IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Indiana => Ice Fishing Indiana => Topic started by: h2.0shaver on Jan 08, 2010, 10:27 PM
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Well they have recently put up no parking signs on the South End of Long Lake. I talked to a few guys out there this morning and they said that they have seen a state cop down there threatening to call the hook. Just beware. I know some guys are still gonna park there because they have been still. Lately the tow trucks and police have been busy with snow related accidents. I think when the snow dies down, theyre gonna start towing. Not good. Also, one of the guys I talked to out there told me that they went to Wauhob Lake this morning and they were told that they couldnt park at the old boat rental area. They said its private property. Atleast they went and asked. Im just relaying this information so dont bust my chops..lol
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Aren't there several spots on the south end between the two signs? Did they remove that option? Or are you talking about guys fishing outside the signs? I've wondered about the road going down to the ramp at Long, is it too slick to get back up?
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it's not to slick. we were able to park there between the judges house and the sign but unsure as to wether they have put signs up in that spot or not. thank the judge for this one fella's!
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While there used to be parking available between the two signs there is now a new sign in the middle of those that simply states "no parking". Looks like everyone has to park at the ramp and walk.
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While there used to be parking available between the two signs there is now a new sign in the middle of those that simply states "no parking". Looks like everyone has to park at the ramp and walk.
This is what I gather out of it too. Its just not worth it. If they do tow your vehicle, more than likely they will charge a "dig out" fee because of the snow. I had a car towed years back and they charged me like 130.00 (5 miles) . They said they had to dig out............b.s. Once your car gets towed, you dont have much choice but to pay what they want. If you dont get it out, they usually charge a daily storage fee. Sounds like a bunch of trouble that can be avoided by not parking there. Just one less place to park, nothing new. This wasnt due to garbage being strewn about neither cause I kept a good eye on this place and it was always clean.
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Cmon, just let em fish! >:(
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Come on guys dont you know thats JUDGE HARPERS lake. Make you vote for her. There i have said my peace. fishy
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Yea you dont want to upset the people who are sitting in thier houses doing nothing because its so cold out, all they have to do is make harder for people who enjoy the outdoors. Get a life couch potatos
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I emailed Jerry Davich from the post-tribune last nite ..hopefully he will write about this abuse of power.he did a series of stories about the guards and snobs in ogden dunes thinking they own public land and roads about a year ago...this seems funny that the STATE POLICE were on 600 n in valparaiso to harass ice fisherman. sounds like someones got a friend on the state police force .I argued with a county cop two years ago out there...the dnr was there too...they offered no help in the matter. Im not against the police at all ,but if this is due to mary harper not wanting people to park on the same street she lives on, it is B.S.. this has always been public parking...oh well ....i guess i will have to walk from the public access...Im gonna go buy the biggest loudest jambox i can find and fish right in front of her house from sunup till way after dark..I wonder if she likes gangster rap ... ;D mutha mutha mutha mutha :afro:
Now that's hilarious!!!! ;D
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It would be cool to have a south long lake get together right out in frnt Harpers place get as many people go and have a icebash ,let her call the PO PO . i will tell them to kiss my A S S . i will take a generator out there and plug in a bigscreen tv for everyone to watch a game and take a grill for brats. swiss cheese the ice ..im woud talk to some friends with quads and snowmobiles ,to help drag everyones stuff from the launch
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Ill buy a keg for that
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i'll bring a grill and brats, i'm in and not jokeing i think we should do this!!
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I'll bring my quad to help pull shanties sounds like fun
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fn-A i wanna go! sounds like it'd be worth the trip!
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I like the idea of getting the newspaper involved. I have been parking here for over 25 years. These people that live on these lakes think they own them. Slowly I have seen all our spots disapeare. No access to Public waters?? I used to be able to fish every lake in the Valpo chain. It was nice having all those choices. IN DNR is a joke when it comes to support and setting up access to all of our public waters. I look at Wisconsin and even a small ponds have access. Who's looking out for us IN fisherman? By the way the access on LONG was setup and paid for by a Bass fishing club. The Parking on -Flint 2-cars, Wahaub none, Mink Lake none, the back part of Loomis None. The DNR is good at writing tickets. Man this P"S me off.
