Monticello

So is Monticello back open?

No that i have heard...

Only if you drag a kayak off the bridge

Id be down for renting one with a lithium battery and Tm!

If I wasn't so old I'd already bought a kayak!

My guess is the fishing would be fantastic but I don't own a kayak.

Day after Thanksgiving Tourney would be fun.

Remember we the TFF used to have them back in the early 2000's. It was usually big bass took the pot.

Good times

Highly doubt it will ever be open for boats. Luminant owns the ramp and county park and has no intention of opening it up from what I’ve heard...unless someone has had a change of heart during this pandemic.

If the ramp has deteriorated like the brushy creek ramp, it would need a lot of work.

I always launched on the old ramp next to the ramp, with my rv.

That would sure be a cool place to build a house if it was for sale.

It is for sale

TP&W could buy it. But they would probably have to fund a major EPA Super Fund cleanup of the pollutants. Have you seen the list of consumption restrictions?

Get ready boys. Welsh will stop discharging hot water in 2028.

I am surprised they will stay open that long

My boat's broke.. when are we going? I'm off Wednesdays-Saturdays!

I had elbow surgery, I haven't been on the water for months

Two weeks ago I went across the bridge and there were at least 40+ kayaks on the water

I always said you were gonna go blind if you didn't wear out your elbow first! Thank goodness you can still see!

Tennis elbow? lateral epicondylitis

Burser Sac removed. They call it popeye elbow. Couldn't get rid of it for 4 months. Had them cut it out.

eww that looks yucky


You made me nervous Im having tennis elbow surgery and some sort of tendon relief on both elbows on Dec 7th, I was told its a quick recovery time for it.

Wow. That's 40+ guys who had to work hard to launch the yaks and find a legal place to park

That was a blast!!

So many good opportunities here for some epic jokes!

get well soon Jack

I’ve fished under the bridge one time. This was back a few years ago when the lake was still open to boat traffic. Tore them up on a drop shot. Caught one on almost every cast. Fun times.

Yep, heard of people getting towed if parked by the bridge.

We have not been towed nor questioned about dropping our Kayaks off to fish. Some times there are quiet a few of us and sometimes not many at all. I/We have never seen or heard of anybody getting towed from there. I guess we are lucky

Go down and look in the OT at the fish Iconn caught today

Here, let me make it easy for you!

https://texasfishingforum.com/forum...86383/thanksgiving-11-26-20#Post13786383

It’s sad that they can close a lake down like that but Squaw is closed also.

Good news is that’s the biggest bass I’ve heard of from Monticello in a looooong time.

That ain't no lie! That may be the biggest fish from Monty in 20 years. I've weighed a few fish for guys on the lake that "knew" they had a DD that turned out to be a 7-8 pounder.

That fish looks Legit!!

It’s a PIG!! I can’t wait to get on Monti in a yak!! Nice fish!

Tried to get it back in the water as fast as possible and as I was about to release it when I realized I hadn't measured. Using both hands and with mouth closed it was hanging at least an inch over the end of chek it stick. When I took my hands off to get picture, it slid towards me and off board... didn't care that it wasn't an accurate measurement in picture, was just thankful I got a weight.

I was there three years ago today(fb just showed my memory) for 3-4 days camping and I would Have sworn the fish were stunted at 7.75 I caught No less than a dozen between 7-7.75.

I think a lot of folks were predicting that the fish would get much bigger once the plant shut down.

I had ulnar nerve displacement on my elbow. It was 6-8 weeks before I really could do anything. A year full recovery. Lost some muscle on the elbow being it got cut in half

Nice fish Iconn!! Saw you out there a bit before they closed park. Guess we shouldn’t have been so tight lipped.....maybe the crowds would have showed to keep it open. But bet you are enjoying it now more.. It was nice having only two or three boats out there on Saturday and Sunday. The previous two years we were having some 60 plus fish days Dec-Feb with nothing under 3 to 4 lbs and numbers of fish in the 8-10 lb range. Just knew it was only a matter of time until numbers of giants showed up once they shut plant down...... I know there are some teenagers in there. Had two on I could not turn that got down in thick grass and got off two Jan ago....

Awesome fish!!!

what do you mean before the park closed?

That's an absolute tubbbbbbbbb congrats on the fish.

The campground/launch on Monticello was closed about two years ago. Which was about a year after the plant shut down and stopped generating.

