Help East Texas Fisherman

We need a bit of help from the East Texas folks.

We, and I am sure, like yourselves absolutely detest litter in our lakes and on the road sides. I know this is a fishing website, but what sours a beautiful fishing day more than the sight of mounds of garbage.

We live very near the South side ramp of the Six Mile Bridge. The South side ramp on Highway 87 is a very attractive and frequently used fishing spot for drive-up bank fisherman. Also, the bridge itself is home to a group of, I suppose, homeless people living in make shift camp boats 24/7. The locals called them the “bridge people.”

The South side ramp of the bridge is absolutely covered with dozens of propane bottles, water bottles, beer cans, food containers, etc. It would take three pickup trucks to haul it off.

We have contacted everyone we could think of to remedy the situation. We reached out to a commissioner in Hemphill, the game warden, the State Department of Transportation, Don’tMessWithTexas.org, etc. The litter problem seems to be no ones responsibility.

Although the bank is very steep, we do plan to clean this mess ourselves. We thought a few litter signs or litter barrels might help somewhat in the future.

Anyone knowing of someone we could contact about this problem or to obtain signs or barrels would be a blessing. The lake is just too beautiful and too enjoyable to be injured in this way.

Thanks in advance.

That's a crying shame right there. Have you tried specific organizations for Toledo Bend such as the Toledo Bend Lake Association or Sabine River Authority?

We've done 2 clean ups in our area. The first time we picked up 116 bags of trash, this last time we picked up 88 while cleaning up 15 miles of our roadways. See our facebook page for pics at Friends of Lake Erling. Sometimes you've just gotta do it yourself.

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Originally Posted by Tracker123

That's a crying shame right there. Have you tried specific organizations for Toledo Bend such as the Toledo Bend Lake Association or Sabine River Authority?

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We have tried the Sabine River Authority. It seems there are blurred lines of authority. The trash is on the "foot" of the bridge. It would make you think of Texas Dept. of Transportation. It is also on the bank of Six Mile Creek leading into Toledo Bend. Sabine River Authority comes to mind. Everyone has been referring us to another authority. No one wants to tackle the problem. We are not aware of the Toledo Bend Lake Association. Any idea on how to contact them?

Thanks Don. We are not afraid to roll our sleeve up. We could more than likely enlist some of our neighbors. The heat and the steep incline of the bank are our only enemy. We tried to get connected to "Adopt a Highway" and "Don't Mess With Texas.org" We didn't hear back from either.

I would think that the people that homestead under the bridge are the majority contributing factor. They run propane lanterns every night and likely have no way to handle trash or "pottie" issues. Maybe some litter barrels and no-litter signs would help?

We will view the "Friends of Lake Erling" Facebook page. But, as you said, "if you want it done, sometimes you have to do it yourself."

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Originally Posted by beebobber

We have tried the Sabine River Authority. It seems there are blurred lines of authority. The trash is on the "foot" of the bridge. It would make you think of Texas Dept. of Transportation. It is also on the bank of Six Mile Creek leading into Toledo Bend. Sabine River Authority comes to mind. Everyone has been referring us to another authority. No one wants to tackle the problem. We are not aware of the Toledo Bend Lake Association. Any idea on how to contact them?

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Here you go:

Home

Great bunch of people, I've been to a couple of their meetings.

I checked it out. Great website. Looks like a bunch of first-class people. We are definitely going to become members.

Good, great folks. They used to have their meetings at SRA San Miguel where we have our annual crappie.com gathering. Now at the Sabine Council on Aging. We supported that group (SCOA) at our last gathering with a raffle. Big fun.

We'll do it again for sure. Join us at the next crappie.com gathering the last weekend of February. I'll post details sometime this Fall. Thanks for your help.

Hu Rob I am trying to find out who should be able to take care of this problem! Maybe even the game wardens could do something? I may not find anyone, but will try!

