Fishing Forum

It's not a joke. The Rock Cliffs recreation area will be "closed" until Nov. 2004.

Fishcrazy and I went up to fish last night, and arrived around 4:30. We were met by a big closed sign. (see attached image). The sign is a good quarter to half mile from the lake, so it would be a good little hike to walk into.

I talked to one of the contractors and asked what was going on. We talked for a moment, and he showed me the blueprints. He told me they were putting in a boat ramp, 2 docks, and 2 parking lots. The dock will enter the water about right where the road currently enters the lake. One parking lot will be a little ways up the road, about where the outhouse currently exists. The other parking lot will be where the little marshy area on the north side of the road, and that hillside will be slightly excavated to accomodate the lot. That lot will be right next to the ramp and docks.

"Well", the contractor also said, "we're leaving at 5:00, it should be alright if you guys head on in after we're done". So we did. I'm not sure if this is a precedent they will continue to follow. Also, I'm not sure how much longer that road will be passable. As of last night, they hadn't torn it up yet.

The fishing was OK once we launched. I got a 17"er and a 5 right around 14"-16". All on a 4" watermelon, wacky-rigged Senko. The bigger one came in open water, maybe 50 yards from the weedline. It got a little windy, but calmed down later on. Fishcrazy got a nice smallie on topwater right as we were pulling out around 9. A good night of fishing.

Senkonate
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nice fish sounds like you guys had fun up there.but i would be very carefuly cause that sign says no tresspassing and they could prosacute you for it..if you got the promission in writeing then you would probley be alright but i wouldnt go pass that sign without it....all and all its sounds like it was a good trip though. how full was it?? looks low.
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Shoot, there goes the neighborhood. Does that mean we will be seeing 30 ft. cabin cruisers, PWCs, and other pleasure boaters in our smallmouth/perch paradise? I guess we'll find out in November. Congrats on another good night of fishing. I may have to spend more time at Wallsburg bay getting to know the walleyes and the smallies over there. I've float tubed Wallsburg before and the walk down to the water could be treacherous, but it's way closer to me compared to Rock Cliffs.

kastmaster
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That's good adivce, fishzman74, about asking for permission. I will do that next week when I head up there again.

I really hope they keep it wakeless for the sake of our fishing. I'm going to try and and contact Jordanelle's people and find out more.
I'll post what I find out.

Yah, it may be Deer Creek the rest of the season for us smallmouth tubers!!!!

Senkonate
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Say it ain't so. That didn't exactly make my day[]. Thank you for the report however and let us know what you find on updates on this situation. I'm glad you got a few fish last night too.
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Good news. Whew.

I just got off the phone with a very helpful man at the main Jordanelle office, named Lyle. He said they expect the project to be finished by the end of October.

Here's the details:
- The bay will remain wakeless exactly as it is now. Yeah!!!
- The ramp will only be a single lane, fairly steep ramp. It was designed to accomodate boats in the 20' to 23' range. (and smaller)
- It will only be available during "high water" years. FYI, this is NOT a high water year we are currently experiencing, he said. duh.
- There will be a "compost" bathroom, better handicapped access, and a few picnic sites.
- The contractor is the one who decides who can enter. Jordanelle's guy said that as long as we cleared it with the contractor, they were more than happy to let people in to "recreationalize".

Overall, it sounds like a winning situation for us tubers and small boat guys!

I also obtained the name of the contractor company, and called them. I got the name and email of the guy in charge of the project, he is currently out at the site. I've emailed him, asking about the situation, and if we can still gain limited access to the area. I'll post what he tells me.

Later,

Senkonate
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Great work Nate! Hey if you don't post it at least drop me a PM with the contact info. I was planning on taking my dad up there in a week or two. Hopefully we still can go.
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Thank you for your efforts on this.
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Finally some results from the outageous fees.
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Are the campgrounds closed also??
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The campgrounds seemed to be unaffected by the closure. The road block is after the turnoff for the campground.

Senkonate
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Here is that thread, Philly.
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