How's the depth at your ramp & channel?

BL6 · 09-23-2007, 09:16 PM

Plenty of water in Lake Michigan, but getting out there is becoming more difficult in St Joe. The river from both BH & St Joe ramp is very low.
A few marinas are trying to find cash and fight thru red tape to dredge. Could be real difficult next year if this continues.

KAAMA · 10-01-2007, 08:57 AM

BL6, was that your Formula I saw in a slip in New Buffalo on Saturday (Sept. 29th)?.....and then you had just pulled out just as I was heading back out to sea. Saw you head north as I went south. Just curious----nice looking Formula.

I launched my boat on Saturday at the DNR launch ramp in Benton Harbor and I noticed the river was down as well. I have always used the far side ramp along the sea wall and have not had any problems. I am always mindful of my drive trim position and I'm always very careful around those lauch ramps---I don't trust it in there...especially the ramps as you get closer to the DNR's ticket booth. There was also a 38' Formula that launched at the same time as I did in the ramp next to me and he did not seem to have any problems either----I noticed he had his drives trimmed up pretty well too.

Anyway, I also noticed they had to remark the river this year with the bouy markers in some areas. If you follow those markers you should be fine. The thing I don't like about the St.Joe River is the poor clairty of the water....you cannot see much beyond a foot or so in depth.

I have heard that Brian's Marina and the Condo's that sit just to the West of them (Between Brian's Marina and Harbor Isle Marina) are having the river dreged on their side of the river next spring.

Anyway, on Saturday around 2pm or so I needed to do a water test with my boat and ended up running all the way down to New Buffalo and then to Michigan City. It was kind of an overcast day...but it was pleasant. The winds were strong, but coming out of the southeast for the most part. Once I got out on the lake it was mostly 1' footers with an occasional 2' and the further I went south the more it laid down. As I headed south and approached the Grand Mere/Cook Plant area it was flat calm from there all the way down and the sun began to break through the clouds a bit. As I came just inside the New Buffalo jetty I noticed some people were actually laying out in the sun with their bathing suits on.....and in Michigan City I saw some people jumping into the water from the pier...water temp was 66*. Coming back the water had laid down all the way back to St. Joe. I didn't see many pleasure boats out...saw 2 or 3 sitting at Grand Mere...maybe 15-20 total during my trip to Michigan City. It turned out to be a beautiful day---thought I would have seen more boats out. My hog ran well.

BL6 · 10-01-2007, 09:40 AM

Ya, I'm trying to take advantage of every day possible as the seasons slipping thru our fingers.
I did see your boat down in New Buffalo, but there was an Arab driving!

(Sorry, I figured you were trying to keep the sun off)
I'm a little stumped right now. There may be another good week end or two, but I'm done in St J river channel for the year; just too shallow in front of Tackle Haven. I'm not going to Grand Haven or Holland anymore (still have a sound ticket to deal w/), so where's the next best ramp? So Haven? Muskegon?

KAAMA · 10-01-2007, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BL6

Ya, I'm trying to take advantage of every day possible as the seasons slipping thru our fingers.
I did see your boat down in New Buffalo, but there was an Arab driving!

(Sorry, I figured you were trying to keep the sun off)
I'm a little stumped right now. There may be another good week end or two, but I'm done in St J river channel for the year; just too shallow in front of Tackle Haven. I'm not going to Grand Haven or Holland anymore (still have a sound ticket to deal w/), so where's the next best ramp? So Haven? Muskegon?

Yeah, I take a t-shirt I have cut in half and pull it over my head and tie the excess off in the back with a rubber band and wear goggles over that. It does a great job of keeping the wind and sun off my forehead.

How deep is it in front of Tackle Haven??? Or should I ask; "how shallow" is it? I just stayed outside the bouys and was fine....didn't even turn up any muck/sand that I could see.

I have launched in South Haven at the city launch about 3-4 times this summer...no problems. I have seen guys with 38 footers launch there at any given ramp. There isn't much of a current to deal with there either.

Muskegon, South Haven, St. Joe, Michigan City are not much of a worry when it comes to exhaust noise---up north as well. I would say any harbor is not much of a problem when it comes to exhaust noise as long as you're a cool customer and not going around reving your engines in a marina or something....except for Grand Haven and Holland---I will NEVER enter in those harbors again. They will write you a ticket for just looking loud!

KAAMA · 10-01-2007, 05:07 PM

By the way, Muskegon has a real nice launch ramp that is run by the city....called the Fisherman's Warf or something like that on the northeast side of Muskegon Lake.

I plan on running my boat one more time this season in St. Joe this Friday/Saturday (5th & 6th)......temps are supposed to be in the 80's.

spazboz · 10-02-2007, 05:55 PM

Water level is low in Holland also. Trouble were experiencing at the State Launch in Holland is the length of the docks. With a 311 Formula, by the time we've floated the boat far enough off the trailer to remove it, we're hanging on to about 5 to 6 feet of the boat. Sure would be nice to have those docks pushed in a little farther, or lengthened. Lots of people are hitting bottom in the bay too. At this point in time I stay strictly to the shipping lanes! Nick

Magic Medicine · 10-03-2007, 05:45 PM

Trail Creek in Michigan City is down really low. I would say 6"-12" from the begining of the summer. I am having a hard time getting my 28' off the trailer. It doesn't help that the launch is a pos with short piers!

KAAMA · 10-10-2007, 06:56 AM

Launched at the DNR launch again this past weekend in St. Joe. Went by the bouys in front of Tackle Haven and YES, it is definately shallow. I looked over the side as I was passing thru and could see the bottom...probably only about 4 feet deep there or so. I had my drives trimmed up a bit and still did not turn up any sand/muck as I went through. If my boat is sitting level in the water the lowest point it drafts is about 32-33 inches in the water.

SHAWNA · 10-10-2007, 12:24 PM

I launch on the south side of Lake Macatawa in Holland. I need to back in so far that I'm running off the end of the concrete and the trailer is so slanted that the boat won't center itself when I pull it out. We need more water! It's down at least 6 inches from this Spring.