How are they looking right now? Is Nails deep enough to fish?

Lake is just over 2 feet low. The creeks have some water in them but hardly any flow to get the WB up in them from the main lake. Lake needs to come up 3 feet to start get "right".

Supposed to be a good rain event this week so maybe...

Both Yegua and Nails creek are land locked from the lake right now.

muchow3414 said:

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Both Yegua and Nails creek are land locked from the lake right now.

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Please explain what you mean by "land locked from the lake right now"...

2 feet low ain't great, but it's been a lot lower many times. Currently 84.4% full.


WATER LEVEL
235.82
Feet MSL

Monday, January 27, 2025
2:00:00 PM
Level is 2.18 feet
below full pool of 238.00

Somerville Lake

The north end of the lake is heavily silted in from all the bare ground farming upstream. So it doesn't take the lake dropping very far and the main creeks don't flow above ground into the lake.

That farming doesn't do anything to Somerville, lack of rain and rigs pumping water and early release of water in July and August take it's toll on level. Somerville is a muddy lake, always has been.

The mouth of both creeks are not contacted to the lake by water. When water level was 236 I was having to winch by boat into Nails Creek over about 50 yards of DRY ground from the lake. Yegua is worse than that, I quit winching in below 236 due the distance increases. The last 8 years of extreme inflows have deposited a great amount of silt at mouths of both creeks. It all started to change rapidly since Harvey. Send me phone number and I can send couple of video's from November.

Wind does more for mud or silt. Pushes it so easy in the shallow water.

I do not believe wind has created the silt at the mouth of the creek. If you go up the creeks you will notice that the banks have increased in elevation, wind is not blowing water over the banks, it is due to the extreme inflows. This also why the sand in the cut to flag pond was dug out and removed. I highly doubt that wind pushed two feet of sand up nails creek and into the man made cut. I ve running that lake for 30 years, and the silt has become a significant issue since 2016, prior to that never was an issue, and the wind was blowing then as it is now.

The cut has always been a hump at flag. And as far as influx from the creeks, we have not had any. Some of it is we just keep losing water and it shows so much more. I don't know, been there half as long as you, just my opinion.

Just a general reply here

this silt build up should happen in any lake or larger body of water where inflow comes into it from a creek river, etc. Water rushing in and then slows and spreads out in the larger body dropping sediment. Rivers do the same dumping into the Gulf of America. the build up is going to just get more and more or spread out over a larger area.

I remember 25 years ago or more buddy liked to fish for bass up nails creek. He Had to have it on plane in the creek coming out into the lake. to get over that area and in general if the lake was a bit low. No where like it is today though.

Lake is still over 2' low, the creeks to not connect to the main lake. We did not get the rain that was originally forecasted either, so there will be little change there. In regards to the silt, the fluctuating water levels going from below pool to over pool in a short about of time pushed up a lot of silt. Last year at the end of Jan, the lake came up 4 feet in just a couple days. That's a lot of water coming down the creeks to do that. Nails, Yegua, and Birch all have silt built up at the mouth of them. There was so much water coming out of Yegua last Jan that the creek changed course where it enters the lake. You can't get out of the cove at Birch right now because of the silt. When the lake is at pool, you can get up the creeks if you have the right rig. Mud boats, jet drives, light outboards and paddlecraft can do it. anything bigger is very questionable.

I have seen the mud boats clear paths out there also. I will always take the silt problem and flowing water over the alternative though. Crazy how the place changes year to year.