SAN ANTONIO – The continued lack of rain has some people around Medina Lake worried about the dropping lake level, speculating that the lake is being mismanaged and the fish are in danger.
A fish listed as weighing 48 pounds and caught from Medina Lake was recently posted on a fishing website.
That posting has spawned worries among people who the lake for recreation or fishing who fear fish like that will not survive much longer with the lake as low as it is.
According to the Bexar Medina Atascosa water district, the lake is just over ten percent full and the San Antonio Water System is taking just over 13 acre feet per day.
Steve Bonahoom said SAWS should not be allowed to take that water.
"Our concern basically is for the fish," Bonahoom said.
Bonahoom runs the Bedrock Resort there and said the lake is already down 70 feet and that the warm sun in the spring will deprive the remaining fish of oxygen.
He said water should not be allowed to flow out of the lake nor be sold.
"You know let's just be patient and try to conserve for our children and their children the fish that have been living in this lake for a hundred years now," Bonahoom said.
Ed Berger of the BMA, however, said those fears are unfounded. He said SAWS is taking a minimal amount of water and that it is not making a significant dent in the lake.
A Medina County game warden also said Medina is a deep water lake and that will allow the fish to survive.
Still, Mike Crandall, the owner of Wally's Watersports for 21 years, is not convinced.
"There's got to be a point to where we say okay, that's enough," Crandall said. "Let's wait until the lake comes back up a little bit and then we can start selling the water again."
He wants to make sure Lake Medina is fit for recreation and big fish forever.
According to the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife website, 28,000 Palmetto Bass were stocked in Lake Medina last year, another 78,000 back in '07 and '08.
Fishermen want to make sure that investment by the state is not wasted as the lake level goes down.
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