Information from the August 13th meeting about Ford’s Lake.
Current dam is 30 years old.
Max depth is 12 feet by spillway/dam. 5 to 6 feet everywhere else.
New dam will last 50 years.
Lake will be the same depth when the new dam is complete as it is now.
There are no plans to do anything about the underwater weeds that muck up the lake each summer.
They will be repaving the parking lot, rebuilding the boat launch and putting in a dock. Dock type is TBD.
Current dam is not bad or damaged, the design is out of date. Dams must now be able to handle 22 inches of rain in 24 hours from a storm. Current dam could only handle 10 inches in 24 hours.
New dam will cost 2.9 million. New dam will be paid for from the Motorboat fuel tax fund.
Funding and permits are in in place allowing for this project to be done quickly. Bids are being taken for construction.
Lake draw down will start this Fall and take about 3 weeks. Construction should start in the Spring of 2027 and take about a year to complete.
During the construction period, PF&B commission will work with local groups who wish to help construct new fish structure. Groups can either donate materials for structure and or help place structure. Interested parties should contact the PF&BC for information.
Dave’s Firearms and Fishing is thinking about getting involved in this.
As of today you can catch and keep any species of fish in the lake. There are no size limits and you can take as many as you can catch.
Immediately after the lake refills, they will start stocking the feeder fish, like Shiners, etc.
Shortly after that they will start stocking game fish, like Sunfish, Crappies, bass, etc.
People are asked NOT to drop fish into the lake that they catch elsewhere as this could destroy the fish populations due to the full grown fish eating all the feeder fish.
Starting from the time they start restocking the lake, there will be a 5 year period where the lake is catch and release only for all species.