Huntington Lake still popular despite extremely low water levels

Thursday, July 17, 2014
Huntington Lake still popular despite extremely low water levels
Some Central Valley Lakes are starting to look less like lakes and more like ponds. But people are still hitting the beaches despite extremely low water levels.

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Some Central Valley Lakes are starting to look less like lakes and more like ponds. But people are still hitting the beaches despite extremely low water levels.

Buoys were baking in the sun along with the section of Huntington Lake that's all dried up. A ghost dock is just down the road from Rancheira Enterprises, a business making half of what they usually do because of the drought.

"We have to adjust our spending to make sure we're not over-spending. We haven't been able to hire as many kids as we normally do," said Ranchiera Enterprises co-owner Elaine Newton.

But the lack of water, isn't stopping people from coming and enjoying this lake. Jim Cranston is here all the way from Santa Cruz. His group made reservations to camp here last year, so they've decided to get their money's worth.

"No I'm not disappointed, it's still beautiful it's a nice area. There's all sorts of fun stuff to do around here," said Cranston.

And just upstream, you'll find Mike Elkins who drove almost four hours to catch trout concentrated in this shallow lake.

"It's kind of like fishing two for one you get the river and then you get the lake too," said Elkins.

A representative from Southern California Edison says they don't anticipate seeing water levels lower than they are now. But they don't expect them to get any higher either.