Lincoln observations

[Boatloadakids]

After suffering through the ULC meeting yesterday I had to make a trip to Lincoln to see how it looked... so it was painful. This old lake is surely the bastard child of Utah with no one to claim and care for its well being.

As I approached the lake from a distance it seemed to be begging for a hook. Approaching the ramp it was evident that the lake was very sick. The green algae color is mostly gone and the water now has a dirty brown pallor to it that reminds one of an open sewer. The launch channel was inches deep with no sign of any kind of life. The springs were also brownish colored and I never saw so much as a dimple from the usually numerous white bass at this time of the year. What of this years hatch of wb?? The carp, on the other hand, appeared to be in hog heaven and were frolicing in the shallow water everywhere. I did not observe any dead fish. I saw one seagull that was definitely sick and could not fly... Botulism??

The pelicans were abundant and active. The usual shore birds were infrequent and there were no Avocets to be seen.

When I walked the shore where it is usually swarming with skeeters and midges there were very few. No midge swarms observed.

I saw one airboat headed for Goshen Bay... must have launched from Provo. Probably "officials" rather than fishermen.

Overall a very depressing trip. I took a few pictures but must warn that they may be offensive to people of normal sensibilities.

I morn for my old friend and fishing hole.

BLK
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[MSM1970]

I feel your pain, as I think many others do also,[frown] if any good can come from this year.

I hope lake levels are kept above a set minimum and
those carp and pelicans take the brunt of the die off[]
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[TubeDude]

[#0000ff]It was good to see you yesterday at the meeting. Glad you sat behind me. Your snoring helped keep me awake. It was tough after you made a break and escaped. But mercifully it didn't last too much longer.

Those pictures are like daggers in my poor old heart. In my (long) lifetime I have never seen Lincoln looking that bad.

Here are a couple of pics I took after the meeting, of the Bubbleup and the Knolls...two of my other normally favorite spots. In both pics you can see the line of trees and brush along the shoreline that mark the usual edge of the water line. The pipeline at the Bubbleup is mostly out of water. When the lake is full, there is six to seven feet of water over the inshore part of the pipe...and it is usually about 12 feet deep at the end. Right now there is barely two feet of water at the end of the pipe.

I didn't see much evidence of algae, but as we heard, it could well blow up again.

That airboat you saw was probably one of the Loy's boats...the carp seiners. They launch in the skinny water out of Lindon. Saw their carp conveyor and the big dumpster they use when I stopped there yesterday. If the lake drops much more they will be running ATVs out across the lake bottom....just picking up the carp where they are lieing in the mud. That might be cheatin'.
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[fish_fear_me2]

Wow ! I have never seen that much of the pipe at the bubble up. It is to see the old girl so low. We can only hope for the best this year and pray that the decisions of the water folks are better in the future.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Amen...and ahhhh women.
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[bigdaddy84094]

Good News Lynn, just got the word the lake has been opened back up to boats only for now. Looks like we can head back down and harass the cats.

[fishon]

BD84094
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[Boatloadakids]

Whoa Man! You joshin' me?? What is your source? Reliable? I just went out and picked up a small aluminum boat that I can launch from almost anywhere. I'll be on the water as soon as I work out a few bugs in the new tub.

Good news and thanks for the shout!

BLK
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[bigdaddy84094]

Yes it's true enough boaters only for now. As someone mentioned on the other post eating the fish prolly isn't a good idea(of course even with your dull/normal IQ I'm sure you already figured that out). []
And you know me I'm not eating any fish anyways I'm more of a catcher than an eater. Glad to hear you found you a small rig to drag around. See you on the water !
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[Therapist]

Golly gee willilickers Wally !! You hold a meeting and like magic, the lake is reopened !! What a load of BS. That meeting was worthless other than to give the powers that be a chance to pontificate and act like they are doing something. The ONLY thing that came out of that confab that was worth anything was the fact the Daphnia, a very important zooplankton, feeds on the cyanobacterium that are part of the algae bloom. It appears that Daphnia are gorging on the bacterium and then going wild themselves, which is a good thing as they are one of the primary members of the zoo plankton community. The rest of the meeting was total BS.

