Medina Lake

  Lake Medina has a long and colorful history in the Texas hill country. It was built in 1912 and for several decades it held the state record for Largemouth Bass. Some of the earliest fishing memories I have are of running up and down the Medina River and chasing White Bass with my dad. While most know Lake Medina for its fishing and recreational pursuits, the lake itself was built to supply water to the farming communities many miles downstream. Because of this, especially during drought years, the lake is prone to drastic fluctuations in its overall water level.

  I have fished Medina many times when it was as full as it could get, and when it is full, it is one of the most beautiful lakes in the state....deep and clear with striking rock features both above and below the surface. I have also fished it when it was at half or even less than full. And during those periods, it can be one of the most desolate places on earth. When I was a kid, during the low water level years, there were places where you could drive down to the river channel during the white bass spawning run, and have more fun with an ultralight spinning setup than a human should be allowed to have.

  As I write this, it also dawns on me that the first place I threw a bass bug on an 8wt. was in Haby's Cove on Medina Lake. In fact, Emily and I got married on a cliff that overlooked the Medina River on a piece of property we purchased in 2004. Low water level years like that never really concerned anyone, because as Texas weather is prone to do, we'd always have a tropical storm come through during the summer that would dump a TON of moisture in just the right place, and the lake would literally fill up overnight.

  I write this essay on Lake Medina because, over the past few years, South Texas has experienced extended drought conditions, unlike anything I remember seeing.The unfortunate byproduct of that is that most of the water in Medina Lake has been used up by the farming community to irrigate their crops. As of the writing of this essay, Lake Medina is a mere shell of itself and currently sitting at only 2.4% full. Boat docks that for several decades floated freely are now high and dry at the bottom of the dry lake bed. I am not even sure if there is a usable public boat ramp. And, who knows what has happened to the once prolific population of Largemouth Bass, White Bass and catfish.

  Seeing a historic lake like this disappear for many of us...especially the residents whose property surround the lake is a harsh reminder of the expanding climate extremes. And, the unfortunate result of that is that somehow there must be change enacted at the state political level to save historic bodies of water that large communities rely on for income produced by recreational visitors.
I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that it is very difficult for those of us who grew up fishing this historic body of water, to watch it slowly disappear into nothing but a giant empty swimming pool.

Hope you all are having a great week,

Andy