Bois D’Arc updates... she’s filling.

Some updates for Bois D’Arc. Really nice ramp area on 897.

Good news!

Should get some nice runoff on Friday.

Very cool

Looks like nothing structure wise from the future boat ramp photo

Does anyone know what type of situation this lake will be in regarding timber? The boat ramp picture looks clear.

Sammy I'm looking at the aerial photos of the dam site and looks like they raped most of the old growth timber out of there. Thats what made Fork special they left a bunch of that.

I sure was hoping they would leave most of it in..

Looks like another bowl!

It’s clear from 897 bridge to the dam. (Where the boat ramp picture was taken) The other half of the lake is thick timber besides a 100 yard wide boat lane. So basically, you’ll have some good cover on the south end and just creek channel bends, 2946 roadbed, points, and riprap on the northern end. I’m going out on the SXS soon to start marking creek channel bends and brush piles.

FM 1396 not 2946.

Thanks for the info Colton

No Prob, they just put a load of sharelunker offspring in about a week ago.

LOL have you seen the price of lumber lately?

Let's say it contributed to what made Fork so special. Fork was the golden child of the TP&WL. Bois D'Arc is like a step cousin that might or might not be related by blood. I agree though..... Leave the timber.

J

When are you going to fly over and video it? See you Thursday mernin!

Can anyone drop a pinpoint on google maps where it's gonna be? I keep getting lead to some place in Lubbock

Bonham TX, if you check mapquest you can see the dam already being built, its one of those odd lakes that runs south to north instead of towards the coast

no kidding

Does anyone else see the opportunity to have a grass lake in north Texas? I'm sure a lot of guys will drop brush piles, but considering some of the nearby lakes have pads, reeds, and grass... I am holding out some hope that they can keep some grass in it. Anyone else, or am I dreaming?

You can get mid-lake (1396 Road Bed), but the backs of creeks are fenced off (for now).

I read the article just the other day but whisked they’d have included an expected date of when it will be completed and opened to the public.

Talked to a lady in their office about when yhey will open it for fishing when it fills up. She said they wont know till it fills and they will decide when to open it Say it will take 2 years to fill but be a lot quicker if we get some big rains.

You tube has a monthly update on the construction progress

I'm off tomorrow. We can put the GoPro on the wing tie down and make a series of low passes. C'mon. I work Thursday.

Back when Fork was filling up (and before opening to the public) I rode a Honda trail bike all around Big and Little Caney. Saw lots of interesting things but with it being before civilian use GPS and with large uncleared timber areas it was hard to know exactly where I was a lot of the time. Took pictures and notes relative to notable landmarks which was about the only way to relate to specific locations. What turned out to be even more challenging, especially with no really good lake maps at the time, was trying to understand where the ultimate shoreline would be and how deep the water would be at many of the locations I toured. Some areas I thought might end up being shallow or deep turned out to be much different once the lake was full. With the accuracy of today's GPS, relocating some small scale features is now quite doable but to predict the future depth of a specific location you would need the elevation of the fish holding feature vs. the design full pool elevation of the lake (and/or the lake level during seasonal fluctuations). Think many portable GPS units show elevation but not sure how accurate they are at the consumer level. Today, technology advancements should make pre-fill topographical research a lot more accurate. Hope this new lake turns out to be a productive one and more lasting than Cooper.

buzz me man, buzz me!


wave the wings if ya see me, only about 5 mi. north on fm 100, riverby airstrip is no more, fyi.

Did the freeze affect the Florida strain fish young they were stocking there? I've read that Florida strain bass do not do well in the extreme cold we got here.

I’m in Leonard as well and am very excited for this. I have high hopes that it will be a great fishery. My fear is that 8 ft pipe they ran will suck a lot of water quick. I worry about the fluctuating water levels.

How many think this lake is just going to be another Cooper? Good for a couple of years then just a mud hole....

I don’t think the cold did anything other than make them sluggish during the low temps. They aren’t the only Florida strain bass in Texas, and there hasn’t been a massive fish kill. Florida strain bass are harder to catch when a front comes through.

Saw something posted not long ago bout how they are doing this lake so it will be better than Fork. I think that is about the biggest BS i have heard in a long time

If what I read earlier in this thread is true, that they have put Share fish into this lake, it does not have a chance to become a Fork. For its first years they did not stock anything but Florida fish into Fork.
With Sharelunker fish it won't have as many pure Florida fish in it.

Aren't all the fish that the ShareLunker program breeds pure Florida strain? I mean I know Norther/Florida crosses are caught and turned in to the program, but only the pure Florida's are introduced into the program and spawned?

