Lobdell lake

[stackenem]

Be warned from tomorrow morning on there is no parking of any truck or car without an EMPTY trailer allowed. If you are doing a tx you cannot load your boat and go back to the parking lot with it. Also you cannot park your car to meet your boater there. The attendant said he will start writing tickets Sunday morning to anyone not following the rules.

[dartag]

That lake has always had problems with overcrowding.  We fished White last weekend and it was a mess after the event with people waiting to launch and us trying to park and weigh our fish.  Didn't realize it was not legal to park in a spot if you had the Passport on your car.   

Kind of the reason I fish Tuesday and Thursday mornings.   Let someone else haver my spot on the weekends.

[stackenem]

Talked to a different person at a different launch and they said the guy must be making up his own rules. Anybody with the p on their license plate can park whether they have a trailer or not.

[dartag]

Think your right about making the rules up.  Kayakers don't have trailers.  There were 3 cars in the launch my me with roof racks this morning.

[djkimmel]

A handful of ramps are putting various notes (sticky notes, etc.) on your vehicle at these ramps if you don't have a trailer.

It does not appear to be fair or consistent since I got one on my car up at Burt Lake State Park parked quite a ways from the ramp though it was a weekday and the ramp was maybe 20% filled. Maybe...?

As I was loading my tackle in my car from returning from my fishing day I watched 2 Park employees cruising the ramp lot in a Park's truck drive past 2 vehicles that had just parked in trailer spots right in front of the ramp - a car and an SUV - no trailers, no racks. The people in them were getting on boats to go out. The Park's employees said nothing to them and left the lot without writing any little notes??

I appeared to be the only person who warranted a note. Guess I should have parked closer to the actual ramp maybe??

One thing I've been recently getting pretty sick and tired of is talk about 'bass tournament' anglers spending 'too much time in the boat ramp.' I know for a fact I can launch any other 'kind' of boat when the ramp opens and park there all day without anyone saying anything. BUT... when I launch in a bass boat some people seem to think instead that I need to leave the boat ramp as soon as possible to make room for 'more desirable?' boaters?!?

I can fish or boat a lake 20 times a year in any kind of boat other than a bass boat, and no one cares. If I appear to fish 5 or 10 tournaments a year at the same ramp instead some people appear to think I have fished the lake 'too many times' and need to 'go to a different lake?!?'

WHY ARE BASS BOAT ANGLERS ANY DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER BOATER?!? WHY DO BASS BOAT ANGLERS HAVE LESS RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES THAN OTHER BOATERS in Michigan though we pay at least the same amount as any other user.

MDNR Parks and Recreation Division appears to be more inconsistent and spending time right now trying to make some boaters happy at the expense of other boaters/users. They seem to be making efforts to say their boat ramps are for boat trailers ONLY without thinking about shore fishing (that can be very popular at some ramps, particularly where shore fishing opportunities are limited or not available), and non-trailer users such as carry-on, kayakers and other small crafts/devices. They want everyone to buy the Recreation Passport yet then they want to inconsistently limit and restrict who with a passport can actually use it in certain places. Kind of ruins the whole 'first-come, first-serve' equal opportunity thing they claim.

[motocross269]

Don't even get me started on Bass boats being singled out......I got a ticket in the Clinton River for a "No wake" violation and 2 cruisers were actually passing me....I got called over to the Sherriff's dock and my boat was tore down for safety equipment and then they issued me a ticket....I was "Yes sir, No sir" the entire time so it wasn't like I was looking for trouble...

I'm not one to claim the "Victim" in stuff like this but it was a little over the top...

There is a local website I know longer frequent because of the "Hate" towards anyone with a bass boat...

I have seen some ramps have designated parking for trailerless trucks/cars... I actually like to park next to a guy without a trailer because I don't have to worry about him hitting my trailer with his and it gives me a little extra room to manuever my trailer out if it is tight....

[dartag]

Sadly a lot of the bad rap comes from a small percentage of bass fishermen.   As a lakefront property owner, competitor and director of tournaments I see many sides.  A lot of property owners don't like anglers fishing there docks or seawalls.   Sometimes I agree since this summer I have had line with hook and Senko wrapped around my pontoon motor.   It looked like both of them they didn't even try to get it off just cut the line.  Both could have cost big money had I run the motor.   Lakes are overfished with events.   Pontiac will have 45 events this summer.  Those are events listed on the DNR site.  There are many groups that do not register there events.  Not sure what the answer is.   Pretty sure I know what I will be doing the future. 



Buy me a BIG Wake Ski Boat and go out and make waves.   No one seems to care about the damage they do. 

[djkimmel]

motocross269, in my old tournament days on St. Clair I would sometimes get yelled out by the loudspeaker in the Clinton River. Same deal, the cruisers are passing me but they yell at me...?? I once had to speed up on a real busy day because I looked back and a HUGE cruiser was actually overtaking me from behind and the jerk (if you saw the you-know-what-eating grin on his face you would not question me) was bearing down on me from behind fast!!

