Lake Worth Is Back Open After High Water Closure
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TARRANT COUNTY (CBS11) - What a difference a couple of years make.
It was this time two years ago Dallas-Fort Worth was suffering through a huge ice storm and fighting its way over cobblestone ice on bridges. But out at the Lake Worth today people were not wearing heavy coats and some are literally cashing in on the sunshine and temperatures in the seventies.
"Mid 70s here in Texas?" picnicker Ken Taff laughed. "No, not in the middle of December!"
This is NOT a normal December day.
"It's usually a lot colder," said avid Lake Worth fisherman Richard Royall. "But it is warm and the fish are biting!"
And there's one guy thankful these people are hitting the lake like its spring time.
And that thankful person is convenience store and bait shop worker Ryan Underwood. He's suffered through 40 days with Lake Worth closed due to high water this year.
"When the lake is closed it kind of slows down business," Underwpod said. "People don't really want to get out there, don't want to spend money on bait and all that just to catch a fish. When the lake is closed it hurts us."
Underwood is in a cluster of stores right next to the lake. The store benefits every time a boater fills an ice chest or a picnicker stops by.
"We just stopped up there at that little convenience store and bought some barbecue sauce and everything," Taff said.
"Oh yeah, it helps them," Royall said. "Buying bait, worms, shad."
Businesses like Underwoods are hoping for a lot of warm winter days to offset the soggy spring and fall.
"It should help us and pick up that's what we're hoping for," Underwood said.
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