Yes sir that is what they are stocking. Said the same thing bout Cooper Lake being the next Fork. Boy did they ever miss that one

Maybe I am mistaken but early on in the program Sharelunkers were not as good as pure Florida fish. That may have changed.

Glad she’s filling but when’s she gonna open?

I thought the logic of the 13lb fish was they would know it is 100% Fl bass. No electricity of the other genes allow the fish to reach 13 lbs

No that’s not the case. I caught a legacy ShareLunker in 2017 and though it was proven genetically to be an offspring of another Sharelunker previously caught from a different lake mine wasn’t pure Florida strain. If they’re not pure Florida then they want use the fry for brood fish or donate them to another lake, all the fry will be returned back to the lake the none pure Florida was caught from.

Didn’t think of this, I wonder what the impact was on the stocking efforts

Everyone start hauling & broadcasting hydrilla stems in. . .

And please no sandbass!

Excellent point Larry. Congrats again!

It was more than just timber that made Fork special. Wood County is the largest milk producer in the world. Hundreds of dairy farms around Fork. Every time it rained it fertilized the lake and everything in it. That fertilizer and the way the brood ponds were stocked prior to the lake filling were huge contributors to the lake's success.

Think about this: Fork finished filling and made final pool of 403' above sea level in 1985 and then in Nov 1986 Mark Stevenson caught Ethel at 17.67. That should tell you what kind of fish were swimming around in the brood ponds.

Please.

Not sure, You would want to get caught.

Based on the Tax rate in Fannin County, doubt I will be moving that way. 2.4, thats right up there with Houston, Dallas Austin if I read the property tax rate right.

I think there's some confusion. You might refer to a 13+ lb bass as a ShareLunker but only the pure Floridas are kept for breeding. In other words, stocking ShareLunker fingerlings is stocking Florida fingerlings. This might not have been the rule from the start but it's how they do it now. This lake won't be a Fork for a laundry list of reasons but there will be some great genetics swimmming around in your inaugural class of fish and they are doing it right by giving the bluegill a nice head start.





Most LMB swimming around in our lakes are intergrades of varying degrees. There's some "non-Florida" genetics in the vast majority and you can look at the results of years past to see that hasn't changed. ShareLunkers also spawn while in the wild so the presence of the same genetic material in your fish can mean a whole lot of different things.

J

They did electrofish everything out of the ponds before stocking. So the F1 genetics should be high
Sure, some native in the creeks may pass theough, but that's definitely not a bad thing!

Well Lake Bohnam is releasing water into it right now so chances are there are some natives getting in.

Guess Bonham Lake caught a lot of water last week. Drove down Saturday evening to look at Boisdarc and 1396 road was under water. They put a cable across the road at top of the hill to keep people from driving down it.

There is some High Rent Districts up in there!

If any of you are interested in signing up for email updates directly from North Texas Water District about the lake, the email updates are very informative. Here is the link.
https://boisdarclake.org/enewsletter-signup/
Here is a link in the email, and today's email had the story about the giant oxygenator they are installing by the dam, some pretty interesting information in the emails.
https://ntmwd.us19.list-manage.com/...36196&id=494e339062&e=420437bee3

lol, 95% of fannin is rural farm/ranch land, ag exempt stuff.

more coming for the creek.

don't think they want to let it flood fm 273 again, the locals may not tolerate it again. lol
very possible it could be full by next spring, open is another story.

the watershed for the lake directly is huge, add in bonham and you have some water. bonham was high yesterday when I went over so I expect they will keep feeding bois d'arc.
in 2015 the lake would have filled in 3-4 months, I ended up not being able to get to paris, honey grove or bonham for 3 days, bois d'arc ran well over 30' over flood for about 4 days, texoma overran the spillway for reference.

I can't find the story about the giant Oxygenator by the dam. Why are they installing that?

Yea Hop i have a buncha picyures of it all flooded down there when i hunted it all. Got some when it was flooding bad on my game cameras. Had all that debris going by and camera was taking picts till it got above my camera. Funny thing is the sd card wasnt messed up and the camera still works. Bout 4 more of them not so lucky lol.

Luckily, she's about to get a good amount of runoff from this next rain system. A few more of these and it will kickstart a great fill to the lake.

Some of the swollen creeks down by the dam extend beyond FM 1396 as mentioned above. Here are my pictures from the FM1396 South Turn-Around.

You musta been there Saturday evening too.

Here is the info:

Sorry LakeForkGroupie just saw this!
Thanks for picking up my slack David Burton!

That’s awesome!!

That's pretty cool. Despite what people think that TPWD is just some blind rat doing stuff. It sure seems like they are learning from the past and trying new things and putting a ton of effort into making this a great lake. I appreciate all their effort, I hope it works and takes some pressure off of Fork.