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I've wondered about starting some type of Valpo Chain of Lakes Fisherman's Association that might work on these issues. Is there anything like that already? We have a great resource that we are losing. Any interest in something like this? If we work together on it maybe we could improve access.
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Wow! You guys are having some serious issues up there. I have visited your neck of the woods many times and what a wonderful place. Fisherman's paradise in deed. You guys have a valid point. These public waters are paid for by us (e.g. fishing/hunting license) so we should have public access sites. It is a perfectly good waste of good waters when those people who live on it complain. What's a month or two worth of ice fishing to these people. And there lies the problem with our youth. They don't get the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors bc of situations like this. These people would much rather have our children play video games then get out and enjoy our outdoors. >:( Just sayn
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Hey not from valpo, but close, and i grew up fishing over there alot. I would be willing to do anything to get those lakes back to us, the people who actually enjoy them. Let's make something happen, I'm in.
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The state of indiana does not do anything for thier sportsman but collect lisc. money and stock a few walleye and muskie> i have traveled to several states that treat thier sportsman like kings because they generate revenue our freaking governor wants to sell all are property and lakes, bunch of idiots.
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I've often wondered why there isn't more done to really improve the Valpo Chain of Lakes area. It's really a great resource with a lot of options but no one seems to be working on improvements. I could see a better boat ramp on Flint and Loomis as some first of those. I'm sure the Homeowners don't want it on Flint because of the increased boat use of it. I would think it will take a group of fisherman and interested parties working together to see any change. I know a ton of people fish these lakes(seems even more on the ice, than during open water). I'm not a political type but think some kind of group that could start speaking for the outdoorsman might make a difference. I'm not really sure how to approach it but would be interested in trying with some others. If you are interested, send me a pm and we can see where this will go.
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Im all for trying something to gain access also. I want Wauhob, Flint, Mink, all of them. And Im not talking about parking at the nearby businesses. I want to be able to enjoy myself without worrying about a tow or a ticket. I know a guy who parked at that hair dressers place and had 4 flat tires when he went to leave. He couldnt see his car from where he had to park to access Flint. Sounds like alot of places are having trouble with parking issues. Are there really that many PETA people now who are obsessed with anti fishing agendas? Or is it all just a my,my, my type of thing? I am atleast gonna email this Davich guy. I have enjoyed his articles in the past. Remember his one about Dune Acres? Same situation. They have a guarded shack with one way in and one way out. This land is PUBLIC. He did a good article on that.
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It's long past time for a state organization that is made up of anglers that supports anglers rights. I advocated this a long time ago but no one was interested. I see lake user conflicts only getting worse as time goes on.
Anyone remember Governor Otis Bowen? Way back when he was governor I believe back in the 80's a study was commissioned and showed our public waters would have serious user conflict by 1990. Nothing of course was ever done, and there are things that could have been done.
My personal gripe has always been a 10 mph speed limit on ALL lakes until 10 A.M would eliminate a lot of the problems we anglers have with big powered boats and jet skies in conflict with anglers. It's a simple solution that wouldn't stump on the rights of those that want to go fast the rest of the day until evening, while letting the guy that just wants to go out and fish a level playing field in the morning. Sure you can go on the weekdays, but why should we? Furthermore I've seen heavy traffic days on weekdays on local lakes in the summer too.
The truth be know I don't fish public lakes nearly as much as I used to. It's jut not worth the hassle of getting my blood pressure up. I have four ponds on the property and I'm blessed for that, but sadly many of you don't have that option.
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Wow this thread sure got buried fast. Was my post the kiss of death for this thread? I would have thought there would have been more discussion on the topic.
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I have been thinking of a few ideas that may be a start. I just don't have a decent map to find whether the Chain is within Valpo limits, or Unincorporated Porter County.
