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Many boat ramps unusable this weekend; Only two available at Lake Travis
Posted: Tue, 24 May 2011 07:11 AM - 9,750 Readers
By: Rhonda Lee
AUSTIN (KXAN) - James Willis is getting his fishing in early this week. "Absolutely!
The fishing's always good out here." said James "Buddy" Willis as he
set off Monday afternoon to catch his first of what would eventually be
10 fish. He's fishing before the holiday crowds fill the lake
this weekend, and he's noticed the drop in Lake Travis' water level just
in the past week. "Most of the ramps around the lake are closed,
this one here is one of the deepest ones and it's usually open until
it's almost nothing in there," Willis said. According to the
latest reading from the Lower Colorado River Authority, it seems like
there's "almost nothing" in there. Lake Travis is down some 20 feet
below normal. All of Travis County Parks' boat ramps are closed
and will stay closed until the water rises to safe usage levels again.
The only two that are open for use are at Mansfield Dam and Sandy Creek
since the water is deeper at those spots. "When you launch a boat
and even when you are swimming or diving into the lake you need to see
where you are launching and make sure your trailer doesn't disappear
into some hole that you didn't know was there." said Travis County Chief
Park Ranger Dan Chapman. When you look out on the water here you
can see actually how the "Sometimes Islands" have made an appearance.
Normally this time of year the water levels are OK. And you can't see
the islands because they're fully under water. "Around the
'Sometimes Islands' and there are some other shoals around, like Windy
Point, that even when the water's up a little higher it's not an issue,
but nowadays you have to be really careful," said Willis. "I
think a depth finder is probably not a bad idea. It's certainly a useful
piece of equipment. I think you should stay well off the shoreline and
also pay attention to the buoy system on the lake," continued Chapman. He
said it's important for boaters to be familiar with where they are.
They need to know their location in case they need to be rescued. And
the best advice they can give is to use common sense and to be sure to
boat sober! "It's very important. So many of our accidents
whether they be boat related or swim related, are partly due to the use
of alcohol," said Chapman. Because the last thing you need is to spend part of your holiday weekend "drying out" in the tank.
[edit]
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