calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

[fishrdan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Pave us our road at goverment already,man it makes me mad when they waste money on things that dont matter.

Hey jj, have you been down the dirt road (goat path) going down to the water at Government? I was thinking of dragging my jon boat down there and shore launching, but not sure how the shore was there, loose sand and gravel or solid ground??? LV wash is about the right size for my jon boat now, lots of protected areas, but I don't dare launching at Hemminway and getting stuck over at LV wash. (Agree with the wasted $$$, different priorities I guess :wacko

Goodness gracious, great Bowl of Fire!

Looks like a cool area, kind of a hike getting back there from what I've seen, dunno maybe there's an old road that'll get close in there. It's good to get off the beaten path though, here's something my daughter found a couple months ago out at Valley of Fire (son holding it).

 

[12vMan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Amazing how they shed like that, eyes and all. Very cool.

 

[jjacobs007]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Hi fishrdan,, The goat path to water at goverment is always a mix of sand and hard rock. If you have a 4x4 and a john boat you will be fine there to the water,even a two wheel drive is fine as long as you dont stop in the sandy areas wait for the chunk rock to hit the brakes.If there is a stuck situation just let the air out of ur tires to 15 or 20 and you will be out if you didnt sink them already.Theres only a few spots that will let you get the tires wet.due to the ditches dug on the sides of the road.If you google earth you can see the spots that lead to water.We usto take my 12ft john boat there and carry it down 60ft or so to the water and motor too.Was always fun going down but up was a pain.Theres so many good spots back in that area for fishn you wont regret it.

 

[12vMan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

National Park Service - Lake Mead National Recreation Area:

Volunteers needed! Join the OZ program! Park rangers are looking for a group of 6-10 adventurous volunteers to take on the OZ boat to clean-up the shoreline of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. If you have a group, please contact Chris at 702-293-8711 or christopher_pietrafeso@nps.gov.

 

[12vMan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

If you're heading out to the lake this weekend, or already there, for all you Las Vegonians :joyous: here's the weather

 

[12vMan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

I heard through the coconut telegraph that the NPS is taking over the land based services at Echo, so all is not lost yet. There's even talk about re-opening the fuel dock, albeit a ways off right now. But there's hope! :happy:

 

[fishrdan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Thanks for the info on Govt wash JJ. (I didn't make it out there, kid wouldn't have liked the carpy weather.)

I heard through the coconut telegraph that the NPS is taking over the land based services at Echo, so all is not lost yet. There's even talk about re-opening the fuel dock, albeit a ways off right now. But there's hope! :happy:

That's good news right there!!!

I say, take all the staff occupying those little booths heading to the lake, and put them to work out at Echo... :topsy_turvy:

 

[jjacobs007]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Thanks for the info on Govt wash JJ.

I say, take all the staff occupying those little booths heading to the lake, and put them to work out at Echo... :

YOUR WELCOME FISHER,,, AS FOR THE SECOND PART I BELIEVE WE WOULD GET CHARGED DOUBLE LOL

 

[jjacobs007]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

My first camping trip to mead in two yrs is only weeks away!! Cant wait,boat is ready,camping gear still looks foreign to me lol.i just cant wait to sit by the bushes make a fire and just listen to the birds and the wind and water lapping against the hull.i just hope my girl who gives me rides at calville hill is there, i hate walking up that hill,i will gladly give her $5 per ride ....last time i was there she made $10 off me.it was funny i forgot something in my truck at 6am and hit the call button lol,somebody answered and said i dont think there running yet,,but she was there at my truck to give me a ride back down.its gonna be a great camping trip with many stories to tell i am shure!

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Cool weather report......I"ll be in Henderson Monday 3/11 for my monthly lake fix..Looks like good weather.....Jim..

If you're heading out to the lake this weekend, or already there, for all you Las Vegonians :joyous: here's the weather

 

[sam60]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

The wind sucks more than it blows....be careful out there.

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

arrived in henderson on mon 3/11....can you say boating weather or what...78 degrees going to maybe 90 this week...going out friday for sure...

 

[fishrdan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

can you say boating weather or what...78 degrees going to maybe 90 this week...going out friday for sure...

Same here!!! I'm draggin the kids out to the lake for the weekend, cold water or not. Cold water just means mo-fishing

 

[jjacobs007]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

I will be at calville bay from mon till wednesday at the campground and fishing swallow bay.

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Beautiful day on the lake Friday 3/15...Water temp 60 to 64 clouds until about 11:00...One lost large mouth and saw about 10 others in the shallows...Fished Vegas wash area....

 

[sam60]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

NO WHINERS, the lost fish is the biggest!