1. Porter County Commissioner John Evans (North District) is up for election, and will be looking for votes.
2. Valpo Redevelopment Commission, and Porter County Rec. are both putting forth a big effort to draw tourism, and those lakes could certainly be used as "sportsmans vacation", South Porter County is already making efforts to do this with the Kankakee.
3. If an anglers association was created a larger voice will be helpful, especially if it was on the tail of one of these already existing sportsmans groups. I am not a Duck hunter, however I know some of their associations of have really been sucessfull in acquiring land and rights.
I am sure some of you have probably been down this road with other groups, so maybe someone will help lead the way. Our local politicians, have the contacts and abilities to do what it takes to make this happen, we just need to figure out how to get them to do it. This is also worth posting on any other sportsman websites you guys frequent.
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Something you might look for. I used to live on a larger public lake in N.E in and we had (PUBLIC EASEMENT ) lots around the lake for such events. You will need to get a Plot map of the aera and see if t is marked as such. You wont be able to drive buy and see these lots with out a map. Its a hidden known fact you might want to look in to. They usually keep an extre 20-30 yrds of open lot right in between cottages, the land owners just mow and take care of it and dont want to let any one use it. But if you know where they are they cant stop you from it.
P.S. And with out proof they will do everything they can to try and stop you .
Hope this might help.
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Thanks guys and especially Rotney for contacting Jerry. I appreciate seeing your message to him and his reply. Your message to him was good and I'll bet it will get a response. I drove there today and took a couple pictures of these new signs. Here's the old sign that is on the south side of the road near the judges house....the arrow is pointing toward the end of the road(which is a deadend) and the lake is just on the other side.
(http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz210/crappiehunter/P1060603.jpg)
You used to be able to park to the right of this, up to the sign in this picture....that is pointing to the right. About 5 trucks could park in between those signs.
(http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz210/crappiehunter/P1060604.jpg)
The new sign that's causing the problem is the one that says...."no parking to the end of the road"
I talked to a homeowner on Long Lake today and she said they are not in Valparaiso city limits. She also said she is not aware of problems between the ice fisherman and homeowners.
I've been pming with a few guys about this and other issues. Here's a proposal that I've written up, that might help impact this issue and several others we face. What do you guys think? Anybody want to join us?
Valparaiso Chain of Lakes Fisherman's Association
Our Mission: “To expand fisherman access to the various lakes that make up the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes in Porter County, Indiana”.
Our Vision: “To see fisherman enjoying each of the lakes and working with homeowners to increase the quality of the outdoors experience on the lakes in the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes”
Our Values:
The Sport and Recreation of Fishing
Respect for the Lake front homeowners
Water Quality
Access to the Lakes
Fishery management and stocking
Possible Strategies for accomplishing our Mission, Vision and Values:
1. Evaluation of each of the lakes in regard to access and quality of fishing experience.
2. Investigation of parking and access laws around each of the lakes.
3. Newspaper coverage of the access problem.
4. Meetings with homeowners associations to hear their concerns and share fisherman concerns
5. Meeting with City Government and County officials to talk about enhancing the natural resources of the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes.
6. Clean up projects to keep accesses clean of debris
7. Construction of improved boat ramps and parking areas on appropriate lakes
8. Promotion of youth fishing
9. Petitions that gather names of supportive parties
10. Working with the DNR to stock and improve the lakes
11. Formation of a Leadership Team that works together to accomplish our mission, vision and values.
12. Periodic meetings to discuss and report on our findings and progress
13. Others to be determined
Next Steps: Should we meet? When? Where?
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Them signs wont be up too long.
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sounds like OJ if the judge don't like it get rid of it : :callcops: :callcops: :afro: :callcops: :callcops:
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Crappiehunter-
i think your onto something there partner!
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Hello Rodney,
Sorry for my delay to reply.
I just returned from vacation.
I will share it with my editors for a possible story or column.
I’ve also heard from other fishermen about this.
Thanks for contacting me, and take care.
