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(RON EISELE | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) Fishermen cast lines at the base of the Possum Kingdom dam which has been opening its gates recently due to a large amount of rainfall in the area.
With all the latest rain amounts and watching as Lake Graham slowly overtakes my backyard lawn, I got to wondering about what was happening over at Possum Kingdom Lake.
Coming back from a recent trip to Weatherford, I decided to take the long way home by way of Hwy. 16.
Coming up to the bridge on the southside I immediately saw that the Brazos was “bank to bank” and flowing at a pretty good clip.
To put this into perspective, I have fished this stretch of the Brazos for trout standing in 18 inches of water barely 40-feet wide. I knew they would be releasing water from the dam, but it did not register as to how much.
Driving by the Possum Kingdom Fish Hatchery I noticed a fair amount of new construction being performed there, more to come on that in a minute.
Turning onto Red Bluff Road, I headed toward the dam to the picnic and parking lot area at the end of the road. The parking lot was half full of sightseers and fishermen.
As I exited my truck I could hear the roar coming from the spillway. It’s only a short walk to where you can get a good view of the dam and spillway gates, two of them were open and water was cascading down from the Morris Shepard Dam.
I saw quite a few fishermen trying their luck, slinging jigs and metal lures as far as they could into the turbulent water. Letting it drift from upstream to downstream and then retrieve their line and do it again.
In talking with one fisherman he stated that many of them have caught limits of fish in the 5-10 pound range. Finding a place to fish is hard to come by because there just isn’t that much fishing real estate. First come, first served is common here.
As I stated earlier I noticed a lot of new construction at the hatchery so I decided to stop in and get some information to share with you.
In talking with the hatchery manager, Ryan Rodgers, who took the time to answer my questions and is very knowledgeable about his facility, he gave me the run down about the facility.
The hatchery is currently replacing all of their pond liners with new membrane liners which haven’t been replaced since 2000-2001. With a life expectancy of 20 years they were due for replacement.
Also, included in the just under $3 million contract, is the replacement of the concrete headers that were installed in the 1940s. Construction started in January and should be completed in October.
They will be phasing in the start up of each pond when it becomes complete. Rodgers stated they will probably start with the catfish. At this facility they raise trout, catfish, striper and smallmouth bass.
If you are out and driving by or if you just want an afternoon drive in the country. Head over to the PK dam and see for yourself. They have restrooms, picnic tables and fire pits if you want to have a nice lunch. On your way out take a look at the fish hatchery, it all pretty interesting and in our backyard.
See you next time.
