Water sports? (Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington: for sale, rent, houses)

[duncan st clair]

Where in the DFW do people ski ,fish etc.?

[Roma]

One place is Lake Grandbury. About 30 minutes SW of Fort Worth.

[momof2dfw]

Lake Grapevine, small but nice.
Lake Dallas (to us natives) but Lewisville Lake to newbies. This lake is pretty popular and is one of the most dangerous as far as accidents and drownings .
Lake Ray Hubbard over in Garland and Rockwall.
Eagle Mountain Lake - small.
Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prarie.
Lake Arlington - in Arlington. Lake Lavon in Wylie.
Lake Granbury - southwest of Ft Worth
These are all close or in the metroplex. An hour or more out of the metroplex you have these:

Lake Texoma (on the Texas/Oklahoma border)
Cedar Creek Lake - East Texas, large lake and popular w/ Dallas residents to have a 2nd home.
Lake Tawakoni - east of Rockwall out near Quinlan about an hour from Dallas.
Lake Fork - up the road for Tawakoni and best known for the great fishing.
Cooper Lake - up near Commerce east of Dallas off of Hwy 30
Lake o the Pines - up near Dangierfield, quiet lake
Lonestar Lake - next to the one above, very small and nice
Possum Kingdom - out west of Ft Worth, check out pics of this lake, nice cliffs, deep lake
Richland Chambers

Before you decide to go to ANY lake right now to put a boat in check to see what the water level is. Many of these do not have enough water to have the ramps open. RAIN, WE NEED RAIN!!!

[dallas,texas]

I love Cedar Creek Lake, Texoma, and lake dallas,(or lewisville). They are a little farther away, though lake dallas is closer. Many of my friends have homes on Cedar Creek, and they are beautiful. There are many water sports on these lakes. On lake dallas or lewisville, there is a huge boat place, where you can rent boats. Recently the lakes have been EXTREMLY low, but recent rains are bringing them up. Some of my friends docks are completely on dry land, it is amazing how low it is.

[socketz]

This is a great thread.

Which of these lakes is the most 'user friendly'. Sounds like Lake Dallas may be....I'd love to just go to the lake on the weekend with some lawn chairs, maybe rent a jet ski for a few hours. Texoma looks like primarily a fishing lake. Am I correct ?

[KantLockeMeIn]

If someone is looking for a 2nd home on a lake, does it make sense to look in OK? Are the property taxes significantly less there?

[momof2dfw]

Lake Dallas aka Lewisville Lake, there are only a few areas I would get out on that lake. It is one of the most crowded and dangerous lakes in the area. Look up the story from a few years back about the cigar boat that supposedly was owned by Dennis Rodman. Sad, very sad. There are too many drownings and boat accidents on that lake for me. Sneaky Petes though is a good place to hang out on the lake. There is a nice park on the Little Elm side that is decent. They have a day use area and overnight camping in another.

Lake Ray Hubbard is still in the metroplex and a bit less crowded. Great sailing lake too. But don't even think about going out to Robertson Park off of I30 on a holiday weekend. YIKES!!! JAM PACKED! The new area in Rockwall that was built on the lake is nice as is the area w/ the new Bass Pro in Garland.

Cedar Creek Lake. Grew up going there as my grandparents lived there for awhile. It has changed A LOT over time. Now the homes are right on top of each other, too close for me. It can be crowded on holidays. There are HEAVY restrictions on the lake about what can be built and the size depending upon the size of your house and lot.

Texoma. It is a fishing lake and a party/weekend lake.

As for the second home on a lake, just finding one that is close enough for you to travel to for a short weekend is the main thing. How long do you want to be on the road on Friday afternoon/evening? Do you want to be close enough to Dallas for your friends to come out for the day? That is why we are on Tawakoni. Only an hour for us to get there and our friends willingly will drive out for just the day. It is not crowded like the others lakes w/ boats and jetskis. Houses are not on top of each other, etc. Now, you have to remember though around these lakes that it was once "undesireable" to live there so you will see small shacks, dilapidated trailers, etc. You will literally see rundown "dwellings" with people living in them next to or across from something far more spectacular. There was a house down from us on the lake in a cove that was for sale for a lil over $1M. But all around it are much older homes and abandoned trailers. Loverly. It sold. Right now w/ the water levels so low many people on the lakes are trying to sell their boats. Our peir and ramp are totally dry, were all summer long. Sad very sad.

[sqray59]

Don't forget the newest lake, just north of Dallas on I35 E. you would cross over the Lake Dallas (Lake Lewisville) bridge on up about 10 minutes north of Denton is Lake Ray Roberts. It is surrounded by rural area, mostly farm land, and some new developments. It is good for fishing, skiing, and swimming, all kinds of water sports. It has horse trails, camping, day use, and hiking trails. It is not crowded and is a very "country" type feel. Most cars and trucks give a courtesy hand gesture as a hello, sorta a wave as you pass each other. I love the rolling country side, the farm to market roads, and the general away from it all feel. I should add that I live in Lake Dallas proper, I'm on the lake here, Lake Dallas (Lewisville) but I do like Ray Roberts even more. BTW, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that if you are on Lake Dallas THE place to go if you don't want all the crowds of people.....is....the old Lake Dallas side of the lake. The newer Lewisville side is where EVERYONE goes so it is the dangerous area with fast boats and crazy people. The old part of the lake is through the "cut" and over by the new toll bridge that goes from Lake Dallas to Little Elm. It's also where the Dallas Yacht Club is. It's sooooo quiet in that area you would never know it's the same lake....lol lol ....Thats all folks!