The Brazos

I took my wife up to Hillsboro meeting her sister and as they continued on to Fort Worth for a few days I hopped on over to the Brazos river below Lake Whitney. Life has been overly demanding lately so some time on the river with just my fly rod and a few flys was very welcomed.

Great video. Lot of nice fish down there, as you well know now!

Thanks for sharing! I just got into the fly fishing world in December and am loving it...I'll definitely have to make a trip to that section of the Brazos.

Awesome, thanks for sharing

Nice gaspergou.

Thanks for sharing. I have kayak fished that section of the river. How much time do you have to get back if they blow the siren indicating a water release? You were between the river and the steep cliffs and I don’t remember there being any good escape routes.

Nice fish. That was me casting in the shallow water. I was testing a new spey rod. Trying out a couple of different lines before I take it West.

Small world Budd! I wondered why someone was fishing that shallow run.. testing a new rod explains it!

That is the new risk with the extra turbine coming online a while back. I understand that the whole power plant responds automatically to demand and will startup without much notice when the power grid needs the extra power.

I assume from past experience that there is room to walk back if they run the turbines with something like a 4 foot rise but you got to be quick and probably willing to get wet.

We were down there fishing a few weeks ago and a guy from the Corps of Engineers walked up to us and told us no one was allowed to walk or wade the river below the dam since there was no grace period between the horn blowing and the water release starting. He asked us to leave and since we weren't catching any fish we packed up and left before questioning him any further. He did say that if you accessed it from private land you could walk the bank, but that if you came from either parking lot you weren't allowed near the water unless you were launching a kayak or canoe. I was going to call the game warden and see if it is an actual rule or if the Corps guy was just blowing smoke, but I never got around to it. He said they had to rescue a guy from a tree a few weeks before that when he got stranded when the water came up.

I had the same experience. They have really screwed up a nice fishery. Took away one of the few places the general public can access this river.

It's a rule. The COE Rangers are federal law enforcement. I don't like what they have done there but it is for everyone's safety that they have stopped allowing wading by the dam.

B.S. if it’s for everyone’s safety, they should close the park and ban boating there too. I’ve fished there for 30 years and live in Whitney. Most incidents involve some kind of watercraft. Not to mention all the incidents in the lake.

I agree. I have no problem with closing an area, as long as it is closed to everyone (such as the area immediately south of the dam that is clearly marked). It is picking and choosing who can use it that bothers me.

Great video as always glad to see you out on the water bud.

Is this posted somewhere on the property? If so, what does it say?

They changed it last year I think to watercraft only Really messed up a great place to wait especially when they’re generating it does not come up that fast do you have plenty of time to get out of there even with no warning

The difference is, if you are in a watercraft and they release you can float on down to Dicks and safely take out.

If you are waded down you may or may not have somewhere to retreat to.

I didn't know that the whole place was off limits to bank fishing now since the signage doesn't reflect that rule, it just reads no wading or swimming.

I can accept the "no wading" rule because I have options with my kayak. The difficult part is in changing behavior of all those responsible folks that have fished safely below the dam for years and may not have other good options.

This special fishery is many miles from my home so a trip up there is something that I have to plan and if the rules state that there is no wading than I will plan accordingly.

Sometimes the real danger of a place is well hidden but in this case there are plenty of warning signs and if you have witnessed the quick rise or been caught up in it then you know how dangerous it can be. I'm no longer "dying to go fishing" and I'm not as "bulletproof" as I once thought.. the goal now is to live to fish another day and hopefully many more of those future days will be on the Brazos..

It's not picking and choosing it's about safety. Kayaks/canoes will just get washed down river and although dangerous, you are required to wear life jackets by law already, so the risk is a tad less there. Also most kayaks/canoes are already planning on going down river on that stretch, so it's not such a big deal, you just have a wild ride. If you are on foot wading, or bank fishing, and the release happens, you are either going to have to trespass, climb a tree, or risk it in the water, most likely without a life jacket. Before the turbine became un-predictable there obviously wasn't a problem. Now you can call lake office, BRA office, game wardens, all of them do not recommend fishing below the dam because of the unpredictable release. I've got a kayak and haven't been out there since the releases became unpredictable. It's something you will always have to keep mind of from now on.