As we idled out of the marina's no wake zone, I noticed the level of the water was down
considerably. Once past the no wake zone buoys, we got the boat up on plane and took off
for our first fishing hole.

    I have been fishing Richland-Chambers since it first opened. I am somewhat familiar with
the areas of the lake that I frequently fish. I feel like I know where it is safe to run my boat
wide open and where it is not, at least I thought I did.

    As I made the turn out of the marina, I noticed a few unfamiliar stumps popping their heads
up out of the water; stumps that are capable of removing the lower unit from your boat motor
or literally tearing the transom out of your boat or worse.

    Many of today's boats are made to run at speeds in excess of 55 miles per hour. With
the lake level dropping, this can pose a serious hazard. More and more unknown underwater
obstacles are appearing. The one's that really scare me are those that still are not visible,
but lying just under the surface of the water waiting for a fast moving bass boat or ski boat
to come along.

    I was made aware of a recent fatal boat accident on Lake Fork. A bass fisherman hit a large
stump at a high rate of speed. His boat flipped over, throwing him from the boat, killing him.
What a waste. Could it have been prevented? I don't know. What I do know is that our lakes are
becoming more dangerous by the day. Until we get some rain to bring the lake levels back up
to normal, all of us are at a greater risk of running over something in the water, causing damage
to our boats and possibly to ourselves.