Small Lakes

[MJHSupra]

That is exactly the process. You go through the first inspection and if you show evidence of contamination you have to go through immediate decontamination. Plus, usually you haven't been on the lake for a day, you have been on the lake for a week and just had to pack all you gear up, boat for a couple hours to get to the marina, get all your gear off of a houseboat, make sure everything is clean, and then you go in for the inspection. If you pick the wrong day to get off the lake, the inspection line can be 2 hours long. If you don't get the tag and inspection paperwork, your nightmare comes true if you encounter a secondary inspection station with police just outside the park where there is no place to hide, which can result in a $750 fine.

At every other boat ramp in the state, you have to declare your most recent body of water before launching. They check the records of recent launches to confirm you were truthful. If not you get red-flagged and get a secondary inspection, which may happen regardless of whether or not you were truthful. If you were recently out of state or at Lake Powell, you will automatically have to go to the decontamination station unless it was completed at Lake Powell already and you have documentation. No charge for decontamination, fortunately.

Good info. I'm probably like most people in TN that do not have any idea of those processes. Wow.

If the country-folk down here had to go through all of that with all of our lakes . . . lookout. I can just see the reaction of the bass guy's face in the jon boat getting written up with a fine for no inspection or paperwork.

[Tommy2slow]

I am on a small lake. Not sure how many acres it would be. Definitely have to be careful about where we surf and how we are impacting our neighborhood. Running a business on lake kind of puts us under a microscope of sorts so we have to be extra mindful of our wake. Not every boat on the lake is so careful unfortunately. One would expect most of the issues with people surfing close to shore coming from the people dropping their boats in the lake for the day. That’s not the case, the most problematic boats are a few property owners on the lake that surf wherever they wish. Lots of shore erosion the last few seasons, trees falling into lake and other evidence. You get used to having other boats nearby. Hopefully everyone is surfing the same side so that we are at least circling the lake in the same direction.

Looked it up and my lake is 500 acres. Can really only surf the larger basin with the red pin in the screenshot. The shape of the lake lends itself to always being able to find a spot sheltered from the wind for skiing or wakeboarding. No restrictions, regulations or inspections up here of any kind. The southern part of the province has tighter restrictions as they have the mussel problems and Eurasian milfoil to contend with. I read another thread about lakes with gators and are very pleased that there is nothing in our lake that wants to eat you! We are 45 minutes out of town with two public launches so the lake is busy on the weekends.


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[2in2out]

Good info. I'm probably like most people in TN that do not have any idea of those processes. Wow.

If the country-folk down here had to go through all of that with all of our lakes . . . lookout. I can just see the reaction of the bass guy's face in the jon boat getting written up with a fine for no inspection or paperwork.

Those are the ones that are the major contributors, or any boat with a live well.

There is concern about ballast tanks, but it seems the inspectors are not as concerned.

The mussels are a bad thing in that they filter algae that native fish eat and change the pH of the water. No native fish eat them, so they reproduce uncontrolled. Another issue is whirling disease which can be carried in water left in the boat, hence why plugs must be out during travel on any roadway, and you are advised to keep them out during storage.

[larry_arizona]

The reality is the lakes adapt, you can’t prevent it.


Michigan has had them for 40+ years.

I will be honest, if I had to Decon my boat every day or face stiff fines, no way would I own a boat.

The lake my cottage was on for 20 years “caught them” water quality improved significantly, fish are still plentiful, sand bars are still nice. Occasionally you might cut you foot on a rock that has a few on them.

It’s the bigger lakes that have power plants and water intakes that suffer the most with plugged pipes etc.

Removing western states off my boat travel list.....

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[sandm]

The reality is the lakes adapt, you can’t prevent it.
Michigan has had them for 40+ years.

Removing western states off my boat travel list.....

larry, couldn't agree more. those that think they are not there just haven't found them yet. they never impeded recreation nor water issues in wisconsin and like michgan have been there for many many years.

you're welcome at mead anytime. although you will have to spend $13 on an invasive sticker that's the end of it apparently all the money collected goes to fund a fruitless effort at tahoe, coincidentally where the state capitol is

just don't bring your 2-stroke jetski with ya.....

[zabooda]

Excellent lakes out west but you pay big time except for Federal operated facilities. I quit boating Idaho when they imposed out of staters higher invasive species than their own residents. $28 but it is good for all year. Each state should cover their own programs.

[Zog]

The reality is the lakes adapt, you can’t prevent it.


Michigan has had them for 40+ years.

I will be honest, if I had to Decon my boat every day or face stiff fines, no way would I own a boat.

The lake my cottage was on for 20 years “caught them” water quality improved significantly, fish are still plentiful, sand bars are still nice. Occasionally you might cut you foot on a rock that has a few on them.

It’s the bigger lakes that have power plants and water intakes that suffer the most with plugged pipes etc.

Removing western states off my boat travel list.....

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It's really not that bad. You generally only have to decon if you are coming off of Lake Powell. You also have to maintain your launch certificate. We launched 2x a week last year in lakes besides Powell and only had to decon the one time when we came off of Powell. When we went to the inspection station, the decontamination station at the marina at Powell was broken, so they tagged our boat and it had to be removed when we took it to a decontamination station at another lake, of which there are plenty. Unfortunately, the guys at the other lakes don't really know what they are doing. They use the plunger sticks to feed your ballast tanks and you have to fill the bags about 50% full and let the water sit for 5 minutes. It took about 45 minutes to get all the tanks and the cooling system fully decontaminated and then we could launch.

By the way, the biologist at Lake Powell had indicated they are finding quagga in catfish and striped bass gullets. They just don't eat enough to make a difference.

[larry_arizona]

Just wait until you get Asian carp out west.

https://youtu.be/uqykDINEcGo

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[DNIXD99]

Our 2nd lake is about 19,600 acres and most of it is pretty wide open and has some large vessels on it.

You have to take Dramamine before you get on that lake tho......

[rdlangston13]

You have to take Dramamine before you get on that lake tho......

Really? I've never gotten motion sickness on a lake. Just on a 150 ft crew boat offshore in 10 ft seas, that was a miserable 18 hours.