If I recall correctly they closed the park where the boat launch is located in July of 2019. Therefore you can’t launch a big boat anymore. Unless it has been reopened which I think the original poster was asking. Between the plant being shut down Dec 2017 and the park closure July 2019 the fishing/catching was phenomenal. A day with less than 20 and only a couple in the 5-8 lb range was a bad day. In addition, there may have been only two or three boats and a couple of kayaks on the water at most each trip regardless of the day. The most crowded day I saw during that period was during a kayak tournament in 2018. The top five and I sat in Smith all day crushing them on chatterbaits. That day was like white bass fishing. You would get bit two or three times each cast before hooking up and I think I caught fish every cast or almost every cast for close to two hours. That was in Jan or early Feb in 45–50 degree water. Fun time and wish they would open her back up.

Oh. Ok. I thought you meant this trip last week. As thought it had opened back up.

Dude I wish. My last trip there on Father’s Day 2019 with my son. Great day fishing but the road and bathroom were in pretty bad shape. Low water levels made it tricky to launch also. However I wish there was some way they would open the ramp back up.

I guess she’ll be a yak lake only from now on. SMH

they really should just bust the dam gates open all the way and allow passage into Monticello from Sandlin.

^^^^THIS. Doubt it would happen, but it should.

Yes they should

Luminate isn't doing anything that is gonna cost time and money. They don't care about little green fish or the people who like to catch them, which sucks

Have a little patience everyone. I (and others) have been working on several items related to getting access to Monticello again for over a year. I hope to come back in the next 30 days with some additional info and will most likely be asking the great people of the TFF for a little help. Stay tuned.

And yes, that fish caught by Louis is easily the biggest fish I've ever seen or heard of from Monti in the 10+ years I've been fishing out there. I spent an average of 50 days a year on Monti before the park was closed and can tell you I have NEVER seen a true DD fish out of there and only have verifiable knowledge of 1 of them being caught and that was about 18 months ago. All the other stories, I chalk up to fishing stories and guide "scales".

I had many talks with our great local TPWD Biologist, Tim Bister, about what could happen when the lake became a normal temp late a couple of years ago and produce giants was definitely at the top of the list.

Please educate me, why would it produce giants once it became a cold water lake?

Thanks Chris, I am very grateful for you and anyone else's efforts. I came late to the fishing game and especially Monti, not fishing it until about 2017 at earliest I believe, maybe 2016. She quickly became my favorite lake. I miss fishing her. She's a gem.

Has selling the park ever came up?

The fish would still bite that good in cold water in Jan & Feb ? Is that because of all the grass ?

Thanks Chris.
I've heard TPWD floated the idea of trying to buy just a section of land (i.e. the area most people put in their yaks and park) from Luminant...to build a new park and ramp that was state owned...think that got shot down too. Hopefully something like that would happen. Being in the Mt. Pleasant area, give me a shout or shoot me a PM if I can help out in any way.

It was explained to me that in hot water lakes, they don't live long enough to gain DD size status in most cases and I have my own "statistic" proof of that. Over the last 10 years, I have easily spent 300-400 days on Monti and have caught literally 100's of fish in the 5-8# range, but in all that time, I have only had 10 or fewer fish in my boat that were over 9 and and the heaviest was 9.25#. Like my buddy Ken A said in a prior post, I have been asked to weigh no fewer than 30 fish for other people who swore they had a 8, 9 or 10 pounder only to show them a 7.5# fish they thought was 10. It's because Monti fish generally are shorter and built like TANKS! This again, goes back to the age factor. Age = length in most cases. Louis' fish is without question the longest fish I've ever heard of coming out of Monti.

In regards to all the other questions about the park, I don't want to say much now other than we have several paths we are working to regain public access to the public resources that are sitting in those waters.

Hello Mr. J,


Yes, Luminant owns the former park land and the lake. They are being offered jointly for purchase.




Brad Watson
Director of Community Affairs
brad.watson@vistracorp.com

So, are you going to carry the loan on this, Jeff? lol

I have spoken/communicated with Brad on this topic numerous times over the last 2 years. Like I said before....patience. I guess some people struggle with that at times.

Power plant lakes can produce giants. Monti has produced a 14 lber and Welsh has kicked out a 15

If it was just the park I would probably be interested in buying it, pretty sure Im light on the funds to buy a whole lake.

No struggle on my end at all. I dont need your permission to inquire about a investment.