I am not familure with the TBLA either, but will see what they do as well.

your neighbor kind of, LOL,

Skip

Long time no text. The family is going up today and will stay through Tuesday. We are going Tuesday and will probably miss them. I hate that (yeah, right). The fishing at our place is scant at best. Just tooooooo hot. We will be bring down our boat in a few weeks. We got an Xtreme 19' Crappie version with a 150. It's wide enough so when the old geezer loses his balance he won't fall over the side. Got a tree guy coming over to handle the really big trees. We are going to have grass come hell or high water. You need to come over. I could sure use some expert opinions on the old boat launch we are planning to redo. Later ...

We will definitely looking forward to that. I'll keep an eye out.

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Originally Posted by beebobber

Long time no text. The family is going up today and will stay through Tuesday. We are going Tuesday and will probably miss them. I hate that (yeah, right). The fishing at our place is scant at best. Just tooooooo hot. We will be bring down our boat in a few weeks. We got an Xtreme 19' Crappie version with a 150. It's wide enough so when the old geezer loses his balance he won't fall over the side. Got a tree guy coming over to handle the really big trees. We are going to have grass come hell or high water. You need to come over. I could sure use some expert opinions on the old boat launch we are planning to redo. Later ...

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Hey man it's hot as all get out all over here, LOL! Too hot to fish even, but I have been really busy here doing my stuff.

Just an FYI some guy drowned a couple days ago over at Shawnee Shores. He had just moved here from Tenn. What a shame! Oh I case you don't know where that is. It's maybe a mile or so East from me and off to the South side.

Skip

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Originally Posted by beebobber

We will definitely looking forward to that. I'll keep an eye out.

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You do that! I hear you about the trees and growing grass. Been battling that for several years now. Lots of trees here. Tried sod, the expensive plugs you see in the seed catalogs, spray applications, etc. Slowly working here after 20+ years!

Man, that's a shame about the guy from Shawnee Shores. That's maybe only a quarter of a mile from us. Did it happen in a boat or swimming?

I was wondering maybe the Sheriff might want to take some of the trustees out for a leisurely stroll on the Six Mile bank? The weather being so pretty and cool they might get an inclination to pick up some of that trash.

Looks like you have to cast some sort of Voodoo spell to get the grass to grow. Back where we come from, you can't get it to stop growing. When we cut the grass, four days later it needs to be cut again. We got that industrial strength St. Augustine. Maybe the dirt in Six Mile doesn't hold enough moisture to give the grass a chance? Or maybe it's the lack of sunlight? We are slowly getting rid of some of our trees. You gain the grass, but lose the shade. Can't win ...

Lay out rye grass seed when it gets cool. Once rooted, it helps a lot when spreading the St. Augustine seed when warmer weather comes around.

I fish on the La. side of Toledo, north of the bridge. Someone actually cut down several big cypress trees on an island. I guess he called himself making fishing structure. Surely that is against the law, I wish I knew who to contact about this issue. It infuriates me! Also, thanks for cleaning up the trash.

I'm pretty sure it is illegal to harvest cypress trees must less use them as a fish habitats. I know you have to own the land where the trees are located in order to harvest them and I think still a permit is needed. I know you can't go into the swamp and cut them down. They don't even want you to cut large cypress knees. We have several cypress trees on our property and I would give someone hell if they touched them. They look awesome growing at the edge of the bank and they are already fish habitats. Maybe you should try the Louisiana Dept. of Forestry?

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Originally Posted by beebobber

I'm pretty sure it is illegal to harvest cypress trees must less use them as a fish habitats. I know you have to own the land where the trees are located in order to harvest them and I think still a permit is needed. I know you can't go into the swamp and cut them down. They don't even want you to cut large cypress knees. We have several cypress trees on our property and I would give someone hell if they touched them. They look awesome growing at the edge of the bank and they are already fish habitats. Maybe you should try the Louisiana Dept. of Forestry?

