Going to Little Bay de Noc?

[Scott]

For anyone who is planning on going to Little Bay de Noc in Escanaba, MI here is a little bit of information you might want to be aware of.
First, this is a great fishery for walleye, pike, smallmouth and perch. The people in the baitshops, gas stations, hotels and restaraunts are all very friendly. The information you need is that the law enforcement and DNR do not like people from outside of Michigan.
We had a tournament up there this weekend and were basically harassed. If you put the boat on the trailer going any faster than idle speed you were given a ticet for power loading. We watched two Michigan boats power load and not get stopped. A boat from Wisconsin power loaded and was given a tciket as soon as he got out of the water. I have seen this on another occasion when we were fishing up there in Novemeber. Thier excuse is that they did not see the other boats power load even though we saw them sitting right there in their car the whole time.
When we were coming into the harbor to load a cop was standing on the shore yelling at us to see our life jackets and other safety equipment.
For a town that survives on tourism, fishing being one of the bigger attractions, I do not undersdtand why they want to treat people from other states so bably.
Maybe someone from this area can explain it to me.

Scott
Madison, WI

[Steve W.]

Scott, I fish Little Bay every year from mid Oct. until ice-up. I've always found the wardens up there to be very courteous and even helpful. I've been checked many times at landings and even once at the hotel when we were frying fish by our boats. I know they watch the powerloading pretty close, I got a warning several years back. I didn't see the sign and had definitely powerloaded. I'm not from MI and all I got was a warning.

[Bad Finger]

OK, being from MN, I have never even heard of a no powerloading law.

Why is it illegal?
Is that just MI, or all Lake Michigan?

[Lund_Dude]

From what I understand it is by county ordinance. That is the only place that I have fished in Michigan that had signs posted. The Wisconsin part of the lake does not have the same law (execpt possibly at some launch I am not aware of).

I too have found the wardens to be less couteous than they are in WI. I didn't notice that this was directed towards non-residents.

[Bayside]

There were several teams that were checked both saturday and sunday. One team was held for over a half hour because there wisconsin registration number ended with DL and the warden said he had to be a dealer (which is not the case) called the state of Wisconsin DNR, verified that he had no idea what he was doing and finally let our tournament boat go back to fishing!! No apology and had the nerve to check the same boat the the next day! The anglers felt they were harassed to the point where if we choose to have a tournament there next year we are going to make copies of everyone's registration cards and provide them to the Michigan DNR. This will hopefully help everyone involved and keep our anglers from being checked on a daily basis and detained for unreasonable periods of time. The power loading issue is a joke after watching the number of tickets they issued during the MWC tournament last month, I'm not even going to comment.

[Hunter]

You have got to be kidding! its bad enough it takes people 15-20 minutes to load or unload a boat. The guys powerloading are by far the fastest(which I am one). We do this to speed up the line, and get everyone on or off the water as fast as possible. What a racket, why arent they out there busting the people who are boozing and driving. They should be ashamed of themselves!

[jayw]

You want to see a DNR out in force come up there when the MWC is there, they are total dinks.

[SLIPKNOT]

I fished the tournament up there last weekend and I was very dissapointed in everyone from the UP. The wardens and sheriffs are HUGE PRICKS! We got stopped twice in one day by the same guys, one with the sheriff once without. The whole power loading deal is a joke, all the locals there were also being pricks to the tournament fisherman because the locals have to blame someone for their powerloading. I will never fish another tournament in the UP unless first place is $10,000 and I am the only boat in it.

PS If you are from Wisconsin like myself, bayside, scott, etc.. you are for sure going to get a fine of some sort for doing something that the pricks up there don't like!

BRIAN KORDUS
SLIPKNOT

[jbuck]

Hold on there guys! The launch in Gladstone is owned by the city of Gladstone. The reason for the no power loading sign is that your prop wash undermines the planks on the launch. That sign is easily visable from the dock, and has been there for a long time. Rules are rules, and if you don't want to follow them, pay the price. Some of you seem to think that the rules are just fore us locals. I happen to know a lot of out of state fishermen who come here to fish, and they also follow the rules and enjoy the fishing. To the few people who don't like the laws and other rules up here, Stay Away! We'll get along fine without you..

[KevinA]

While powerloading appears to be a very manly thing to do...it seems to be with the way many guys love to churn that water & rev those motors, it blows any rock...sand...bottom away from the end of the concrete pad. The end of the pad then becomes a cliff for larger boats to drop their trailer wheels off and at that point that launch is closed for quite a while. Either several guys get wet risk a rather painful slip or hernia or a tow truck with an extendable boom lifts the trailer so the guy can pull forward, talk about a high launch fee. If they don't allow it, then that's sort of the way it is. I'm sure most folks get over it can load the 'old-fashioned way'..when in Rome where a toga I guess.