BLK, all that brown that you are seeing in the water is the dead algae. Now that it is starting to die, it will begin to decompose and remove all the Oxygen in the water, causing the fish kill. Can hardly wait for that to happen !!

Every where I have been to monitor the lake, all I have seen is water so low, it is scary. The shoreline south of Lindon Harbor, the water has receded almost a quarter mile from normal water mark. The flat north of AF Harbor is almost the same. The outher harbor at Utah Lake St. Park is almost 1/2 dry. I have not been to the west side of the lake, but would be that Pelican Bay Marina is almost dry, and that Pelican Point is no longer a point in the lake, but a small ridge on the shore.

My question is still, who made the decision and why ? who is going to pay for the cleanup yet to come ?? It ain't over yet !!!

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF][size 3]Here is a copy and paste from today's Tribune.[/size][/#0000FF]Utah Lake reopens as algal threat subsides
By [url "http://www.sltrib.com/staff/mariah-noble/"]MARIAH NOBLE[/url] | The Salt Lake Tribune [url "http://www.sltrib.com/staff/mariah-noble/"][/url]
First Published Jul 28 2016 05:33PM

Utah Lake has reopened — with restrictions — after a toxic algal bloom poisoned the water about two weeks ago, leading to the recreation hot spot's closure.
The algal bloom, which spread to other waterways including the Jordan River and other tributaries, was dissipating, according to a news release Thursday from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Officials continued to warn patrons against swimming and other activities that require them to have contact with the lake water, but the agency downgraded the closure to a warning. People using the lake are asked to "remain watchful and report any changes in water color that may indicate presence of blue-green algae," the release said.

Rapid algal growth is more likely to occur when there are elevated nutrient levels, warm temperatures, sunlight and stagnant water conditions, the release said.

Though not all algal growth is harmful, some types contain cyanobacteria, which can cause headache, fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and allergiclike reactions with skin contact, according to the DEQ. If ingested, it can be fatal.
Toxin tests and monitoring at the lake are ongoing, the release states, and officials expect additional results to come early next week.

Though health officials plan to scale back on sampling next week, water bodies that persistently have shown high toxin levels or are "important for drinking water supplies" will remain a priority, the DEQ website said.

The reopening is "encouraging news," according to Ben Holcomb, coordinator of the Division of Water Quality's harmful algae bloom program, but "blooms can reappear, so we remain cautious."

Last week's sampling results show "low to no detection of toxins" in Utah Lake's open water, aside from the Lincoln Beach/Harbor area, where samples were "much greater than the recreational threshold."

All samples taken Tuesday, according to the DEQ, showed cell counts below 100,000 cells per milliliter of water, the level considered harmful to humans. Some samples remained above the level of 20,000 cells per mL, which signifies that an advisory should be issued. The highest recorded count — taken about a mile east of Pelican Point — was in excess of 73,000 cells per mL.


All but one of the "numerous" samples taken July 20 from Utah Lake and several canals in western Salt Lake County had toxin levels that were either "too low to detect" or were below a microgram per liter of water, the website said. A sample from Lincoln Beach contained 63 micrograms per liter of the cyanotoxin microcystin, three times the recommended threshold for recreational water use.

The lake originally closed July 15 at the order of the Utah Department of Health and the Utah County Health Department when algal cell concentrations were three times the threshold considered "an acute health risk" by the World Health Organization.


Cyanobacteria was present in the Jordan River and related canals on July 17, further testing confirmed, and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food "strongly advise[d] farmers and ranchers against using water from Utah Lake for food production and livestock watering," the release said.

Canal companies temporarily shut off secondary water as a precaution, the release said; the agricultural advisory was lifted July 22. Drinking water was not at risk.

The affected portion of the Jordan River in Utah County was not closed, the release said, but health officials installed signs along the waterway, warning people and their animals of potential harm from toxins.


Officials took samples from Salem Pond and Payson Lake on Thursday, the DEQ website said, because the bodies of water had shown signs of algal blooms.