It was so busy I didn't have much room to go right or left even at that moment so I sped up and immediately got yelled at from the loudspeaker out of who knows how many dozens of boats visible at the time... many were putting out a bigger wake than me. Good thing those fine officers did their job and kept that evil bass boat in line.

Maybe my worst experience ever out there with 'the law' was the day we were bass fishing inside a large flotilla of perch boats of all shapes, sizes and ages - some real rickety ones too...

We had been there for awhile fishing some reeds in Anchor Bay - nice and peaceful-like. Along came a sheriff boat. They ran all the way through the big flotilla of perch boats straight to us. They gave us the 30 minute safety tour including complaining about all the things we didn't have just right. "How come your throwable isn't out within reach? How come you don't have your floating line tied to it." Been so long I can't remember all the other complaints they found. They didn't ticket us for our many 'violations.' Just kept us from fishing and enjoying a nice day on the big lake for awhile.

When they felt they had picked apart everything they could and were satisfied they had straightened us out properly, they drove off again back through the raft of perch boats heading south. Probably looking for another bass boat. We were the only bass boat in sight. We were the only boat they checked.

I don't recall noticing a bunch of throwables tied to floating ropes sitting out on the perch boats as far as any we got close enough to see. Some of them were large enough to have the same requirements. Maybe the 'peace' officers were more concerned for our safety than for the perch boats?

It goes both ways. A few people in bass boats sometimes don't do everything they can to make the rest of us look good. But it sure translates easily for too many people into everyone in a bass boat is a loser jerk. We are all out there on the lakes a lot. How many idiotic things do we see by boaters all the time? How many are clearly unsafe? How many probably don't have the proper equipment, let alone the knowledge?

I know I see a ton more other kinds of boats most of the time on inland lakes in particular so yes, that's where I'm seeing the most violations by far. Not even close. Makes it a pretty weak argument to have anyone anywhere singling out bass boats as the big troublemakers.

We are an easy target, and too many people in authority in the past have basically said 'it's okay to dislike bass boaters. We don't like them either.' It's bad when too many bass boats fish too often. No one says, 'boy, this is a busy ramp. Some of these people need to come here less often.' No. What they say is, 'there's too many tournaments here tying up the ramp too often.'

If a lake is a good bass lake bass anglers are going to want to fish there as much as possible. The same thing can happen in areas where there are few public access sites. What is wrong with bass anglers wanting to fish as much as possible? NOTHING! I don't care if they are bass tournaments or 'just fishing.' They have the same equal first-come, first-serve opportunity as any other boater.

Why is the organized bass anglers evil because he/she is more determined to get those limited parking spots so he/she gets up earlier and gets there? Other boaters/anglers have the same opportunity. It's not the fault of the organized bass angler that these other boaters/anglers don't want the parking spot enough to get out there early when it is still available. ANY OTHER boater/angler gets there early and gets the spot - that's a 'good' thing. A bass boater does it - that's a 'bad' thing. BS. Total BS.

The real issue is the people responsible for providing public access are not meeting demand. They have purposefully often installed ramps with fewer parking spots than they could have as well to try to appease local riparians who don't want ANY parking spots at the boat ramp. If 100 people want to launch every day at lake then the MDNR (or whomever) should be working to figure out how to provide 100 parking spots. The answer is definitely not to single out one type of user (organized bass anglers) and tell them 'you need to cut back or leave early' so other (more preferred) users can have these parking spots. BS. Total BS.

If a lake can't handle having 100 people launch every day then the obvious answer is what is already in place - 100% non-discriminatory first-come, first-serve for EVERYONE. The most determined boaters will do what they have to to get those parking spots and I fault them nothing. If you know a ramp is popular and often full, and you don't wake up until 10 AM to head there to launch your boat... I'm sorry, but YOU'RE AN IDIOT! When idiots complain to me it goes in one ear and out the other.

But when an idiot complains to some other people they listen and maybe they sympathize even. Gosh, you didn't get a parking spot at Lake Orion on a July Saturday at 11 AM. That is so sad and unfair. There was a bass tournament? Oh, well, that's the problem. How about we tell those bass tournament guys they can only have 2 weekend tournaments a month? Would that make you happy? Okay, we'll do that. Then it will be fair. You can drive to the boat ramp at 1pm Saturday and still get a spot maybe. Oh, you still didn't get a spot. I guess that's a busy boat ramp. But hey, no bass boat trailers right? Much better...

If people want to get a parking spot on the weekend at a busy ramp, set your clock early and get there before it's full. Or maybe find a less busy lake and try that instead. Or maybe call the MDNR (or whomever) and ask them what they are doing about providing more public access? Yes, that might actually be the real answer.

The lack of public access is one of the top 5 reasons we are having issues with angler retention, reactivation and recruitment (the Big R3 - look it up on the Internet - it's everywhere and everyone is talking about it). They know it. Everybody smart knows it. The answer isn't singling out less preferred users and telling them to 'cut back.' The answer is to GET MORE PUBLIC ACCESS!! It's not easy. No one ever said it was easy. But it has to be done. Period. The end. Do your job!

I hope this clears some things up for some people. Thank you.