Squaw creek delayed opening… again

Why are they screwing with us, is it a legal thing they won’t say it’s not going to for public use again and how long can they ride the COVID excuse???

I would just go ahead and assume that it is not ever going to reopen.

+1 , assume it will open on the 12th of never and you won't be disappointed.

At this point, I'm ready to start making phone calls to the powers that be, I just don't know where to start. If we just sit and complain on a forum they never see, it won't get us anywhere. I'd really like to take my son out there fishing as he's been of age for 2 years and really get him on some numbers, but can't do so due to them not holding up their end of the bargain they initially were supposed to uphold to have the power plant there.

If they averaged 100 boats, Thursday-Sunday, for 52 weeks out of the year they are making $624,000.00. I would venture to guess the labor costs for park staff, waste disposal, maintenance, is enough to make re-opening not worth it. At the end of the day, it is about one thing, money, nothing more, nothing less.

Website still says January. It’s been like that for months

I hadn’t checked in awhile but last time I looked it said october 2021

Thats what I saw last time I loooked as well.

Then they need to cut staff to make it work, I don’t see corp employees at other lakes helping back trailers down the ramp, I don’t need my hand held. Part of the deal on the risk of building a nuke plant was to allow public recreation on the lake. If they just want to open it to county residents so be it but it needs to be open to the public.

It will open eventually

I was told by someone who works there that it cost around $500,000 to run the park and they make around $250,000 to $300,000.. Once spring hits Squaw does not get near the boats like in the winter. That is why it will only be open from October to March ( I think)..

From what I've heard too, they will legally have to, reason they had to reopen in 2011

If they do open at all in 2022 it will be in Oct and not in Jan.. If they open it would be only for 3 months from Jan till March. I don't think it would cost effective to do that. They have to hire contractors to run the park.. Maybe I am wrong and someone will only want to work for 3 months.. The way we are going now who knows.

Fauci says no no

Everybody enjoys catching lots of 1.25lb cookie cutters. Let 'em in, Luminant!

They are doing it wrong.......

And I suspect it wont ever open again

If nuke does not fit the clean energy narrative they will be trying to shut it down permanently just like the coal stuff. All the while telling us we need electric cars. Less power being made more power required I will be surprised if it opens again.

I agree with this statement.

I have always enjoyed spending those guys money...

I'm assuming our tax dollars put those fish in the lake, so at this point if we paid for a resource that we do not have access to, they need to be scooping as many of those fish out of the lake as possible and putting them somewhere that can be accessed by the public, because I guarantee those Luminant employees probably haven't lost access to the lake.

I assume at some point there was an agreement when the facility was built that there had to be some public access to the lake. Does anyone know the details of that agreement?

They should be 2 lbs by now...

This all changed September 2001

I agree, not even sure why they put January...

All the people that did not pick their trash up caused them to realize people are filthy and selfish and they said F the public. The power company has a lake stocked and managed for free.

9-11 and the kung-flu were the two biggest things used as reasons to close things down and change day to day life.

Ill still take 3 months over nothing. Im sure they will chime in at sometime. There used to be a guy that worked out there that would post on the Squaw stuff from time to time.

Power companies are just government agencies that masquerade as a private company. As long as the Federal government has any sort of covid restrictions or mandates they will be able to effectively use that as an excuse to keep the facility closed. We all know that the Federal Government Covid restrictions aren't going away any time soon. My guess is that if it ever opens again it will be after 2024.

I sure miss those 100 fish days!!

I dont have a dog in this fight, you can argue each side of this closing. I dont think that Luminant wants the headache of manning and running a fishing lake. Maybe. someone with contacts could ask if its possible to lease/contract or manage the lake ?
But they can always hide behind Homeland Security for some reason...

Open records request from the utilities commission/company or the counties the lake is in, may have some answers.

hate to hear this

Lol! You should, means more people on the cold water lakes.