The Utah Poison Control Center reported Thursday a low volume of calls related to the algal bloom were coming in, according to the DEQ website. As of Thursday, there had been 627 calls related to the bloom, with 511 related to human exposures, 27 related to animal exposures and 87 requesting information.
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[GEEZER]

TubeDude, Did you happen to go by the pumphouse on your outing? Last time I was there the pumps still had the Jordan River level at the roll gates at least 5' higher than the lake??????????????? That was last week.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Sorry, Tom. I drove by them last Saturday morning but did not get out to look. Going to breakfast with my daughter, who just moved to Saratoga Springs.

I will likely be making an end of summer drive around to survey all the access spots...or lack of access.

My guess is that they are keeping the roll gates closed and just pulling water through the pumps, out of the old Jordan River channel. But I gave up trying to figure out how or why they do what they do. Kinda like marriage.
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[bone8]

Thanks for the pictures boatloadofkids and tubedude it really is to see the lake in that shape I sure hope we have a good winter and the idiots that make all the decisions turns some water down stream this next year [pirate][pirate]
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[a_bow_nut]

I hope that we get so much snow that they have to start letting water out of Utah Lake to keep it from flooding too.
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[pa]

So who are these so called water managers? Whoever they are they should all be replaced in my opinion. There is no excuse for what they have allowed to happen.
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[Tin-Can]

Lynn, that is just too ugly for words. I missed my annual trip down to UL just as the water levels were getting drastic and the algae bloom was getting started.
If you start getting serious withdrawal because of not being able to get the boat out on the water, make a trip up here to Ogden and Willard Bay some weekend. Would be more than happy to fish with ya. [] Of course that is not a promise of catching, just fishin.
The water level at WB is starting to drop, but it is higher now than it has been this time last 2 or 3 years. Still plenty deep in the marinas to launch without worrying about dinging up a prop long as you keep your motor trimmed up until you get off the trailer a few feet. Depth at the south marina docks is 5 to 7 feet, middle of marina is 9 to 11 feet, and south channel out to the buoys 10 to 15 feet in the middle. Past the buoys entire main body of the lake averages 14 to 16 feet.
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[TubeDude]

[quote pa] So who are these so called water managers? Whoever they are they should all be replaced in my opinion. There is no excuse for what they have allowed to happen.[/quote]

[#0000FF]We can only hope that lessons have been learned and that the problems will not occur in the future. But don't bet on it.[/#0000FF]
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[Boatloadakids]

Hey, thanks for the invite. I would welcome the chance to fish with ya... might even pick up a new how-to or two.

I fished Lincoln from shore today. Only had an hour or so cuz I had to get over to Sportsmans to pick up a few items for my aluminum tub. Should have it sea worthy soon and I think I can launch it from any rocky bottom spot.

I caught two 22-ish inch cats today... all with the normal number of fins and whiskers. Lots of huge carp active everywhere... gonna zap one the next time I'm down there.

I noticed Ice Sled skittering along in his puddle jumper. He anchored up in his favorite spot and was still going strong when I left. He will probably post up some biggun's when he gets home.

Also talked to a guy fishing off the end of the launch channel. He had caught a couple and claimed he caught some "big" ones when she first opened after the bloom.

Maybe not all is lost. Still no sign of fish kill. Water is still brownish but the cats were hungry. Time will tell I guess. Come September, if there is any water left, the cats will be on the prowl. Hope springs eternal.

BLK
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[Piscophilic]

I'm gald you found some reason for optimism and got a few fish! Sounds like Ice Sled is gonna have the lake to himself for a while!
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I was happy to hear they relaxed the panic mode a bit. But I likely won't be hitting the lake for a while anyway. I rarely fish it during the hottest days of summer. I used to fish it at night this time of year, and did catch some big fish. But my bedtime comes earlier these days and I am not fond of feeding skeeters just for some silly old catfish.

Sometime around the middle of September I will be throwing plastics for walleyes and dragging bait for kitties again. That's when they both become more active...during the daytime.
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