Our daughter and her family are taking their pontoon out for the day tomorrow. Hope it is nice then too!

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

oh you got that right..ha ha ha..it should be another nice day. Im hoping to get out again b4 heading back to Cali....

NO WHINERS, the lost fish is the biggest!

Our daughter and her family are taking their pontoon out for the day tomorrow. Hope it is nice then too!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Beautiful day on the lake Friday 3/15...Water temp 60 to 64

Same here, beautiful weekend. Fished south of Echo Friday night with no luck, lots of fish on the sonar, but no takers. Saturday morning trolled around up by Overton Beach for 3-4 hours for nothing, so I let the kids do their thing the rest of the weekend, swimming and messing around on shore. Sunday morning we got a 5am wake-up call from Mother Nature as a stiff NW wind started blowing directly into us, along with 2-3' waves. Pulled up anchor, drove around the corner and back to sleep, by 8am it was dead calm again.

FYI, the Echo road is under construction and my boat got a light coating of dust heading in Friday, Sunday afternoon they were watering the road so no dust, but a bit of mud on the trailer. Just a heads-up so you don't haul your spotless rig down 4 miles of dirt road...

 

[sam60]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

First day of spring tomorrow and the wind will be whipping around Southern Nevada. I am reminded ( As if I would ever forget ) of a day on the lake about a year ago when my decision to take 4 family members out across the Temple Basin could have turned out to be a very bad thing. If you haven't been out in 300' of water in the middle of a wind storm, please think twice.....

April 13, 2012:

Man did we have a rough time! This is long winded, but here was our 24 hour trip to TB-

Spare tire mount broke between ranger station and store. Kids in car behind us retrieved it.

Set out with gusts to 30. Had a rough time picking my son up at the dock, boat died and wouldn't crank and blew into dock and added some pinstripes to the starboard side. Boat then cranked and started and we headed for Hualapai. Too windy so we decided to get into the bay on the north side of the temple. Bad idea to cross a large body of water. Then the wind really picked!

We were just west of the temple with storm clouds to the se and sw in 5' + swells and it dies again. I thought my wife, daughter and grandson were going to die of fright. My son tried to keep them calm while we were falling left and right in the waves. I got on channel 16 and notified the NPS of our situation. They kept in contact and let us know that they didn't have any rangers in the area.

As I was looking at the boulders that the wind would likely force us into I tried the key again for the 20th time or so and it fired. We got back into little burro bay and figured that we'd hunker down. We anchored and floated for about an hour and figured we just stay there for the night.

Then it got worse. So windy even in a narrow, shallow area that we couldn't get the anchor to hold. We circled around and tried to find a spot where my son could get off of the bow and try to put stakes in the rock to tie off to and as we approached, it died again. This time we were blown aground and dead in the water.

We tried to push off with the dock hook and it wouldn't budge. After about 10 minutes it fired again. Wife and son climbed into the water and pushed us off the rocks. I decided that our only resolve was to get back to the marina. We headed back out toward the bigger water and advised the NPS of our status. After getting near the temple, it was real bad still and my wife said that she couldn't go through that again. We went back and circled around in the small water and called NPS again. I figured it would be better to get family into a safer boat and pay for a tow before it died again.

The NPS contacted the marina and they called me back and said that they didn't want to send his guys out in this weather. At that point I decided to just go for it and head directly into the wind and wherever I ended up, hug the shoreline back to the marina. By the time we got back into temple bay, the waves were down to 3' and the gusts had backed off. The wind was coming straight from the marina and we slowly crossed and made it back to the dock.

Another wind storm came up and we had to stay tied to dock while trailer sat ready. I walked over to marina office dock to see about renting a slip for the night and sign said closed due to weather. So we loaded it in the wind on third attempt. Rented a RV space in the trailer spaces next to Parrot Heads place and camped for the night.

This morning started out with 20 mph winds as we ate breakfast in the boat and watched the white caps from the camp site. We waited until after 9:00 and the wind kept blowing. Another boater that stayed grounded the day before stopped by and said that he wasn't going out again today. Forecast for tomorrow is t-storms. We decided lesson learned and packed it up glad to have survived.

That was a scary day. Hoped to get some good pics, but this was all I could get. (pics not copied)

Back to 3-19-2013, That was some scary Chit, If you plan on heading out there, make sure that you are not like I was and think you are prepared no matter what comes up....I wasn't !

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: calling all lake mead boaters! nevada

Scary stuff Sam......I remember reading that last year...You never know what is going to happen on the water...I have spent some scary nights on Mead tied down fighting the wind all night...Be safe all....Jim.