# Lake Livingston Hydroelectric project



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

The Polk County Hookers fishing club recently sponsored a meeting on the status of the Lake Livingston Hydroelectric Project. It was standing room only to hear the presentations from TRA, SHECO, and ETEC.

Here's a brief summary of the items I found most interesting:

1) The Lake Livingston Hydroelectric project will not, cannot, and is not allowed to affect the water level of the lake at any time.

2) Construction start is scheduled for 1Q2013 and completion 4Q2014

3) In response to a question I asked, it was stated that they do not anticipate any additional restrictions on fishing. I was surprised by this answer and hope it does indeed turn out that way. 

4) The water quality of Lake Livingston is excellent. The bacteria count is required to be less than 126 (units?) and during this summer's drought in August, the water quality(bacteria) was measured at less than 1.

5) The actual generation will take place at the base next to the river rather than at the intake in order to minimize impacts to river flows (exit water speed 5 ft per sec or less). Three generators totalling 24 MW will provide enough power for 12k to 20k area homes. 

6) They have taken extraordinary measures to minimize impacts to the fish and the environment.

7) A fish survey showed a 70 inch paddlefish as the largest fish in the river and a 5 inch hogchocker as the most unusual (only 1 encountered out of about 7000 fish surveyed. 

I enjoyed the presentation as well as meeting some the "Hookers" afterwards. Got to meet and talk with Simon "Get the net" and enjoyed talking fishing and planning some trips together. 

I've heard a lot of rumors about the project and it was very good to hear from the people in charge.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Great report Larry, 
What is the date on that drawing. The one circulating about 5 years ago showed the power house farther west and the outer wall right in the wet edge of the exist rip rap line. Also it indicated the discharge going out to the south parallel to the shore. The discharge flow blended with the flow through the gates at about a 30 degree angle.
Your drawing is a much better deal for the fishermen since every thing is above the "cable line".
I will believe it is a reality when they start digging and pouring concrete. I have been hearing about this power plant since 1969. 
Wonder if they are waiting on some of that "green energy" stimulus money.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Thanks for the report! I sure hope it ends up true about no additional fishing restrictions.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

SB,

Its a recent drawing, but can't read the date. They changed the design to make it more environmentally friendly. By generating at the bottom rather than at the inlet, they reduce the velocity of the water entering the river and thereby minimize impacts to the river flow. Some loss of efficiency in that change but minimum impact to the river. 

Has anyone ever seen a hogchoker in the river before? Very interesting fish.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Here is a list of the fish they found in their sampling studies:

*Species/Minimum length (mm)/ Maximum length (mm)/Average length (mm)/Number measured*

Paddlefish 1,016 1,778 1,381 3
Spotted gar 395 900 642 20
Longnose gar 30 1,321 953 15
Alligator gar 528 751 645 13
Bowfin 522 522 522 1
American eel 200 367 267 12
Skipjack herring 216 380 270 7
Gizzard shad 40 582 184 204
Threadfin shad 11 559 74 679
Threadfin shad x gizzard shad 175 188 184 5
Goldfish 26 36 31 2
Grass carp 490 630 560 2
Red shiner 13 68 37 516
Blacktail shiner 16 116 49 407
Common carp 201 662 358 40
Ribbon shiner 28 53 36 6
Golden shiner 56 86 70 12
Sabine shiner 18 82 36 119
Silverband shiner 24 92 50 344
Sand shiner 38 46 41 5
Mimic shiner 17 71 38 346
Shiner spp. 61 73 65 6
Unidentified shiner 43 43 43 1
Bullhead minnow 18 73 42 298
River carpsucker 289 320 301 3
Smallmouth buffalo 170 790 482 189
Black buffalo 496 496 496 1
Blacktail redhorse 101 112 108 3
Yellow bullhead 80 80 80 1
Blue catfish 42 714 359 352
Channel catfish 86 500 279 207
Flathead catfish 102 855 273 9
Sheepshead minnow 35 35 35 1
Blackstripe topminnow 29 29 29 1
Western mosquitofish 14 46 24 249
Inland silverside 15 100 60 724
White bass 52 417 260 47
Yellow bass 73 342 184 152
Striped bass 117 790 471 234
Hybrid temperate bass 487 521 505 4
Warmouth 19 81 50 6
Orangespotted sunfish 11 66 42 62
Redspotted sunfish 76 138 97 3
Bluegill 19 156 83 137
Longear sunfish 21 869 97 234
Spotted bass 54 421 210 74
Largemouth bass 13 494 77 146
White crappie 13 360 215 21
Black crappie 21 213 109 36
Logperch 90 90 90 2
Dusky darter 55 97 74 13
Freshwater drum 117 571 290 62
Striped mullet 35 435 227 162
Hogchoker 120 120 120 1
Blue crab (carapace width) 104 187 144 10
*Total number measured 6,209*


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## shanesdad (Jun 3, 2011)

Meadowlark said:


> By generating at the bottom rather than at the inlet, they reduce the velocity of the water entering the river and thereby minimize impacts to the river flow. Some loss of efficiency in that change but minimum impact to the river. .


