I was taking my 3 year old fishing yesterday. I tried to go to Mustang Point in Mustang Park, the gates were closed and orange cones put out. According to the Army Corp website Mustang Point is free and open to the public after September 30 until the last day of March. This was not the case. We went to the equestrian area by Mustang Park and fished for a bit on the river but it was too windy. Next we headed over to Holiday Park day use area, that too was closed and gated. It looks like they are building a fee collection booth. I checked out the "Closures" part of the website and it says nothing is closed. Do they charge for the "day use" areas now? I may have to break down and but a pass.

gober

I know dutch/holiday is closed, i went out there last time and had to bust a U with a boat in the back. Not something I want to do again. I launched at longhorn which always seems to be open and free unless I am missing the pay booth.

We were out there on Saturday and ended up running into the Game Warden on Longhorn Ramp. We got to talking about the west side of the lake being closed and he said the new manager of the Corps has decided to make it a pay park.

This is a good thing. Those of you who have been out there in recent years know the amount of rif-raf that shows up on the Dutch Branch side. They had many complaints and several security/drug deal instances going down that they are doing something about it.

The fee will be $3 day use, or $30/annual. Not bad....just blame the rif-raf.

Agree. Pay park == GOOD DEAL.

If I buy the annual pass will I still have to pay a day use fee? If its a safety issue, I'm all for it. I don�t mind paying a few bucks for piece of mind when I am out with my kids. Another thing, really want to get my 3 year hooked on fishing. I think Perch fishing is good bet because of his short attention span. Does the Corps have any docks that allow fishing on Benbrook?

gober

Another question, is the annual pass only good at Benbrook?

annual pass is probably only good for the park that you purchased it for.

annual pass is probably only good for the park that you purchased it for.

If you are talking about an Army Corp of Engineers park, then the annual pass is good at any park around the state run by the Corp. I bought one and have used in at about 4 or 5 different lakes in the past few months

Note to fellow vets: if you have any VA rated disability(even 10% will do) you can get a Golden Access pass for free and it lets you into Corp parks free and 1/2 price on other fees($1.50 launch fee for Benbrook) Just trying to help ya'll save a $ or 2

When are they supposed to re-open everything? I'm all for security, but to be honest I've never felt threatened in any way using the facilities on the west side of the lake and I've lived in Benbrook 20+ years. Maybe I've been lucky. It's sad that you won't be able to ride a bike, walk the shoreline, bank fish, take a horseback ride, watch the model airplanes etc without shelling out $$ every time. And I can't imagine this will be good for Longhorn either - - now that place has given me the willies several times and I think this move will make it much worse. Ah well, I guess $30 ain't the end of the world . . . . .

ensignjason, I called the corp office about the golden pass and was informed that the state has taken the passes away from the corp, if you have a golden pass the parks will still honor them but the corp is not issuing any passes any more from what the corp lakes have told me

Stopped by longhorn park yesterday. The ramp is finally wet again. Looks like i'll use this one this year.