[fishin majishin]

I agree with your colorful adjectives very much, but i don't feel it's directed at tourists or out of towners. This is quite equally spread around. I think cranking on sucks, and if they would learn to build a ramp properly, powering on would not be a problem. For now i guess we have to deal with it. I will talk with local tourist organizations about your feelings, and have them look up this post. Glenn

[legend]

Powerloading should never require more than idling onto the trailer. I have witnessed unbelievably stupid loading, using way too many rpm's. My design firm has engineered many U.P. boatlaunches, and recommended repairs on others, caused by propwash. These ramps are built with local, state and federal tax dollars. I hate to see these funds wasted due to unnecessary damage caused by poor powerloading techniques.

As far as the wardens and other law enforcement personnel in that area, maybe their past experience has caused them to scrutinize out-of-staters. My experience with some tourists is that they think rules are for someone else, and the fact they spend money exempts them from behaving properly.

The people in the U.P. are by far the most friendly and helpful you can find anywhere. If you have car or boat problems, they will stop and help you out like you would not believe. Local fishermen often get moved off their favorite spots by jerks, and deal with crowded launches and rude tourists. It is hard for them to see how your spending affects them, so cut them some slack please.
Regards.

[Bob G2]

When this question came up last year, the concensus was that powerloading was not legal across the state of Michigan. The responses came from mostly resident posters.

[TJ]

Scott:

They especially like to harass those out-of-staters driving sparkly, new Rangers. :)

TJ

[sib]

It's not uncommon here in michigan. A lake I fish here in the lower pennisula has signs posted also.

Power loading causes erosion at the end of the cement pad and I fish enough different places that I appreciate the no power loading laws.

I was fishing a lake monday evening(not posted) and was putting in, while many were leaving. I watched a guy power load his boat w/o ever backing his V8 4x4 truck down the ramp enough to get his tires wet. So, was this guy's truck so important that he couldn't get his p/u dirty? Yet he has no problem tearing up the ramp that belong to all of us.

Ever back your trailer off the end of the pad? You know it falls off the lip maybe 6" to a foot. Getting the loaded trailer up and over that lip can be a challange. Those lips are a direct result of power loading. I support those laws.

"go outside and play"
sib

[Cangl]

Its unfortunate that a situation like that developed in to us against them, and either side of the lines sir. But in Michigan by last years watercraft registration alone not counting new and unregistered craft we where at 850,000 users. With the higher horsepower engines now the norm even with fisherman we have ramp pad failure like no other state. My hats off to those of you that have not tore a trailer in half trying to pull out, or had to dissconnect a trailer and wade it out and one way or another,winch it back up a wall or bank to reconnect, but I'm not one of them unfortunately. Save the ramp means saving your trailer, axles, rearends, transmissions and tires. Is it true Hitler has a direct decendent employed in the Gladstone area?
Very interesting? ya

[Bill R]

Call me stupid but where I live we just make sure we pour another course of concrete so no one runs off of the end. Many municipalities are on a tight budget so they try to cut corners as much as possible and many times cause problems that they normally wouldn't have if they spent a little extra money and did the job right to begin with.

[KevinA]

I don't think anyone's going to call you stupid, but I have heard that hindsight makes everyone a genius. If you've monitored the level of Lake Michigan over the last few years then you'll know it's down a few feet. There are marinas in Door County that are going out of business due to the "water leaving". Down here in Racine the sea walls look like a good 3-3.5 feet of water is no longer around. The local Racine city launch (8 pad) was built years ago "to handle the 30 year low water level". Well, it wasn't enough. A year ago (before they fixed it) it got so shallow (before the pad ended) that I couldn't launch my 14 foot lund, let alone the offshore boat. Our pad-end dropped 4 feet. We had more than a few guys drop off the end & call a tow truck. "Using a little more concrete" is a good hindsight solution, however few folks, after 10+ years of high water, anticipated the water reaching the level it is right now. Given the angle of a launch, a three foot drop in the absolute lake level drops the water line on the pad around 5 foot...and you soon run out of pad.

[Tim/Iowa]

I go by the laws and rules but you convinced me to stay away and go some where else where they like to have people come and have a good time, I've never heard of such a thing and thanks for the warning, I'll be going some where else where they like to see out of staters have a good time and spend $$$$$$$$$

[legend]

Exactly! On Great Lakes launches, there are seasonal fluctuations of over 1 foot each year, plus the historical high/low cycles. Low water levels in the spring, increasing as the season progresses. Oppoaite of rivers and inland lakes. The difference between Lake Michigan's high and low levels is great, something like 7 feet. On Superior, I know it is greater than 4 feet.

Perfect launch sites with deep water close to shore are hard to find. Dredging adds significant costs, and can have environmental issues. The grade of the launch is important, there are standards that must be met for public launches.

Even when there is sufficient length of concrete ramp, propwash removes gravel and small rocks placed between the planks, making it easier for ice to grab hold and push out of alignment. Typically these are 4 foot wide now, they used to spec. narrower planks.

The whole point is that the prohibition of powerloading is in response to a real problem, not to target visiting anglers. Back your trailer in a little more and drive on without goosing it. Crank it a few turns if needed. What is the big deal?
Regards.