FYI Flaming Gorge Launch

[Dungee]

I should've posted this earlier, but better late than never. In mid-august we took the boat up to the Gorge, before launching we spoke with the DNR guy (at the Mustang Ridge ramp) who asked us the usual. This was the 19th, after telling him we'd been at Powell last he asked for my certificate of the boat being cleaned, I explained we took out on the 16th of July and since it was summer we were well past the seven day drying period. He then proceeds to tell me that Flaming Gorge doesn't go by that, its just 30 days period no matter what time of year, and that apparently there is no science behind the drying times so the biologists up there just go with 30 days. Luckily for me that day I had had my boat drained and dried for over 30 days. Now, I'm perfectly fine with this rule, I am glad they seem to be going above and beyond (even tho the DNR guys are still only there certain times) and wish more reservoirs did the same.

My issue is where the crap was I suppose to learn or know about this before hand? The Gorge is almost 4 hours away, now maybe I could've gone to a different marina and gotten it cleaned but who knows. This info isn't in the fishing guidebook under "watercraft restrictions," "rules for specific waters," or "stdofthesea." It's also not been anywhere else I have googled or looked, now maybe it is somewhere and I just missed it? Fact is its at the very least hard to find if at all. Anyway, just thought I'd share even though its not directly related to Powell. Hope this helps someone.

Preston

 

[BartsPlace]

I had a similar experience at Starvation.

I left Powell and did the inspection, got the tag, but did not do the decontamination. A few weeks go by and I'm invited to go with friends to Starvation. I was legal at that point, but I had heard somewhere that some reservoirs were enforcing a mandatory 30 days for Powell boats (I think it was originally just specific to ballast carrying boats - which I am not). So, I figure, what the heck, and I head over to Utah Lake State Park for a decontamination anyway. The nice DNR lady there tells me there's no need and waves me off.

So, that next weekend I'm at Starvation. We had more people there than boat space so we left some on the beach to play. I'm out in the lake pulling a tube and missed a cell phone call from a buddy on the beach trying to tell me the DNR officer wants me to come in because I had been to Powell in the last 30 days. I'm not sure what good it would have done to come in at that point anyway. I didn't find out about any of this until later in the day. I guess my buddy convinced the officer that I had done everything according to the book and that I didn't have any ballast tanks - and the DNR guy was either satisfied with that or didn't have time to come meet me in person.

If there are new rules, we definitely need a more prominent way to see/hear them!

This post from Wayne does talk about the 30 day dry time for ballast tanks and raw-water systems -
https://wayneswords.net/threads/qm-decontamination-at-bullfrog.49/

 

[Dungee]

Thanks Bart, that's a great thread, I must have forgot after seeing it wasn't applying to our boat. I still didn't come across anything similar though in a brief google search applying to the new 30 days though. You'd think an announcement like that would be plastered all over places of info for the Gorge, or the fishing guidelines manual.

 

[Endurance]

Great info. I have decided that whenever I am going to launch within 30 days of a Powell trip into a clean lake, I will just make an appointment for a decon before I launch. Less hassle and I am sure I won't be the guy that infests a previously clean lake.

Making an appointment for a decon seems better than doing as I'm leaving Powell for two reasons: First, I might go more than 30 days between non-Powell trips and might not have to do the decon at all. Second, a clean lake might or might not accept a Powell decon, but if they do it themselves, they will surely accept it.

 

[Ryan]

I'm glad that Colorado isn't the only state that struggles with consistency and proper communication on these issues.

I am far from a "big government" guy, but it sure seems to me that this should be a Federal issue.......