Boat landing issue on Hook lake, who to call?

[NEANGLER]

The boat landing on Hook Lake north of Hutch is really shallow due to all the rain that washed in sand and silt. It was already bad last year and is really bad now - hard to even launch a small fishing boat. Any idea on who to contact at the DNR to look at getting it dredged down? Going to be a major pain in the a$$ to get my boat out and I have one of the smaller ones on the lake. Thanks

[jentz]

AH Hahaha get it dredged?? Just what do you expect from the DNR? Think they should cater to you! Use a smaller draft boat or dont use it!! Maybe buy a shovel and start a community action WOW????

[NEANGLER]

Wow back to you, it is a public landing maintained by the DNR, with a dock, concrete landing, etc. If you can't get a boat in and out of the lake, which is designated recreational, then it should be fixed. Its not just for me, its for all the people who want to use this lake from people who live on it or ones who just want to fish or have a good time. They fix and repair landings all the time, not sure why you have to come off like a a$$. My boat is a fishing boat, 18ft deep V so not the big ski boat types - that's not my thing.

Plus we just moved here so asking a simple question - welcome to MN.....................

[NEANGLER]

Plus right now it is at high to normal water levels so has nothing to do with low water. And by the looks of it, it may have been dredged before as a large pile of sand and rock is just to the right of the landing about 30-40 yards.

[EBass]

Hutchinson Area Fisheries Office

20596 Highway 7

Hutchinson, MN 55350

320-234-2550

[email protected]

Just googled Hutchinson MN DNR

[NEANGLER]

Thank you, I put in a call and left a message.

[pikerliker]

Sorry you got such a mean spirited response to your question NEANGLER. I didn't think it was out of line at all. There have been more of these type of responses on this forumn the last couple years I have noticed. Too bad. Used to be a very helpful forumn regardless of the question. Maybe it's the generation? Even if you think a question is silly you have to keep in mind that there are people of all different experience levels, interests, etc. Seems like a lot of people now think it's either my way or it's wrong. Not sure where you moved from but please don't base your opinion of MN residents on posts like that. Hope you get some help with the landing issue.

[Hester]

Sorry you got such a mean spirited response to your question NEANGLER. I didn't think it was out of line at all. There have been more of these type of responses on this forumn the last couple years I have noticed. Too bad. Used to be a very helpful forumn regardless of the question. Maybe it's the generation? Even if you think a question is silly you have to keep in mind that there are people of all different experience levels, interests, etc. Seems like a lot of people now think it's either my way or it's wrong. Not sure where you moved from but please don't base your opinion of MN residents on posts like that. Hope you get some help with the landing issue.

Agreed, haters are going to hate.

[leechlake]

Neangler,

some boat landings are maintained by the county. If you look the lake up on lake finder it should show if it is actually the county that maintains it so you'd need to call them rather than the DNR. Good luck getting this taken care of.

[NEANGLER]

Thank you for the information, I will look that up as well. We moved here from Nebraska and the DNR maintained the landings as well w maintenence, new Concrete, etc. I can understand if it's a dry year and can't launch, we had had that for years in NE but when your at a high to normal water levels I think it needs to be addressed. When you back down the ramp you tralier doesn't go down at a angle it goes straight out. It's about a foot or so of water almost the length of the dock.

Agreed haters are going to hate and maybe took me for some rich lake home owner. This isn't our second home, it's our residence and not huge by aNY means and sure as hell ain't rich. Just got lucky moving from a place that had a hot market on acreages aND bought when the lake market is still down. Overall people here, especially in Hutch, have been so friendly and nice - we have truly enjoyed moving here plus it's closer to family now too.

[workin4bait]

NEANGLER,

I also was unhappy by the first reply to this post!

I pretty sure the fisheries office is not in charge of maintaining the boatlandings. I think that falls under parks and trails. When I have dealt with the local fisheries office they seem very helpful,so they should point you in the right direction. Glad to hear you have found more "Minnesota nice" than "haters'.

workin'

[outdoors247]

Here's what the lake survey says. It looks like the DNR maintains this one.

DNR - Concrete A STATE-OWNED ACCESS WITH CEMENT PLANK RAMP.

[NEANGLER]

Happy to report that the state came out last week and dug out the landing. Pulled out the jet ski last week and it didn't even have the bunks under water so was in panic mode on my boat. Couple days later when I took my boat out notice they moved a lot of sand and repositioned the dock. Thanks for the info guys, my neighbor appreciated it so he could get his grandson out in the pontoon and fish which he couldn't launch before.

[pikerliker]

That sound great NEANGLER. I guess it wasn't such a "silly" request after all!

[NEANGLER]

Just an update on the landing, the came in this week and took out the old concrete pillars and replaced several and attached several more to go out deeper in the lake. Looks like they also graded and dug it out some as well. Great job and should be easier for people to launch their boats now - still a little shallow though, hopefully some spring rains will help that.

[gunner55]

There are going to be a lot of public landings statewide that are too shallow on the opener.Especially for the bigger fiberglass boats.

[mrpike1973]

Hi all I ran in to this today both landings on Belle were to shallow for me i have a small boat but on bunks. just could not get it off. the week before I went to ripley the west end was not in yet but the east was i ended up getting stuck finally got out so i called Litchfield parks. they got me in touch with the county. they said they will have it fixed by opener and said thanks. they didn't realize how bad it was they usually do a good job getting them done. This happened on manuella a few years back they went in fixed it and dug it out. thought your question was fine. I have a truck now but had a car before had lots of problems. i feel too we all help pay for it we should be able to use it.

[NEANGLER]

Yeah we put the pontoon in this week and we had to pull forward and back up and brake hard several times for it to slide off since it was too shallow. Should be fun getting it out this fall if we don't get some good rains this summer. Might have to put the wheeler in the back of the truck and winch it on the trailer.

Any word on depth at other landings in the hutch area - Jenny, Stella, Washington, etc. Going to drive around this week to check so I can figure out where to go for opener and will post what I find. My boat is a 18'+ deep V on bunks so it can be a challenge if the landings are shallow.

[mrpike1973]

Erie, Stella, Stahls should be good. Don't know about Washington. Manuella is not to bad but my boat is a little smaller than yours.

[NEANGLER]

thanks, I will check out Jennie,Collinwood, Washington, Spring, long and a couple others this week.

[NEANGLER]

Jennie, Spring and Long should be good for launching - they did just spray Jennie for weeds this week, all clear looks like Friday. Big Swan and Collingwood might be tricky if you have a larger boat, especially Big Swan since you will be launching in the sand. Good luck to everyone on the opener, looks like the weather will be decent for the most part.

[NEANGLER]

Well based on the amount of rain we had in the area it shouldn't be a issue launching at any of the landings now. Hook came up several feet in the last couple of days. Now if we could just get some stable dry weather to do some consistent fishing that would be nice.