responsible for the safety of it's customers. I can't think of any type of business that would be immune from a lawsuit involving injury or damage caused by poor or negligent maintenance practices.

True. Attorneys can make anything appear negligent to the right jury. However, at least from a common sense point of view, one would need to consider the customary, normal practices to determine what would be negligent. Anyone with common sense should realize that when water levels drop ramps are slick. They always have been. They always will be. In spite of what some people looking to get rich quick would have you believe, one cannot make every activity 100% safe. If ramp owners could be held liable for every injury resulting from low water, we wouldn't be able to afford to launch our boats. I remember a lady who took a huge boat with twin Mercruisers way up Little Lake Creek on Conroe and knocked off an outdrive on a submerged stump. She wanted to sue the San Jacinto River Authority because they hadn't removed that hazardous stump. It never occurred to her that it was her responsibility to learn where she could run her boat safely.

I appologize. As a career firefighter and(more importantly) as a volunteer firefighter it just struck me wrong that someone would suggest a remedy would be for the guys who volunteer fire and EMS should power wash our boat ramps for us and that the state(who actually are my paid civil servants) was some how remiss in not thinking of this first. I reacted rudely. Sorry. While I type/text slow sometimes I think even slower :-). Anyway, on a lighter more positive note the afore mention that the lower level might actually be the new full pool: the LCRA has the lake only 1' low so it may be accurate that it will be kept lower. Also the water at my neighborhood lake Squaw Creek often fluctuates several feet fairly quickly before they pump in more water and it often exposes SLICK algae on the last several feet of their steep ramps. Good news is even with the ramp use constantly wetting the ramp the algae dies and dries fairly quickly and the problem quickly goes away.

I grew up in Fayetteville and worked at the parks my junior and senior year as maintenance. Part of my normal day was mowing, taking the trash out and spraying the ramps for slime/algae. This was over 7 years ago and can say the ramps and parks are not kept up now how they were back then. There is a whole new group of people that take care of the park now. I fish Fayette at least one a month and yes during the winter months they ramps are bad, I don’t know why they have stopped spraying them… They park use to have a pressure washer that you could toss the suction line into the lake and use.. I am guessing it broke or they just don’t use it anymore. .. I pulled tons of trucks out of the ramps when working there winter and summer months. My dad works at the power plant and I will ask if he knows why they lower the water.

Thanks skeet! Let us know what you find out from your Father. The lake's normal pool level is 390 ft. msl. It is now 389.13.

The lake is .87 feet low, that doesn't seem all that "LOW".


It's often been said give a man an inch, he will take a mile.

Maybe being thankful you get to fish the lake at all and try being resourceful and figure out a solution to your own issues...

Has anyone actually contacted LCRA about this problem?

I contacted LCRA about Lake Bastrop. LCRA controls them both. When I called, they told me that Sam Gideon Power Plant had say-so on how much water is in Bastrop. I then called the power plant, they told me the lake was lower because they were working on the dam. This was about 2 years ago.

Actually I was asking if anyone had contacted LCRA about the ramps. But I remember a poster here last year saying the 389 foot level was the new normal.

I was at Oak Thicket ramp last Wednesday and it looked like the ramp had been de-slimed, or should I say it looked better than it had the week before.

Hope you are right. I'll check it Monday.

I talked to my dad and he said he asked around the power plant whey they drop the lake level. It’s to kill of Hydrilla around the lake. He is going to bring it up Monday morning in the safety meeting about the boat ramp but the park is suppose to be taking care of it.

Thank you skeet. I am going to go out on a limb here. Please tell your Father to tell the powers-to-be that the fishermen said to leave the hydrilla alone.

Austin does the same thing on Lake Austin everyday because the cry-babies with the million dollar plus homes cried about the hydrilla affecting their property values. It's all high dollar lawyers and big shots, so LCRA is scared to death of not complying with their "wishes".

I don't think the folks running multi million dollar power plants are too concerned about our $10 ramp fees. The few thousand bucks a week doesn't move the needle much for these big operations and sure isn't worth fielding complaints about slick ramps and hydrilla.

As soon as the liability becomes too high they'll just shut the fishing down. Or, they'll fix it and raise the costs to cover the expense.

That ramp is slick sometimes... I've had a few pucker moments but never thought to call someone and complain about it.

While they may not give a hoot about our fishing, they are required to set aside an amount of land to serve the wildlife displaced and to create recreational opportunities..

Ramp was fine this weekend.

That's good to know. Thanks!

Was it pressure washed or was the water level up?

No idea. Lake is down almost a foot.

Went yesterday. Looks like lake is still going down. Ramp was good for me though. It did not look pressure washed, but algae just looked dried up to me. I only fished from 4-5pm and caught 5 near intake (only stop). All on shakey head.

If you get below the water line you will get slimed and may get hurt, badly. There are 3 or 4 posts describing peiple falling, including 1 ambulance story. A guy in our club cracked his melon and got a concussion....after i warned him to be careful.

Bottom line, be very careful below the waterline and expect the slime

Oak Thicket ramp was just fine today. No problems at all.