Jerry
Jerry Davich
Metro Columnist
Post-Tribune Newspaper of Northwest Indiana
(219) 648-3107
Email: [email protected]
Blog: http://blogs.post-trib.com/davich/
Twitter at @jdavich
On 1/8/10 6:08 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Jerry , Im Rodney ...Im a icefisherman along with many others who are losing our public parking access on the south end of long lake in Valparaiso due to judge mary harper ,who resides on the street that some of us have been parking on for 30 years or more. Ive only been parking there 20. there has always been 2 no paking signs on either end of the parking area on the south side of the street pointing in an outward direction such as
< no parking no parking > the space in between the signs is enough for 4 or 5 trucks depending on how people park. mary harper knows this is public parking,and it always has been since this stretch of road was the old public boat launch.. I cant say for sure it was her ,but i think she had the county come out and put up a sign that says no parking to end of road...if that wasnt enough, they came out and put up a sign on the other side of the road a few days later. And as always on the north side of the road there was a sign ,no parking this side of street. the State Police were out there a few days ago harassing icefisherman ,threatening to tow cars and trucks if people didnt move them. STATE POLICE for a county road ,when people are sliding into ditches and being runover by semitrucks in one of the worst snowstorms in years . STATE POLICE to remove peoples cars from a public parking area for fisherman ..because mary harper bought the house at the end of County road 600 N in valparaiso. Nobody walks on her property ..no one leaves trash out there, because we all know she lives there, and actually the icefisherman i associate with on the frozen water and online through a great message board ( ICESHANTY.COM ) are some of the best ,most respectful of others property bunch of fellas a guy could ever want to fish around. I dont know who makes the rules in Valparaiso , but i dont think its judge mary harper or the STATE POLICE . I go by the name Rotney72 on Iceshanty.com if you are interested in checking it out..Thank you very much for your time, im sure you get alot of screwy emails , but this topic irks alot of nice people. Rodney.
Hey guys ...........I'm an icefishermen from Mishawaka ,In. It' all power and money . You all have very good pionts. But just fight fire with fire .Maybe print up some flyers and remind the B*tch how she got in office .Just :tipup: a thought .....PEACE OUT AND FISH ON .........
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Thanks guys and especially Rotney for contacting Jerry. I appreciate seeing your message to him and his reply. Your message to him was good and I'll bet it will get a response. I drove there today and took a couple pictures of these new signs. Here's the old sign that is on the south side of the road near the judges house....the arrow is pointing toward the end of the road(which is a deadend) and the lake is just on the other side.
(http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz210/crappiehunter/P1060603.jpg)
You used to be able to park to the right of this, up to the sign in this picture....that is pointing to the right. About 5 trucks could park in between those signs.
(http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz210/crappiehunter/P1060604.jpg)
The new sign that's causing the problem is the one that says...."no parking to the end of the road"
I talked to a homeowner on Long Lake today and she said they are not in Valparaiso city limits. She also said she is not aware of problems between the ice fisherman and homeowners.
I've been pming with a few guys about this and other issues. Here's a proposal that I've written up, that might help impact this issue and several others we face. What do you guys think? Anybody want to join us?
Valparaiso Chain of Lakes Fisherman's Association
Our Mission: “To expand fisherman access to the various lakes that make up the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes in Porter County, Indiana”.
Our Vision: “To see fisherman enjoying each of the lakes and working with homeowners to increase the quality of the outdoors experience on the lakes in the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes”
Our Values:
The Sport and Recreation of Fishing
Respect for the Lake front homeowners
Water Quality
Access to the Lakes
Fishery management and stocking
Possible Strategies for accomplishing our Mission, Vision and Values:
1. Evaluation of each of the lakes in regard to access and quality of fishing experience.
2. Investigation of parking and access laws around each of the lakes.
3. Newspaper coverage of the access problem.
4. Meetings with homeowners associations to hear their concerns and share fisherman concerns
5. Meeting with City Government and County officials to talk about enhancing the natural resources of the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes.