If they would take a offer on the park I would submit one, they want a offer on the lake and park but arent offering a legal description or anything at this time.

Here are the issues with Monticello , someone has to maintain the land and the dam . The dam has a bad bearing and cannot be opened or closed without expensive repair, the roads and bathroom area are in bad shape . Biggest concern is a liability issue with the old plant and having to have security watch it 24/7. Nothing is going to happen without mega bucks gentlemen .

The old plant has already been sold. Luminant has no say so over it...the LLC that owns it can cover that bill.

If they'd sell the park itself, no doubt someone would buy it. There's access into Sandlin through the Monti Cove Ramp in that park as well.

Right, last time I contacted them nothing was for sale separate. They were trying to sell the plant lake and park as one.

Yep and both were produced inside the first 10 years of the plants going "hot". The Monti plant came on in phases in the mid to late 1970's with the final tower going on in 1979. Monti's record fish was caught in 1980. Welsh had a similar staggered approach of 1977, 1980 and 1982. That record fish was caught in 1983. See a pattern here? Their record fish were caught about 1 year after the 3rd tower came on line and were never broken.

In my opinion, it's the water going hot and staying there why you stopped seeing those giants as they slowly decreased in numbers year after year to where DD's became ghosts despite the incredible amount of grass, pads, bait, etc, etc. Or at least that is what I have read and been told by people WAY smarter than me on the topic.

Damn Gar hole..............

My bad. I thought both of those plants came online well before that

Catch-and-release was not as common (guilty myself) in the 80's which caused a significant reduction in big fish

The only reason Monti & Welsh turned out state records in 1980 and 1983 was because they were among the 1st lakes to receive stockings of the Florida strain of bass. The state began the stockings in “hot water” lakes believing the Florida strain would do better in the warmer lakes. Those bass were just hitting the age to be record weights in the early 80’s. Soon found that they survive and thrive just fine in “cold water” lakes through the winters. They did pretty good in Fork. Heck even Possum Kingdom turned out a 16lb bass.

Ah, the Country Corner! Come on you don’t think all those fish were brought all the way back to the park and released? 🤔😁 Ya it was pretty much a rule that if a bass hit 7lbs it was dead for a polaroid snap shot on the wall of fame.

Yes, classic pattern when they are staging for the spawn. Scattered hydrilla on a flat with drains and feeder creeks leading to spawning areas......you better be fishing it in Jan and Feb. when Fork and Roberts had hydrilla I would freeze my tail off in Jan catching bass on the flats in Birch and Glade on Fork or up in Wolf and Indian on Roberts. One day in the winter of 2019 I was the only boat in Smith at daylight. Giant bass were crushing giant gizzard shad on top bigger than Ken A’s swim bait. They stunned one that floated on the surface. I swear it was close to 2 lbs.

Trust me Chris there have been more than one DD caught there in the last 10 years. I was there that day the one on LFM FB page was caught.

https://www.facebook.com/361348066673/photos/a.10152562126421674/10155952878361674/?type=3

Scroll down to his March 3, 2019 post.....

I am in to help out when you have word on path to getting ramp access back.

Man I gotta few up there, found a patch the other day, I too am guilty

Guilty, as time has passed I can’t even remember what the length limits were in the early Monticello years. There were large numbers of DD+ pulled out in the early 80’s that went straight to taxidermy. I have wondered what the lake would have ultimately produced if CPR was more ingrained and a high end slot limit was in place. Good memories and maybe more in the future as a normal water lake.

Anybody heard anything about the future of Monty?

Was told by a gentleman that is buying and flipping houses on Bob Sandlin that some investors from Commyfornia bought it . He said what was weird about that is you cannot build on or develop the land for years though .

Huh? What could be the investment wisdom on that? I can see making some money on subdividing and selling the land but it would sure sell for more if you could build on it.

Anybody else have any info ? Please somebody ....

Sounds like it's a kayak lake for the near-term maybe long-term future

You can email the luminant contact that I posted earlier in the thread.

Hello Mr. J,


Yes, Luminant owns the former park land and the lake. They are being offered jointly for purchase.




Brad Watson
Director of Community Affairs
brad.watson@vistracorp.com

I been hauling scrap out of the plant for awhile, they are tearing it down And scraping it., it depresses the [censored] out of me every time I go in there.. Cool place With a lot of history, not to mention how great monty was

That sold long ago. It’s separate from the lake and park.