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Actually the SRA has a rule that if you want to cut any tree over 3" dia. you must get permission from them to do so if it's on their lease back. The lease back goes a pretty good ways up from the bank. One the grass this heat we have had lately and no rain, you have to use a lot of water to water it. I pull water off the lake for my watering and it cost like $60 a year to the SRA to use the lake water for that.

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

... I pull water off the lake for my watering and it cost like $60 a year to the SRA to use the lake water for that.

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That's interesting Skip, didn't know that.

That's right about the 3" diameter. I had about six guys for the SRA over at the old homestead on Friday. They surveyed the leaseback for us. They were a very pleasant, informative and overall nice bunch of guys. They said the 3" diameter should be measured 6" from the ground. The told us it would be okay to remove topped or dying trees on the leaseback, but they still wanted to be contacted first. And, it's the property owner's responsibility to haul them away. They added that the cypress trees could be trimmed, but only the branches near the water. It seems cutting down a cypress is a definite "no-no." We got the same story about using the lake water to water the lawn and wash things down.

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Originally Posted by beebobber

That's right about the 3" diameter. I had about six guys for the SRA over at the old homestead on Friday. They surveyed the leaseback for us. They were a very pleasant, informative and overall nice bunch of guys. They said the 3" diameter should be measured 6" from the ground. The told us it would be okay to remove topped or dying trees on the leaseback, but they still wanted to be contacted first. And, it's the property owner's responsibility to haul them away. They added that the cypress trees could be trimmed, but only the branches near the water. It seems cutting down a cypress is a definite "no-no." We got the same story about using the lake water to water the lawn and wash things down.

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Hey man you need to come by and see me sometime. Get a look at my stuff and talk about the lake. Maybe soon the temps will be better and it will be time to see if we can find some fall crappie! Give me a call when you can and come by.

Skip

Will do just that soon. Seems all the hot, sweaty work has been getting in the way of fun and relaxation. Plan on pulling the boat up to Six Mile in the next few weeks. Have a small amount of routine work to do on it. Hope the temp will be dropping? Any rain in the last few days?

Rob

Not the last few, but not long ago we got one little shower that gave us 23/100 or 1/4" of rain, but that's it. We missed s few after that just a little. It's suppose to be cooling off soon. Week before last I saw 107 and heat index of 124, now that's too darn hot!

Skip

Skip, you know that cooling off is tease weather. Last couple of Labor Days when I was there were in the 100's.

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Originally Posted by Tracker123

Skip, you know that cooling off is tease weather. Last couple of Labor Days when I was there were in the 100's.

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Randy it's looking like our 100+ temps are over for this year. One day before we got a little cooler I had a 107 day with heat index at 124. Thankfully that unusually high temps are gone. Also looks like a wet and cooler winter!

Skip

Hope you guys are right. We need some serious cooling off. It has been raining like crazy in the South, but none of it seems to reach Six Mile. Six Mile needs a bunch of rain to end the burn ban. I'm missing my barrel.

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Originally Posted by beebobber

Hope you guys are right. We need some serious cooling off. It has been raining like crazy in the South, but none of it seems to reach Six Mile. Six Mile needs a bunch of rain to end the burn ban. I'm missing my barrel.

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Just like yesterday it rained like crazy over on 3315 and none here at all! Heck 3315 is only 5 miles South and goes out East about 11 miles and they got lots of rain.

Skip

Has the little cold front hit Six Mile yet. Hopefully it will bring some much needed rain.

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Originally Posted by beebobber

Has the little cold front hit Six Mile yet.

Hopefully it will bring some much needed rain.

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Yes cool front has passed and it's nice with a low this AM at 66 and high today is to be 89. Some got rain yesterday, like maybe an inch in Hemphill, but here at 6 mile I only got 8/100".
I know they got a good ran the day before over on 3315 area, but we only got 2/100" that day, LOL!

Skip

2/100"? Man, if you sneeze it would almost produce that much moisture. I think you need about two inches at least?