January 13, 2006

GRDA reconsidering new lake rules related to fishing tournaments

Vinita — The Grand River Dam Authority is announcing it has reconsidered issuing new lake rules, related to fishing tournaments, this year and wants to spend another year collecting data.

Earlier this week, GRDA announced it would hold a series of public meetings later this month to gather comment on proposed fishing tournament regulations for its Grand and Hudson lakes and W.R. Holway Reservoir in Northeast Oklahoma. However, the GRDA Ecosystems Management Department has instead decided to monitor the current regulations for one more season before moving forward with any changes. Therefore, the public meetings will not take place.

"We’ve decided we want an opportunity to further assess our current rules and fishing tournament operations," said GRDA Fishery Coordinator and Tournament Director Brent Davis. "We just felt like more time and data was needed before we could issue any changes that would affect so many fishermen."

Fed by the Grand River, GRDA’s Grand Lake was created in 1940 with the completion of the Pensacola Dam (Langley, Okla.). It’s 1,300 miles of shoreline surround 46,500 surface acres of water. Lake Hudson, created in 1964 with the completion of the Robert S. Kerr Dam (Locust Grove, Okla.) is also located on the Grand River. Hudson has 200 miles of shoreline and approximately 12,000 surface acres of water. Both lakes consistently rank among the state’s best for tournament fishing. Located above the Salina Pumped Storage Project, the W.R. Holway Reservoir holds approximately 785 surface acres of water. Combined, GRDA lakes host approximately 240 tournaments each year, said Davis.