Anglers Away
By Angie Herrington, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
Jan. 3–CHATSWORTH, Ga. — Stuffed bobcats, turkeys, foxes and bears decorate the inside of Chatsworth Pawn & Sporting Goods. Situated amongst the taxidermied animals in a glass case is co-owner Jimmy Dixson’s prize-winning 13 pound-plus pound bass he caught at Carters Lake on April 21, 1987.
“The good thing is that Carters Lake is one of the deepest lakes this side of the Mississippi,” Mr. Dixson, 56, said. “That’s a big plus in the sense of the water supply, but (the drought) has just really hurt the fishing business.”
He said the drought has put a dent in business at his store — which also sells guns, jewelry, hunting gear and electric guitars — as more fishermen opt to go instead to Chickamauga Lake, fed by the plentiful Tennessee River.
“No question about it. It’s definitely made a difference,” Mr. Dixson said.
Carters Lake reached a record-low water level on Dec. 14, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers records show. The lake now is 25 feet below its average of 1,074 feet above sea level.
The lake literally has shrunk, leaving boat ramps completely on dry land. People who do venture down to the water have to walk down steep banks covered with rocks and fallen trees that normally would be submerged.
The corps in September closed all of the lake’s public boat ramps because the unprecedented low lake levels made it too dangerous for boats to operate.
Mr. Dixson said anglers are less likely to want to fish on the lake if they can’t take their boats on the water, so most have stayed away and gone elsewhere.
‘It’s just completely dead’
Business at Carters Lake Marina and Resort hasn’t been affected much by the drought because there usually is a lull after Labor Day until the spring, said Denise Kiely, who owns the marina with her husband, Dermott.
But while the drought’s timing has been good for the marina, she said, it’s bad for the fishermen because winter is a popular time for them to be on the water.
“It’s kind of eerie at night, because usually when you look out and it’s dark there would be six or eight boats all night long zipping around, but since they closed the boat ramps, it’s just completely dead at night,” Mrs. Kiely said.
She said the drought has caused many maintenance problems that have kept her husband busy.
As the water has receded, he has had to extend the docks in order to reach it, Mrs. Kiely said. Just moving one dock can take her husband a week because all of the anchors have to be redone, she said.
Unlike nearby Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona, Mrs. Kiely said, her marina is the only commercial structure along Carters Lake’s 62-mile shoreline. Residential docks are not allowed on Carters Lake either, though they are on Lanier and Allatoona.
“People have called us from England and told us they’ve seen Lake Lanier on the TV, but no one ever talks about Carters Lake,” Mrs. Kiely said. “I think it’s mainly because we don’t have people living on the lake, so it affects them recreationally but not where they live.”
Rod and reel in hand, fisherman Butch Garrison, 54, a mechanic from Dalton, Ga., on a recent afternoon walked down to the receding shoreline of Carters Lake to fish for bass.
He said fishing there hasn’t been so much fun since the public boat ramps closed.
Mr. Garrison recently drove up twice to Harrison Bay State Park in Tennessee so he could fish in his bass boat at Chickamauga Lake.
“When the lake’s up, I come here a whole lot, but this is probably the first time I’ve been down here in a month, I guess,” Mr. Garrison said. “Normally, we would probably be 30 feet under water sitting where we are.”
The drought has triggered a few memories from his younger fishing days, he said.
Mr. Garrison said parts of an old boat he saw sink about 20 years ago lie on parched ground in front of one of the closed boat ramps.
‘I hope they’re praying’
The drought has dried up business at BZI Store, owner David Duncan said.
The bait shop in Talking Rock, Ga., located near the Murray and Gilmer County line just a few miles from Carters Lake, hasn’t stocked hardly any live bait since the boat ramps closed, he said.
Mr. Duncan, 52, said he used to buy about $1,000 worth of worms, crickets and minnows from his supplier, but not anymore.
“It’s just dead,” said Mr. Duncan, who retired from his previous job two years ago to open the store. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to stay (open) here, but I don’t know.”
He said he recently received a permit to sell firearms at the store in hopes of increasing business.
“But who knows?” Mr. Duncan said. “It’s a gamble.”
The Chatsworth Water Works Commission in September had to extend its water intake station on Carters Lake about 100 feet because of low lake levels, plant operator Ellis Knight said.
The station is the site where the utility pulls water out of Carters Lake that ultimately is used by more than 10,000 customers in Chatsworth, Eton and most of Murray County.
Mr. Knight said two powerful motors inside the water intake station pull water from the lake to a treatment plant so it can become drinking water.
“If you walk down on this walkway, you feel like you’re in a big valley or something,” he said as he pointed to the long walkway leading to the intake station. “You keep thinking, man, there ought to be water way above my head. It’s kind of ominous.”
The Water Works Commission has noticed a considerable decrease in water usage from its customers since September when the state banned most types of outdoor residential water use, Mr. Knight said.
“As long as there’s people in this county, they have to have clean drinking water,” he said. “I hope (people) are scared, I hope they’re praying and I hope they keep taking heed, especially this spring when people want to water their yards.”
E-mail Angie Herrington at aherrington@timesfreepress.com
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