North Lake May 2,3

B

Boudreaux

Well-Known Member
I try to avoid weekend crowds, but the weather was just too good the first weekend in May this year. Gorgeous 70 degree days, 63-67 degree water temps and a variety of hungry fish. Lots of other folks thought so, too, including participants in a fishing tournament. We were all squeezed into a single launch lane at the Executive Ramp with line ups of 8-10 waiting in line to launch or retrieve. It was surprisingly efficient, however. Everyone cooperated and it was kind of like clockwork. The cleaning station was busy Saturday with mixed species including quite a lot of crappie. Sunday, tournament guys confirmed smallmouth numbers seemed fewer this year. Wife and I did OK on Sunday with a dozen fish on Ned Rigs (pumpkin and green colors) tipped with worm (I swear the worm helps with a lite bite, and the SMB were not being aggressive at all) and trolling swim baits. Morning was best by far, afternoon was slow. Water is certainly low, 6 feet max coming past the remaining marina at Bullfrog which apparently will have been completely moved to Halls by next week.

Speaking of Halls, we were “courtesy stopped” for education by NPS rangers for going too fast at the wrong place thru Stanton/Halls area. I tried to do the right thing, slowed to wakeless at the wrong place and resumed speed at the wrong place, confused by the plethora of bouys near the Stanton side at the Halls bouy field. I suggest, if going up lake from Bullfrog, err on the side of caution and safety and go wakeless as soon as you leave Bullfrog Bay and stay wakeless until you pass the last bouy of any kind near Halls, and vice versa coming back. It’s truly a mess. The rangers were nice, trying to educate boaters in a daily changing scenario. Memorial Day forward is sure to be quite the scene there for everyone sharing a small space transiting the new HallFrog Marina area.
 
On my mid-April trip, I was also caught unaware of the new "HallFrog" wakeless area. I was well into it when I pulled back the throttle.
On my late-April trip, I slowed only to be passed by another boat that blew right through. IMHO, they need an information sign at the ramp.
On the other hand, everyone seems to be ignoring the "no trailers after this point after April 1" sign when heading down to the ramp.
That having been said, I have long been confused by the rather haphazard placement of the white ball buoys at both BF and Halls. It appears to me they are finally removing - or relocating - them.
 
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phinzup said:
On my mid-April trip, I was also caught unaware of the new "HallFrog" wakeless area. I was well into it when pulled back the throttle.
On my late-April trip, I slowed only to be passed by another boat that blew right threw. IMHO, they need an information sign at the ramp.
On the other hand, everyone seems to be ignoring the "no trailers after this point after April 1" sign when heading down to the ramp.
That having been said, I have long been confused by the rather haphazard placement of the white ball buoys at both BF and Halls. It appears to me they are finally removing - or relocating - them.
Click to expand...
The rangers showed me a map on his phone of the marina area with an orange line drawn in around the wakeless area. I should have taken a photo of it, but figured it would be findable online and I would share it here.So far, not. They were aware of Wayne’s Words. If anyone can find this, or can ask the rangers to post it on WW, it would be helpful for us all. A sign at the ramp with that map would be VERY helpful, agreed. Especially since everyone now has to pass through that point (the ramp).
 
A saw 4 boats stopped over the course of about 90 minutes. They have marked the zone as wakeless in preparation for the marina move and have started enforcement already. I was really shocked since it was the first time I have seen an enforcement stop of any kind on the north end in over a decade and I have seen multiple people surf up against the Hall's break water after the sun went down and many people cut through the buoy field at full bore.
 
nzaugg said:
A saw 4 boats stopped over the course of about 90 minutes. They have marked the zone as wakeless in preparation for the marina move and have started enforcement already. I was really shocked since it was the first time I have seen an enforcement stop of any kind on the north end in over a decade and I have seen multiple people surf up against the Hall's break water after the sun went down and many people cut through the buoy field at full bore.
Click to expand...
The reason I went wakeless when I did was because there was a canoe paddling around in the now narrow area between Halls bouys and Stanton ( not because it was clearly marked, which it isn’t). Hard to see in the afternoon sun angle, and so small. And a boat ahead of me went through at max speed. I’ve seen kayaks (very hard to see) and paddleboarders in that area in the past, probably campers at Stanton. All squeezed into the same area now.
 
I was down there a few weeks ago. That is the most confusing wake zone I’ve ever seen in my life. Give me a break. Let’s have more clarity about what everybody is supposed to do. We’re coming up on a busy season.
 
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