People park vans on the launch ramp and fish out of the back

[Moveon]

WRONG thing to do. Don't park your car, truck or van on the launch ramp next to the water and sit there all day long and fish out of the back of the van. You are not the only one using the boat launch ramp and your denying others the use of the launch ramp when you park your van on the ramp blocking anyone else from launching their boat.

I found this at Otter Pit today and called the CO's on the TIP line and complained about this guy doing this. I even told them that they were not allowed to park there and fish but they ignored my advise. So hopefully the Indiana Conservation Officers will have better luck getting them to stop doing this. I hope they get a fine for their shellfish behavior and their stubbornness to not move when asked to move off the ramp.

At first I thought that maybe they were launching a kayak or something like a small boat out of the back of the van but then I noticed the fishing poles and the extra lawn chair parked on the ramp next to the van. I guess they can't read the sign right next to the launch ramp that says "Park clear of the ramp". Duh!!

If anyone else sees these guys parked on the ramp please help educate them as to why they can't park there. Not only is it against the rules but it might make other's mad if they get there and find out that they can't launch their boat. This is getting to be a common problem at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area more and more often.

[riverrat12]

It's a big problem at the New Albany ramp to. Every Fri. night pulling out sometimes as many as three vehicles parked up and down the ramp.

[Moveon]

What's the actual number for the DNR TIP line? Is that the correct number to call to report?
Sounds like a number that should be programed into all of our phones?

The number is 1 800 847 4367

This phone number is posted on the mail bulletin board in the South Blue Grass Pit's parking lot on the West side of the Parking lot. The phone number for Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildlife is also posted there as well as the State Police Phone number or maybe it's the Warrick County Sheriffs Department's Phone number.

And the signs out there clearly say to "Park Clear of the Boat Ramp".

Now the Concrete Boat ramp at Loon Pit is blocked off by IDNR at this time. I saw it blocked off today. And there were three people fishing on the ramp using lawn chairs on the other side of the barricade. I have no problem with this as the ramp is close and no one could launch a boat there right now.

I talked with the IDNR guy who collects the fishing report data from fishermen at Bluegrass this summer. His name is Boyd and he informed me that the ramp was closed off as the end of the ramp was dangerous and there was a big drop off there. Evidently these guys with the bigger boat motors are powering their boats up on their boat trailers with their boat motors and this washes the dirt away from the end of the concrete ramp creating a huge hole at the end of the concrete. This was one of the main reason that IDNR restricted these waters to trolling motors only in the beginning. And in the past they restricted boat motors to 10 hp or less to prevent the washing out at the end of the boat ramps.

I personally broke an axle on my boat trailer back around 2013 when my wheels dropped off the end of the concrete launch ramp at the South Blue Grass parking lot. I hurt my back trying to fix my broken axle so as to get my boat back home. My trailer wheels went off the end of the concrete into a hole that was created by boat motors powering up boats onto the boat trailers. Some guys use their 200 HP boat motors to push their boat back up onto the trailers the last 6" instead of using the pulley crank on their trailers. You can watch them doing this and imagine how much of the lake bottom is washed out by those powerful motors.

Maybe IDNR could push some rip rap rock into these holes that would be heavy enough not to wash away and fill the holes at the end of the concrete ramp.

I was there when they made the concrete ramp and saw it up on the shore before they pushed the concrete slabs into the water. They pour the concrete on dry land and then push the concrete slabs down the ramp into the water.

When the lake water is low it's easier for the trailer wheels to go off the end of the concrete slab and into the dirt or hole.

Bluegrass has so many people using the lakes that the holes get washed out faster these days. IDNR has a special trailer with a blade on the back of it that they can use to push loads of gravel into the water on the ramp and that helps to fill the holes back up. But it wont' take long for a big powerful boat motor to wash the gravel back out of the hole again.

The only time I can fish out there is when the water is at the right level. If it's too high I can't launch my boat right and if it's too low I could have my trailer wheels drop off into those holes again. Once the wheels drop off the concrete it's hard to get them back up onto the concrete and get the boat out of the water.

When the IDNR built the launch ramps they didn't angle the slope steep enough to make it easy to launch the boat. I had 8" wheels on my boat trailer at first when it was new. I added 12" wheels to it after I got it home. So the boat sits higher now. I have to back up further into the water to get my boat to float up off the trailer now. So the shallow angle of these ramps make me have to back down further into the water before my boat will float off the trailer. I'm just saying. I'm glad that we have the concrete ramps as I would never fish out there if not for them. Before they build the concrete ramps I could not launch my boat out there as I don't have a 4 wheel drive truck. My back wheels can't get into the water as the algae make them slip and I can't get my truck out of the algae or water. I had to be towed out one time in the past. They really need to figure out a way to keep the concrete free of the algae so that the ramps are not so slippery.