With limited harvest it should be very good in about 5 years for action, with nice fish showing up starting to show up in 7 years. The numbers of big fish are a far cry from what they were pre-spearing ban lift. Hopefully we will see half the 45"+ fish we once saw.
I love that lake, and look forward to a future resurgence.
"chucknduck" said:
Enough to make an impact on the whole population?
Way more than enough. There was one group that killed 17 of them one winter, and that was just a couple of guys sharing one shanty. The biggest impact as others have noted was the total destruction of the population of bigger fish. There is still a decent population in Austin, but finding one over 40" now is noteworthy. Part of the biggest problem is, as a wise man once said on this board, is that "90% of the fish in Austin live in 10% of the water." It didn't take the spearers long to realize where that 10% of the water that held fish was at. Luckily the last two winters have helped limit harvest out there, and with them finally re-stocking it again it shouldn't be too long and the lake will rebound some. It is still worth fishing for sure, I just wouldn't be anticipating many/any big fish to show up.
^^^^^^^^ what Ryan said.
I fished Austin well over 300 hours last year, and know where some of them usually hang out. Most of my fish caught last year were 38" and below, with the exception of a 46". Much lower size and numbers than pre 2009/10 stats.
Nothing like it was that is for sure. But it is 10 minutes away, which makes convenient.
And yes the spearing hammered the crap out of the fish. Bah.
Head south-southwest of bubbler #2 about 100-150yds and throw a Wabull….
Fished there this spring for the first time since the slaughter and saw quite a few of what look to be those surging underwater pumps or something, didn't ask about them before but now that I see a mention of bubblers – forgive my ignorance but what are they, something to oxygenate against winter kill? Seems like they would be very expensive to put in though.
Had fished there for years before the lay-off and never saw anything like it, and only recall seeing that look at power plants and other waters with discharge pipes or something down there to create that. So what is behind that (or below it) would be appreciated, please. Thanks.
"pikerule2" said:
Fished there this spring for the first time since the slaughter and saw quite a few of what look to be those surging underwater pumps or something, didn't ask about them before but now that I see a mention of bubblers – forgive my ignorance but what are they, something to oxygenate against winter kill? Seems like they would be very expensive to put in though.Had fished there for years before the lay-off and never saw anything like it, and only recall seeing that look at power plants and other waters with discharge pipes or something down there to create that. So what is behind that (or below it) would be appreciated, please. Thanks.
I actually have been wondering the same thing, ill be curious to see if anyone on here knows the story behind them. I'm not sure what their main purpose is, or who is in "charge" of them, but like you said they can't be cheap.
Aerators/diffusers are used to supercharge the water with oxygen in order to break down organic matter- dead weeds. Once the dead stuff piles up sufficiently into "muck", the bottom gets starved for oxygen and decomposition slows to a crawl, creating more muck. The aerators can sometimes work to rapidly break down muck to where it just "disappears" and the by-products are diffused into the water body.
I didn't know Austin had them, but I see that the Austin Lake lake association has it on their website as a project underway, so they are all ponying up for it. Usually this is only used on smaller bodies of water, and not always successfully. I'd be real curious to see how it works out
Thanks Duke, that helped. I hope they work for their intended purpose, and they seem like a good attractant for baitfish too, then of course predators. I worked around them some last time and will do so again on another visit in warmer water where they may be more important to holding fish than my only stop there this earlier this year.
"Scott Williams" said:
Thanks Duke. Ended up reading quite a bit into it. Curious to see the results, and how deep the south bay can get if all works.
50 feet deep right!!! That was funny. I hope the lake owners set their expectations bar a little lower… and I hope the contractor pitched that only tongue-in-cheek!
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