Lake Gonzales is a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 on the Guadalupe River

Guadalupe River (Texas)

The Guadalupe River runs from Kerr County, Texas to San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The river is a popular destination for rafters and canoers. Larger cities along the river include New Braunfels, Kerrville, Seguin, Gonzales, Cuero, and Victoria...

 4 miles (6 km) southeast of the town of Belmont

Belmont, Texas

Belmont is an unincorporated community in Gonzales County, Texas, United States located on Alternate US 90 10 miles west of Gonzales, Texas. Although it is unincorporated, Belmont has a post office, with the ZIP code of 78604.-External links:...

 in Gonzales County

Gonzales County, Texas

Gonzales County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 18,628. It is named for its seat, the city of Gonzales.-History Timeline:* Paleo-Indians Hunter-gatherers, and later Coahuiltecan, Tonkawa, Karankawa...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. The reservoir was formed in 1931 by the construction of a dam to provide hydroelectric

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

 power to the area. Management of the dam and lake was assume by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority or GBRA was formed in 1933 by the Texas legislature. Its main concerns are water supply and water conservation in the Guadalupe River Basin, which includes the Blanco, Comal, and San Marcos rivers. The authority extends over ten counties...

 on May 1, 1963. Lake Gonzales also serves as a venue for outdoor recreation, including fishing, boating, swimming, camping and picnicing, and is maintained at a constant level year round.

Lake Gonzales is also known locally as H-4 Reservoir or Guadalupe Reservoir H-4.

Fish and plant life

Lake Gonzales has been stocked with species of fish intended to improve the utility of the reservoir for recreational fishing. Fish present in Lake Gonzales include catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

, white crappie

Crappie

Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...

, sunfish

Centrarchidae

The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...

, sunfish

Lepomis

Lepomis is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The most recognizable species of the sixteen in this genus is the Bluegill....

, and largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

. Vegetation in the lake includes cattail

Typha

Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...

, pondweed

Potamogeton

Potamogeton is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed...

, American lotus

Nelumbo lutea

Nelumbo lutea is a species of flowering plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae. Common names include American lotus, yellow lotus, water-chinquapin, and volée. It is native to North America...

, spatterdock

Nuphar lutea

Nuphar lutea is an aquatic plant of the family Nymphaeaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia.-Growth:...

, rushes

Juncaceae

Juncaceae, the rush family, are a monocotyledonous family of flowering plants. There are eight genera and about 400 species. Members of the Juncaceae are slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous plants, and they may superficially resemble grasses. They often grow on infertile soils in a wide range...

, water hyacinth

Water hyacinth

The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia. Water hyacinth are a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in...

, water lettuce

Pistia

Pistia is a genus of aquatic plant in the arum family, Araceae. The single species it comprises, Pistia stratiotes, is often called water cabbage, water lettuce, or Nile cabbage. Its native distribution is uncertain, but probably pantropical; it was first described from the Nile near Lake Victoria...

, and hydrilla

Hydrilla

Hydrilla is an aquatic plant genus, usually treated as containing just one species, Hydrilla verticillata, though some botanists divide it into several species. Synonyms include H. asiatica, H. japonica, H. lithuanica, and H. ovalifolica...

.

Recreational uses

Although there are no public parks on the shore of Lake Gonzales, a public access boat ramp is accessible from U.S. Highway 90A.

External links

• Lake Gonzales (H4) - Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority
• Lake Gonzales - Texas Parks & Wildlife
• Lake Gonzales - Handbook of Texas Online