I live on Wheeler Branch and can literally see Squaw Creek from a couple blocks from my house. Kills me that I live in Somervell County and was part of the community that was “promised” recreational fishing as one of the many benefits to the area when getting permitting(permission) to build this lake and power plant in our county. Does Somervell County receive tax benefits from that power plant? Absolutely! Huge benefits! But that still does not give the owners the right to pick and choose which of the “promised” benefits they want to continue supplying. They have used 911 and now Covid as excuses to not have to spend the money to manage the park for recreational use. 911 was an excuse years after all other “target hazards” were reopened for public use. Same with Covid now. Do I think Covid is real and precautions have to be taken? Heck ya. Do I think it’s dumb to keep access to Squaw Creek closed under the guise of Covid? It criminal! Promises were made and every excuse not to keep the lake open to the public continue and will continue. “Rant over”.

Holy cr@p, two fantastic lake that close and neither one can you put a bass boat on, I would lose my mind

I hear 99.99999% of all power plant anglers don't die of the covids caught at said lakes

Lot of good memories fishing Squaw years ago. But it's owned by a private company and they can do as they please.

If they were smart - they would outsource running the lake to another company and just take a cut of the pie. But they are a power company and even making $250k a year is nothing to them. Might not even be worth the headache.

I may be wrong but the lake is stocked with taxpayer dollars, therefore doing as they please has to have some sort of stipulation. Like I said, could be wrong, but disallowing the public access to a resource they paid for is theft.

I believe part of their permit to operate said they have to give public access to the lake. They’ve used every excuse in the book to not keep it open.

Why don't they want it open? Cost? How much can it cost to have someone collect money
and someone to be a 'ramp ranger'?

I heard they are hiring WAWI to patrol the ramp. Turn off those headlights or else!

Hell do it for free! Sounds like we got a plan!

WAWI looking for people who don't turn their headlights off at Squaw Creek..

There has to be some lakes that would benefit from the stocking of some breeding age bass. Lakes like Ray Roberts come to mind. Squaw sounds like the perfect place to go shock them up. From what I understand the genetics in Squaw are near 100% Florida. Bring in the electrofishing boats and the stocking trailers and go to work.

Bravo. Spot on.

If it is owned by Luminant and is a public traded company, not private.

nope those are now property of the power company, feels a little odd since they were paid for by your tax dollars

Class Action Lawsuit would be the only option to regain control of the publicly funded possessions in that lake. Send a proposal to Greg Abbott. He likes attention and being in the limelight. "Ol Wheels" needs the attention.


Its too far for me to go, but I enjoy reading the reports and seeing pics of all of you catching them out there.

Taxpayer dollars spent on stocking……. Pretty sure Luminates response would be then come take all the fish out we don’t want them.

For the record I think it should be open along with Monticello.

Bam! thank you

Then how come they closed all property owned by Luminant during the pandemic? No vistors are allowed on any Luminate properties hence that is why Squaw was closed. Texas Parks and widlife might own the lake but property around Plant is private.. Just get out of the boat and try walking the bank at squaw.

I can tell you the NRC trumps no pun intended TPWD. The main concern with the company is someone sabotaging the plant intake/cooling water systems. If that equipment was taken out there would be a meltdown much like 3 mile Island. Luminant doesn’t care if y’all want to fish the lake and I can assure you the fish are more trouble to the plant than they are worth. They would love for them to be gone. We probably averaged 120 man hours a week cleaning intake screens and pits here at Graham Plant and during the 3 or 4 months of really cold weather it would be twice that.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has nothing to do with the park being closed to the public due to Covid. Heck, Covid has nothing to do with the park being closed for Covid………

Monty is open. You can launch a kayak at the bridge. If you could figure out a way to launch your boat, you can. Just the park with the ramp is closed

You nailed it, the privilege is thick in Somervell co. and there some crooked shiat that goes down there.

I'll help build a ramp and fund my part of it. Just sayin

texas parks an wildlife shouldnt stock lakes without public access this movie just keeps happening over an over.

What lakes do they stock without public access?

La Perla ranch is one of them, probably several in south texas we don't even know about.

I assume he meant private in that it's not government owned. Publicly traded companies are still owned by private individuals (the shareholders), and not the government.
Agreed, I don't think the "this lake is stocked by publicly funded fish" argument would hold any water. They'd let you come get them in a heartbeat if they didn't have to deal with this headache.

Hiring a lawyer to review the agreements and find a way to make a case against them is the only way the re-opening is likely to be expedited.

When Texas Parks and Wildlife rep came and talked to our Bass Club he said they don’t stock Squaw Creek if it’s not open to the public. That policy was put in place after the delayed opening because of 9/11.