Thanks for posting that Rockie. A lot of uninformed folks get on here posting their dissatisfaction with the Texas fisheries until they go to another state and try their luck.

Ask some of the BASS Elites guys what their opinions are on Texas lakes compared to the rest of the Nation!

That's the area of the lake I'll fill up my live-wells on tournament days!

Although I wish they would have kept more of the timber, I still have high hopes for this lake and honestly can't wait to fish it! With it being the first major lake in Texas in over 30 years, it's going to no doubt take pressure off of surrounding lakes too, especially Fork. I think we all can agree that less pressure at Fork is MORE than welcome...LOL.

Appreciate the info!

New State record, here we come!!!

we are forecast to get about 3", I am expecting over 4.

should be mostly run off since the area was still wet from the last ones.

I know some of them said, Ray Hubbard is a cesspool and was one of, if not the most trashiest lake they have been on.

Ray Hubbard is nasty for sure

You know it. Especially, when you use a crank bait and pull in some condoms.

I'm excited about the lake. After seeing the pictures of it cleared I kinda hope it doesn't fill up real fast. Maybe give it a little while longer for the brush to grow up. That oxygen pump is cool.

True.

...as for the O2 pump? Hopefully it will make a bubble cloud. I have a lake near me that has one and you can catch fish till your arm falls off by casting into the bubbles.

I sent an email yesterday to waterdatafortexas.org requesting addition of Bois d'arc since it is now officially an impoundment... we'll see if I get a response. Will post if I do, would like to follow along with the progression for sure.

4" at least before the rain stops. Still dumping up here.

now over 4" runoff is gonna add a lot of water.

They better hurry up and finish the dam.

For sure... they don't want a Grapevine situation!

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article3859104.html

Grapevine was expected to take years to fill but ended up at capacity in WEEKS!

It that true? I've heard the same story from various locals on several different north texas lakes.

Sure looks like it, maybe not since completion, but definitely above the expected curve for ongoing construction...

Lake Arlington filled up in 28 days

Tawak filled in a matter of hours according to local methhead legend.

So, there's that......

I ended up with almost 4.25" and the way it fell most of it became runoff.

Hop we need some pics of the new lake.

We had 2.5 here this AM.

Heard the same about Richland Chambers

They all did..LOL. And they all had catfish so big that the scuba diver wouldn't go back down to check for dam repairs.

Just took these, i am about15 mins from the ramps.

this is where fm 1397 runs into it, lookin good.

OMG I can not tell you how many times I've heard that fishing from the bank @ loafers bend on Whitney

That looks like a nice launching facility.

top of the line, real nice and the ramps look to be plenty long in case of dry spells/drawdowns. those are just off the bridge, fm 897.
already an rv park right by them too, hidden valley rv park and they had trailers there but probably dam workers for now. ramp is less than 1/2 mi.

gonna be a good lake from what I am seeing. looks like they left some structure and created some, still not trees but bottom around the bridge is lookin good.

Boat ramp doesn't look too busy, may head over there this afternoon

The areas you accessed for pictures, is that accessible by anyone? Im wanting to take a trip up to look around

So basically they removed most of all the cover and are just flooding a barren flood plain?

ramps are at the red X and the road bed is the orange for perspective.

ramps and other spot are public access, looked like another ramp maybe at the old road bed but the gate was half closed with workers so I left.

most of that was probably hay pasture/cattle raising, along the creek and some other places may have had some timber but most land around here is cattle oriented.
lots of short trees growing that will be 10-20' before the water gets to them permanent (bridge and upstream).
should be a lot of grass by the time it fills, that will help if they leave it.

overall looks to be a pretty decent fishery, gonna be nice to be that close too.

this was my first trip there, waited for most of the commotion to subside. going to try to get to the dam area and a couple of fms and see what I can see.

fm 100 got stupid for a while when the gravel wagons were running daily, may be again if they are still finishing the dam.

The museum in downtown Grapevine just west of the visitors center had a really interesting infographic about when the lake was impounded a few years ago when we went... wish I would have taken a picture of it, can't find it on any of the pictures posted to Google maps for the museum.

Parking is going to be a cluster. Folks cannot pull into a slanted parking spot. How do they expect folks to pull straight in ?

Oops ...

a tournament will cause more than a cluster too, not near enough parking considering how close dfw is, even a busy weekend will pack it up fast.

You can't get around there unless you jump fences and walk on "posted" land. There are places to take pictures at bridge crossings, but the days of walking the lake bed along abandoned roads is pretty much over.

There are a lot more parking spots than you realize. The three ramp areas are "significant".

Just came from there Hop. Talked to one of the guys that works there said its came up bout 4 ft since yesterday. Take the road off 100 at Allens Point and come out at Allens Chapel then take 1396 to the east boat ramp and you can get good picts there. Lot closer to the water on that side plus you can go to end of 1396

that is plan b.

