Towns Around the Lake
- Pilot Point
- Sanger
- Aubrey
- Valley View
- Tioga
- Collinsville
- Denton
Lakes We Serve · TX
Marine construction around Lake Ray Roberts.
There is a fence around this lake, and it is there on purpose. Ray Roberts has effectively no private waterfront dock development — so the work here happens above the federal line, on flowage-easement tracts, and at public facilities.
What the Rules Say
Why nobody has a private dock on Ray Roberts.
The Corps and Texas Parks and Wildlife bought a wide buffer when this lake was built, and a boundary fence runs the whole way around it.
The Corps' guidance to adjacent landowners at Ray Roberts lists, as prohibited on public land, private exclusive use of any type, the mooring of boats or placement of other flotation devices, and the construction of buildings, roads, improved paths or any other facilities. Read together, those three prohibitions close the door on the private dock, the private ramp and the private path down to the water alike.
There is one narrow opening, and it is not on public land. Where a landowner privately owns ground that lies under a flowage easement below elevation 645.50, a structure there requires written approval from the District Engineer, and it cannot cause any net loss of flood storage capacity. That is a real permitting path with a real standard attached — a design question before it is a construction question.
Ray Roberts is administered by the Fort Worth District out of the Trinity Regional Project Office in Lewisville, 469-645-9100. Texas Parks and Wildlife leases and manages the state park units — Isle du Bois, Johnson Branch and Jordan — along with the Ray Roberts Wildlife Management Area, so a project inside a park unit involves the park operator as well as the Corps.
Where the Work Is
Above the line, and around the lake.
Ray Roberts reaches into Denton, Cooke and Grayson counties. Shoretech is available for shoreline and land-side structures throughout that ring of towns and for public and concession facilities on the lake itself.
What Can Be Built
- Retaining walls
- Seawalls above the boundary
- Erosion & slope control
- Flowage-easement structures
- Timber bridges & crossings
- Park & concession facilities
- Commercial marine work
If you own ground that runs down toward the lake, the first job is establishing exactly where the federal boundary and the 645.50 flowage-easement contour cross it. Everything else follows from those two lines.
Talk through your parcel with DaveServices at Ray Roberts
Four things worth calling about.
Honest scope for a lake where the residential dock market does not exist.
Retaining Walls & Seawalls
Wall systems and slope stabilization on privately owned ground above the federal boundary — steel, vinyl, FRP composite or heavy timber, selected for the soil and the exposure.
Timber Bridges & Crossings
Ranch and property crossings over the creeks and draws that feed the lake, built on private land with pile-supported structure rather than a culvert and hope.
Public & Concession Facilities
Access piers, slip systems and shoreline structures for park operators, concessioners and municipalities working under their own agreements.
Commercial Marine Work
Intakes, bank protection and heavy waterfront structures for organizations that hold the necessary federal approvals.
Know the Water
The newest and deepest of the Denton County lakes.
Impounded in 1987 on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, Ray Roberts runs clear under normal conditions and reaches a maximum depth around 106 feet, with roughly 2,000 acres of standing timber left in the upper reaches.
The level is unusually well behaved. Conservation pool is 632.5 feet msl, the top of the flowage easement is 645.50, and Texas Parks and Wildlife reports annual fluctuation of only three to five feet — a tighter band than any of the other big North Texas reservoirs. Steady water is a gift to a fixed structure, but the 645.50 contour still governs anything built on easement ground, and it is measured, not eyeballed.
Questions We Hear
Lake Ray Roberts FAQ.
Can I put a dock on Lake Ray Roberts?
Not as a private landowner. The Corps prohibits private exclusive use, mooring of boats and placement of flotation devices on the public land that surrounds this lake. A boundary fence rings the whole reservoir, and there is effectively no private dock development here.
I own land under a flowage easement. Can I build on it?
Possibly — structures on privately owned flowage-easement ground below elevation 645.50 need written approval from the District Engineer, and cannot cause a net loss of flood storage capacity. That standard shapes the design, so bring it into the conversation early rather than after drawings exist.
My property is in a state park unit. Who do I talk to?
Isle du Bois, Johnson Branch and Jordan are leased and managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife, so a project inside one of those units involves TPWD alongside the Corps. Work outside the parks goes through the Trinity Regional Project Office at 469-645-9100.
Is Lake Ray Roberts inside Shoretech's service area?
Yes. Dave travels as far as a project warrants across Texas and western Louisiana. Call 936-662-5100 to talk through your parcel, the boundary and the scope.
Nearby Water
More lakes in this region.
Start With a Conversation
Planning a project near Lake Ray Roberts?
Tell Dave where your property line sits relative to the federal boundary and what you need the ground to do. The design follows from there.