Thanks, Pat! Great and USEFUL article as usual!
Intriguing:
Regarding: (See TubeDude's PDF)
"West Dike Access:
The perimeter road around the west dike is often not worthy of being called a road. But you can stop anywhere along it and go over the dike to fish."
I've been fishing State Parks with my ice fishing vehicle and occasionally enjoying it's amazing off road capabilities though perhaps not quite legally as it rock crawls right over the boulders placed to prevent access to service roads and rough trails. (Don't tell anybody
I climbed up a steep incline just this afternoon that likely no one would consider driving along the way to East Canyon Reservoir. Perhaps I should call it Honey Badger because it didn't care. Also, the winding mountain road was fun!
Perhaps shore fishing from the "perimeter road around the west dike is often not worthy of being called a road" is a good choice for both shore fishing along with some driving fun.
Is driving up the dike permitted?
Does anyone know any other combinations of good shore fishing that has technical difficulties of accessibility? (I'm new to this sport of off road driving because this is the first time for me to have a vehicle with those capabilities.)
Those would be great fishing destinations for me particularly if camping is permitted.
As far as I can figure, the all too common prohibitions of camping anywhere near where they charge enough for {a night of primitive camping on a few square feet of dirt on our public lands} to be more than enough to pay typical mortgage payments on a house!
Why does it cost that much? When I fished and camped at Sand Hollow, it actually cost more for a tiny unnecessary slab of concrete than it would have cost to drive to St.George and back for a night renting a motel room with air-conditioning, shower, bed, television and cable with a complementary breakfast! But, miss that included breakfast and leave to drive back in the dark or miss the prime early morning fishing!
Why? Is all that for revenue collection only possible because monopolistic prohibitions of lower priced or free camping on OUR public land is necessary to be able to overcharge by more than car payments!
Are there some recommendations of fishing destinations that I would enjoy that also have the advantage of being where government is not granting themselves monopolies powers to overcharge for using a few square feet of public land that we already own?
Gemcityslayer's post of interest in night fishing inspired my many related questions.
With ice fishing we camp out on the ice when ice fishing and I suppose that includes sleeping opportunistically when fishing is slow. We're also already there, rested and refreshed by sleep in the prime time of predawn and early morning fishing without requiring night driving while sleepy. It only makes sense from many perspectives including safety and lives. Is revenue more important?
Camping and night fishing just seem to me to go together. If I'm night fishing and become too sleepy to stay awake to fish, am I then required to drive difficult terrain at night just to travel to a "designated camping site" just for their revenue collection priorities?
What's the difference in legalities between quite common night ice fishing and the near equivalent of camping on land where we shore fish at night when there isn't ice? Is it just jurisdictional? Is the water having different camping regulations than adjacent shore? Is camping in boats permitted where camping on the nearby shore not permitted?
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