I would be willing to bet they will use the new generation of "LOW HEAD PRESSURE" generators.


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## Garagedoorguy (Mar 9, 2011)

I used to catch these all the time when i was about 10 in a sein net about 2 inches long i would catch them quite often i thought they were flounder that addapted bit never researched it is very interesting


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I have seined a few very small hog chokers, and some log rollers too, I think that's the name my book is gone. I also caught some darters and other small stuff that you never see anywhere else. Pulling a seine and having a good book/key to check out the fish with in the tail race is really fun as there are so many different species.
10 crabs, alright!
Great post Meadowlark, thanks.
I will be surprised if they don't limit access in some way down the road a bit.
What will the temperature be of the discharge?


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## hrider2001 (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks for that info....I fully support low environmental impact projects such as this. I hope all works as planned.


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## GBird (Jun 12, 2010)

Thank you for taking the time to share this info with us. I am concerned that this fishery will either be taken away from us or restricted so much the we cant use it. I really hope that it does stay intact for us for years to come.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

That is a very interesting report. Most of use would never guess there are so many different species in our waters.
Sure would like to know the circumstance when the first pioneer gave that little flat fish the name Hog Choker.

I assume this was the results of the third party survey company that TP&W used about three years ago. Jim ran into them twice in three days during the crappie run in the chute.
The operators told him they were counting fish. In fact they gave him a nice mess of white bass they had in their shocking boat.
Jim said there were four or five boats but he did not know how many were actually shocking fish.

I note the term "Hybrid Temperate Bass" Is that the name used to describe the Sunshine hybrid? The one that is a cross of a female white bass and a male striper. Florida tried them years age hoping to get a fish that would thrive in their warmer water. They called them Sunshine bass. It is the hybrid we get from LL. They occur naturally during the WB spawn.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Good report. I knew there was a lot of different fish down there but I didn't know that many were in the river. Thats a lot of different fish. I read an article about the Hog Chocker and it got it's name from choking a hog. The Hog Chockers were so plentiful way back when that they would feed them to hogs. Some times they would get caught in the hogs throat and choke due to their size. 

Matt


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Yep, that's the same story the SHECO rep told when he discussed the Hogchoker. Really is an interesting fish.

This is a boring video...boring because it is focused on a hogchoker that you can just barely make out. No wonder most of us haven't seen one in the wild, blends right in.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Meadowlark the Hog Choker is a saltwater fish. Back in Louisiana in my shrimping days I caught thousands of them. I remember because these were a ***** to clean from the shrimp trawl when I goy hope. No mistaken these things. Hundreds would be stuck in every hole in the net. I often thought growing up - what a strange looking flounder. I actually thought they were a baby flounder back then. Good Post on the generators but I think it will impact the area. maybe for the good?


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

I reported earlier that the third party TP&W survey fellows gave Jim a few white bass from the LLD tail race. After talking to him yesterday he said that it was a limit of big stripers. All 26 to 28 inches. 
He said he thought the surveyors kept most of the fish that the shocking boats brought up. He said they had three big plastic tubs of all kinds of fish in the back of their pickup.
Also a few gar and cats.
Jim ask what they did with so many fish. One fellow said they gave most away in Livingston when they were finished with them. The rest were dumped.
Since they had such a detailed report on species and size it appear the term "finished with them" meant most all fish did not survive the survey.
Jim also said the survey was conducted about a week after the TP&W team had harvested their brood stripers. He believes it was two years ago this April. I thought it was three years ago....oh well at least a survey was conducted a few years ago. 
I guess you must wipe out some fish to determine if you are going to wipe out some in the future.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I always thought they were baby flounders, we would get a couple in the seine once in a while.
I bet everyone is chomping at the bit to fishing below the dam!
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/uv/?site_no=08066250&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
Looks like they are still upping the discharge rate so it may be a while.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I think it is basically a wait and see, but the image shown looks to me like the discharge would be just above the old ramp that is now up in the air because of so much erosion around it. Am I right? And the ramp I speak of is below the legal line. For some reason, I can not imagine fishermen being allowed right next to the discharge. I should know the area better, but..... any one care to clear it up for me?


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