Lake Ray Roberts

[Joe-Diver]

I grew up in Denton.....the "bottoms", the area of 455 between Sanger and Pilot Point, was always the spooky place to go at night so naturally we always did. We used to hunt out there during the day. I'm very familiar with it as it was before the lake.

I watched with interest when they built the dam....and our spots started to get cleared out...then they rerouted 455 over the dam....and the lake started to fill and things started to submerge.

There are several very large bridges underwater that used to be old 455. I would be hesitant to dive one in 6" vis.

Most of the houses were cleared. There may be one or two intact, but now way in $%$@ would I enter one underwater in that vis.

Nothing else out there....most of the trees were cleared....

I took pictures during construction and found some in a box so I scanned them in for you:

Here's a few views of the lake bottom from the dam before it filled (obviously):

See, nothing out there really....

Here are some views of the inlet tower:

 

[nkliewer]

Thanks for posting! Great pix. Does the viz never get above 0.5 feet? It would be nice to see a post from someone who dived (or tried to dive) this lake.

 

[Jedi]

Just a min dive report, my buddy and I dove this last summer (07).

We went out due north of the inlet tower that is pictured above as the boat guages and our fishing topo maps showed it to be 80ish feet with a fairly steep ridgeline to the east. We were more interested in vis checks than any structures, so we dropped anchor, let it run out to a 45 degree angle and then dropped a 40' anchor line straight down with a slotted 2 liter "chum bucket"of walmart special fish food for entertainment value.

We let the chum bucket work for a little while while we suited up. Him in a 5mil full and me in my virgin mares semi dry.

Even in the heat of summer, the lake was COLD. My only exposed area was my face, and I could definately feel a drastic 10-15 degree thermocline around 15 feet. It just got colder after that. Visability sucked mightily. I think i had murky visbility out to 2.0 feet, anything further was just a black wall of silty darkness. My lights made barely a dent.

We went down to the chum bucket, clipped a 12 ft buddy line to each other and watched to see if there was any life around. OMG was there.

I saw the biggest longnose gar I've ever seen, had to be at least 4 feet long. Remember the opening scene of Star Wars with the Star destoryer flying overhead? It seemed to never end? That was what this gar looked like as it came into view. the first foot was just teeth. Very prehistoric feeling, very eerie when it's that dark around you. I've never seen them in open water or this deep, usually in streams so it was really a shock to see one and one of this size out in the deep water.

Shortly after, a school of shad blew through. I swear it felt like there were hundreds of them. Like the gar experiance - the limited vis made things really unnerving - seeing this much life just appear out of the darkness got us seeing shadows and getting paranoid.

So naturally, we decided to see what was on the bottom

With the limited vis, we had decided up on the boat to go down the primary anchor line instead of a vertical drop. I swam over to the line (still at 40') and with my buddy behind me went hand over hand into the darkness.

Oh god was it cold. Temp on surface as about mid 70's, down around 60-65 it was mid 50's. i'll have to pull my computers dive log to see. My dive light was up and in front of me, but it was so dark and silty i literally ran into the bottom of the lake before I saw it. Was like swimming into a giant melted marshmellow.

After talking about it on the boat, we figure there is a good 6 feet worth of just silt on the bottom that swallowed our anchor before it hit terra firma. I now know that if you drop something overboard - say good bye to it it's gooooooooone.

We made a another couple of dives doing bearing shots and other wildlife observations before heading in.

Review: I wouldn't bother unless you live within a mile or so. I'm pretty sure we lucked out on our wildlife, but I think there are much better places to get wet and have fun. It's really not bad for a gear check site or experiance going deep. I was able to identify a wet breathing regulator at 70' due to a partially folded diaphram and was totally sold on my new semidry suit. Would've hated to have that problem out in blue water.

 

[Joe-Diver]

You actually made dives in Lake Ray Roberts....

Wow...

Just...wow.....


There is another here who is like you......

 

[Kunk35]

I'm up for it! Of course, I dive in Texoma, so I'll dive pretty much anywhere. Heck, I'd even dive in the infamous tunnels in Paris if Frank would ever invite me.

I know when I first went diving in Texoma I figured the vis would be so bad I wouldn't be able to see the inside of my mask. But once you get down past 15 or 20 feet, it opens up a little and is a doable dive. And no inland lake could be any worse than Tyler State Park last week.

The good thing about low viz dives is it forces you to slow down and look at all the cool little details. I've seen little fish laying in the mud that I never would have seen.

So as far as diving Ray Roberts, you just never know until you take the plunge. I'd go for it, then decide whether it's worth going back or not.

 

[thezebra]

I also grew up in the area you spoke about and observed the construction of this fantastic lake. I am always serching for photos that people have of natural or man-made locations in Ray Roberts. Somewhere along the way, photos that I made both on the ground and in the air, got lost.

When I found your post on this board, I was unable to view the images that you posted. Can you repost the photos?

Thanks,
Jerry Jenkins
940-458 3934

 

[Bill Parker]

That's a great story I wish I was there! And to think you
didn't have to buy a spendy plane ticket or get a hotel
to have some fun.