Lincoln Lake 6/26

[CubanFisherman]

I fished Lincoln Lake and the connecting chain of lakes (Kent County) Sunday afternoon with good success. Between my dad and I, 2 pike, 10 bass, and at least 50 assorted panfish were boated. We were using minnows, crawlers, and GULP! worms. Overall, a great day on the water.
Could someone tell me how to post pictures? Inserting them here doesnt seem to work. Thanks.

[BassTech]

is the new ramp finished, then? how is it? Have they put in a dock or anything?

[CubanFisherman]

The new ramp is far nicer than before. Dock and everything. Much more parking space. Having said that, the cops were handing out citation warnings to those parked up the street because all spaces were filled.:confused:

[CubanFisherman]

After recieving a citation warning, my dad e-mailed the sherriff with a few questions. Here is his response:
> The parking spots at numerous launches have been reduced, this was
> intentional by the dnr. if there are no parking spots available you
> would not be able to park at the ramp... this has been our number one
> complaint , and citation so far this summer. sorry for the
> incinconvenience.
>
> Don

I appreciate the officer's sensible responsiveness in this matter. However, I wouldn't like to be sent home from a good fishing lake simply because the recreational boaters got there first. What are your opinions on the DNR reducing parking space?

[glugger]

The same thing happened to me at Camp Lake in Sparta. They cut the available Parking in half last year.
I received a $35 parking ticket on Fathers day.
The Jet Skis beat me there that afternoon.
NICE :rant:

[wecker20]

Sounds like a bunch of B.S. to me. Did you look good and hard to see if a car was parked where trucks w/ trailers are only allowed? One phone call will take care of that. ;)

[CubanFisherman]

glugger, I noticed the same thing at Camp Lake. We parked elsewhere, and luckily, the police weren't on patrol.

Another thing to add about the issue at Lincoln: My dad talked to a woman who lived on the residential street near the boat launch. She says a few of the locals don't like all the boat traffic, and some of them have been parking their boat trailers in parking spots. That, more than anything, makes me angry.

[glugger]

The parking ticket had a complaintant signature on it.
So what happened is one of the locals call the Sheriff on me.
There were 3 other trucks that had tickets also.

[dtg]

I tried to go to Murray the other weekend and found the lot absolutely full, rather than risk having a local call the police on me for parking on the road, I took off and went to Wabasis. Good for me as I caught a bunch of perch, a couple of crappie and some pretty sunfish.

The wierd thing is it sure didn't seem like there was all that many boats on the water. I figured some of the locals parked their truck/trailers to fill it up, who knows.

I guess I'm going to have to get there earlier in the AM

[glugger]

What the root cause of the problem is the weekend warriors.
Jet Skis and Water skiers cause so much havick on the Lakes that the people living their become jerks.
Its too bad because the fisherman are paying the price!

[Jeffrey Sr]

Not to stir the pot, but a lot of the trucks with trailers were not parked where they were supposed to be and cutting down the parking spaces. So if some got a citation for parking where they were not supposed to be on Lincoln Lake I dont consider it unjustified. I have not seen locals park there cars in the lot though. Hopefully thats not the case.

[CubanFisherman]

I agree, Jeffrey Sr, and I hope I haven't created the image that the locals and authorities are the enemies. Glugger got it right. It's the pleasure boaters that completely disregard everyone else on the lake. If only they knew the rules, then I might not give them a second thought. I just like to fish as much , and as efficiently as I can. It seems as if that is getting ever harder to do. Thank you all for your comments!