Posted: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:35 PM - 12,184 Readers

By: Chie Saito

This time of year is normally a busy time for businesses on Belton Lake, but this year has been especially busy.

Frank's Marina manager Russ Wright said he had to turn away a customer looking for a place to keep his boat Thursday.

" I have a lot of people that are renting slips out here that are from Austin, Georgetown and from surrounding areas," he said.

Slips, or a parking spot for boats, have become extra hard to come by this year, because of business coming in from the Austin area.

Wright said it all started last year when many lakes started to dry up.

"I hate that it had to happen that lakes go so low in the Highland Lake area last year, but it really helped us out," he said.

Wright said he has noticed many people have decided to make the drive out to Belton Lake to avoid the traffic in the water.

"I had a boat on Lake Travis for awhile and on the weekends it was really crowded, and you really had to watch where you were going," he said. "Right here, our lake is big and it's wide open."

He said those who have frequented the lake and the marina in the past are noticing the difference.

"We have a very small parking lot, and people are going 'Wow, we have to park way up the hill and come down here,'" he said. "And on the weekends, it's nuts out here, it's wild."

In addition, Wright said more people are spending money while out on the lake. Wright said businesses have seen an increase in gas, soda and beer sales.

"The economy has picked up considerably, so people are more likely to come out and fill up a $200 gallon tank and spend the whole day on the lake, as opposed to last year when budgets were a lot tighter," Wright said.

During the off-season, Wright said they usually sell between 300 to 400 gallons of gas a week. Lately, that has gone up to between 1,600 and 2,000 gallons a week.

It’s not just business on the marina that is picking up, either. Those at the Dead Fish Grill said they have noticed a spike in numbers.

"The lake levels in Austin are definitely more vulnerable than our lake, it stays a little more constant," restaurant manager Jeff Chupik said. "Ours does fluctuate, but it's not as bad as Lake Travis, for example." 

Since they took over in 2005, Chupik said the business has been growing.

"Business has certainly picked up," he said. "We opened up right before the recession, so our business has increased tremendously."

The location, overlooking the lake, doesn’t hurt either.

"A lot of people, they go out and drive and ride their motorcycle on the weekend," he said. "And we're a great destination to stop."

As Wright put it, the secret about Belton Lake is out.