6. Clean up projects to keep accesses clean of debris
7. Construction of improved boat ramps and parking areas on appropriate lakes
8. Promotion of youth fishing
9. Petitions that gather names of supportive parties
10. Working with the DNR to stock and improve the lakes
11. Formation of a Leadership Team that works together to accomplish our mission, vision and values.
12. Periodic meetings to discuss and report on our findings and progress
13. Others to be determined
Next Steps: Should we meet? When? Where?
I would still park there and argue that the signs are contradicting. one says that we can park the other says no parking. MAKE IT CLEAR!!!!!!
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im in crappiehunter
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well lets get a petition started we cant say we have the best spots to fish compared to Alaska or Canada but we make due. we supposedly have to lie down and take it i think i have a right to fish anywhere if i buy a license my money my say, we own a part of that lake or stream, and as far as parking are taxes pay for the roads the get paved and plowed so looks like we own some of that too
im on board
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When I first read the sign I took it as "to the end of the road". That would mean that we continue to do what we had been doing for years. However, when the state troopers are patrolling a 1/4 mile long country road, something smells like s&^%.
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I'm going to see if I can contact the local DNR Officers tomorrow. Anyone know the DNR contacts for Porter County?
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sorry i dont but i called down state and they took care of me and got me all info i neede real quick!
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Has anyone contacted the county highway dept, because they have info if or when signs are posted. That might not be a legally posted sign. Maybe a homeowner there may have taken some privilege posting their own signs without proper authority. I would hate to get a ticket or towed cuz someone thinks they are almighty and can throw around signs wherever they choose. I lived in Michigan City and people parked in front of my house where I shoveled because they didn't want to shovel in front of their own home and the cops told me too bad so I kept shoveling until their car was buried. We don't own the streets we just pay for them. I wish someone with an Erkle car would park right between the signs where there is about 8foot left to legally park
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I think I can fit my Jeep in there.
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call the mich. city d.n.r. post they will send someone out !!!!
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So who put up the signs???
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it doesn't matter!If she want to do that she will continue to do so, unless we all stand up to her ,AND WE ALL KNOW IT IS MARY HARPER WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THIS!!!!!I like the the idea of a petition to park there, WHY SHOULD SHE HAVE THE FINAL SAY ABOUT OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES, this is not her court room, it is our lake!!!!!!! >:( >:(
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i just started fishing long lake this year one day signs say between, next day cant, why cant people who see people having a good time enjoying themselves mind thier own biz, if da judge dont like us out there, then she she should move, find a cave a live so the rest of us can enjoy life, impeach her, what she has done is wrong, too bad she is such an unhappy folk
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Thanks for the help wit hwhat your doing Rotney! it's very much appreciated, if you need a hand wit hanything ever down the nroad jut let a guy know, be glad to join in on this matter!!!
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Good Post Rod. Not sure what we can do. I copied that email off your post and emailed that Jeremy Price. Maybe we should have a little get together on 600N. Dont we have a right to protest?
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I've got a DNR contact that I'm working on. Haven't given up.
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I've wondered about starting some type of Valpo Chain of Lakes Fisherman's Association that might work on these issues. Is there anything like that already? We have a great resource that we are losing. Any interest in something like this? If we work together on it maybe we could improve access.
Hey guys ,I can understand your feelings, and I sure don't blame you, 1st lets see how your outing that your talking about works out, then if you have enough fisherman, with the kahonies, be polite and convincing and try to get a dnr officer to join in on your fishing day extravaganza. Then little by little let them know that it's because of your monies that is spent in that particular area that he is even employed there. Let him know your not interested in breaking the law, but that you don't really want to be bullied by law enforcers either. then offer him a brat and a beverage and see what can be worked out. " GOOD LUCK"
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I just accidentally ran across this post. Firstly, My family harvested from God's abundance to feed the family. As a resident of the Long Lake area, I can understand the frustrations of residents vs public access. I myself have walked 600 N and picked up bags and bags of trash/fishing bait containers, etc. Residents may be more welcoming if visitors would respect the land and lake. Please haul your trash out and place it where it belongs. Thank you.
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Take a taxi or call uber.