I know the folks overseeing all that, they are up here at riverby, gonna hit up the boss man soon for a "tour".

would love to take the sherp down there. lol

Yep got buncha friends that work down. Nephew works for guy over a lot of the clearing they done. When it dries up gonna get one them take me down to the dam. They also got the clearing contract over at the lake they gonna build at Ladonia. When all that gets here from the golf course in Bonham it will be up a lot more

New email today had this information about the lake level.
Bois d'Arc Lake water line March 2021 (top) and May 2021 (bottom),
as seen from the southern boat ramp.

Recent rains continue to fill Bois d'Arc Lake - as of May 27, the water surface elevation was the 511.3' mean sea level (msl). The conservation pool, or the level at which Bois d'Arc Lake is considered full, is the 534' msl. NTMWD is adding a lake level indicator to the Bois d'Arc Lake website soon.
The lake will take some time to fill and while it is filling, construction continues (read below for the latest information). Several requirements must be met before the lake is ready to open and safe for recreation, including construction. Additionally, NTMWD is consulting with the Fannin County Sheriff's Office and Texas Parks and Wildlife to determine the appropriate time.

Thanks for the info Rocky. I was thinking about driving up there to see it this weekend.

They are letting it out bout as fast as it is going in. Deputy told me last week they have to keep it at a certain level cause they still have a bunch of graves to move at a cemetary on the west end.

Don't get too excited guys, fished out there in my kayak today for 9 hours didn't catch a damn thing.. place is a toilet.

Anyone know what the, "Lake Bonham dam modification" is going to be?

They were reinforcing the downslope side because the outflow channel is no longer just a creek. They also adjusted some of the roads below the dam and added two bridges up there.

Thanks David!

It's looking good!

Glad they are getting the past 60 days of rain; should be a good test of the surrounding area roads/bridges flooding susceptibility.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=07332622
Looking at the gauge downstream of the dam it does look like they are releasing quite a bit of water.

Just got back from the hiway bridge on 897. Lots more water there than a couple weeks ago but would be really high if they werent letting it out. Water is bout 75 yds from the boat ramps by the bridge.

They filled RC and forgot to move a bunch of graves

ha ha ! i like that

kinda gives a whole new meaning to "floaters".

I see where they put 900 two year old sharelunker offspring in today.

I saw that too.

https://www.facebook.com/InlandFisheriesDenisonDistrict/

Sweet, should be great for the North guys.

They are stocking the lake good. I think they had somewhere around 15 brood ponds that have been stocked up to 4 years

Where did they put them in? Did it say?

They are not releasing locations. They appear to have enough trouble with trespassing as is.

Exciting for sure.

Assuming SXS is a “side by side”? UTV? Do they allow you access to the property?

No they do not They have sheriffs dept patrolling it. They have signs up so i wouldnt want to get caught on it

Water level relative to FM897 boat ramp as of June 19, 2021



Old FM1396 North side of the lake



Raw water intake at dam from FM1396 (250mm telephoto)



Looking North from under FM897 bridge



Look towards dam from FM897 bridge



West side of FM897, water beginning to show from standing timber



West side of FM897 just before standing timber



FM1396 road bed north side at current water's edge



Entrance to FM987 boat ramp

I here stories about people having crazy days, numbers wise when they filled Rayburn. I wonder if tgis will be similar. If they have to wait a year to open to boats I wouldnt be surprised if someone finds where the scholls hang out. And we will never hear a word haha

Looks like in some of those pics that they let some water out. It may just be the pics but it looks like a water line about a foot above the water on some of those bushes

The dam is not complete. This large amount of rain actually hurt as it slowed progress.

You can see the water line on the bridge pillar and also that long chunk of driftwood wasn't drug away from the waters edge.

Any locals know how much they lack in completing the dam?

Couple weeks ago i heard they still like bout 7 ft on the dam. Thats a lot of dirt when its 2 miles long

That was in the 60's, same as Toledo. Different era but it'll be good for about a year or two is my guess then slowly retract into a predictable reservoir. When Naconiche opened a few years ago it was lights out for about a year then slowly became another lake. I can only imagine the pressure when it does open. Non pressured fish are fun to catch but they 100 percent change once pressured for a while

Rumor is some of the locals knew where the brood tanks were located and are already fishing the lake in those areas and already catching some decent fish. Duck boats mostly.

Ray Roberts was the same way, I remember catching 50 to 80 bass a day up to about 3 pounds that first couple of years.

Those same guys are fishing the ponds for the other lake now..

If they are must be at night heck you can see all over that sucker wide open as it is .