Boater's Worst NightMare
 

There soon will be no water to go boating in if we don't get some serious rain in North Carolina. Our Lakes are Drying Up! We have been in a drought for the past several years. All of the sunny weekends have been great for boating but have finally caught up to the lakes water supply. A local lake called HIGHROCK that we own a home on, has been unuseable since april. The lake is now being refered to as DRYROCK lake and may be as long as 2004 till it fills back up. With the lake nearly dry, it has really hurt the local economy. Boat launch ramps have been closed at many other lakes recently, such as Badin Lake, Belews Lake, Lake Wylie, and a few around Lake Norman.

We were hoping to go to Lake Norman this Labor Day Weekend as we have been since April but it is going to finally rain all weekend. Oh well let it rain, let it rain!

Here are some pics of Dryrock!

Dryrock

Damn..... Did you at least walk out there and get back all the lures you've lost over the years?

That had to smell pretty bad as it dried up. Dead fish......muck on the bottom, etc.... Hope it gets better for you before 2004!!!

What looks like the ICW is the river channel. Grass now grows over what was the main body of water.

More grass

Flashback

Has that ever happened before? Or is this something very new?:(

And more!

Dryrock

Steve 1

This is the lowest the lake has been in its history. Alcoa manages the water supply. They make power with it as well as letting water through to meet down stream useage all the way to the Pee Dee river. This has been part drought and part Alcoa draining the lake. They never gave a warning that they would be letting that much water tru to meet down river useage. Most didn't have time to get their boats out. They just did the same thing to Badin Lake but they got a warning.

Waterfoul
The local lake law enforcement wont let people walk around on the dry lake. They started giving tickets to 4 wheelers too! Said they weren't a registered vehicle. We need a Hover Craft! I think they can be registered.:)

DROUGHT
 

it must have been some great boating weater for years according to the pics. look on the bright side, everyone will know where the channel is.

hope things improve for you guys! maybe you can trade for a high performance airboat.

WOW:eek: :eek: :eek:

Fountianhead
Your right, I never new the channel was that far to the left, until now.
thanks

Are you sh**'n me? That's terrible and I thought we had it bad with low river levels. At least we could get in.

I flew over NC last week on the way to Charlotte. I was amazed at the lakes that were so low. There are probably thousands of grassfront homes with completely unusable docks. It has got to totally SUCK. We have terrible jellyfish on the Bay this year, but at least we got water!

Shocking photos'
 

Wow, simply amazing Flashback. Hope things improve quicker than the 2004 estimates.

No jellies yet in the Chesapeake Bay north of Middle River, but they're making the trek. Down in Ted's area, can walk across them. :)

Ironically, the drought has been good for the bay. No runoff=less pollution=better water clarity=more sea grasses growing=(but sucked up into the outdrive) provides habitat for more rockfish and crab offspring. Prediction: Bumper crops of both next 2 years.

That looks like many of the lakes here in FL did for a few.... We have finally started getting rain again on a regular basis I.E. EVERY DAY!We are at the point now they are sending out flash flood warnings! We went from one extreme to another. The boat slip in by yard dried up lthe last 2 years, and now is 3 inches from being under water. Oh well.... got to love mother nature!

Are you getting any rain in the next few days? We are...right thru the weekend!! :mad:

THIS HAS GOT TO BE A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!
UR KIDDING... RIGHT???:confused:

Stevebaretta,

I SH*T you not. Since April we have had to drive an hour to get to the nearest lake with enough water to boat in.


Insptech,

The local paper has had some airel photos of the lake in th past month. It looks like a golf course with all the grass. It will be a mess when it finally comes back.


Kelly,

Are those stinging jelly fish or just cabbage heads? I have seen this happen before in Boca and in Wilmington NC.


Chris K,

I know what you mean, its always from one extreme to another. Too much or not enough. Looks like we need to have a long talk with Mother Nature. ;) But would you expect anything else from a woman. :D


R addiction,

We have been getting rain for the past 3 days and its not supposed to stop until after Labor Day. :( But its still a welcome sight.:)

Tbonepmp

This Is no joke. I promise. Hell I could not even work Photoshop, :D So these pics are for real.

We call 'em Jellyfish, but they're sea nettles. People say they sting, but I say it's more like somebody putting a cigarette out on your your skin then pouring oxcyllic acid to put it out. Fair to say there's no skinny dipping going on mid to south bay area. :)

That is absolutely amazing!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

I've never seen pictures like that before!!

Has anyone taken the opprotunity to replace there old dock with a new one now that they can;)

Red Stripe

Thats what were going to do. Most probably wont though, since they cant use it they wont put the money and time to fix the docks. Its kinda like the stock market, the smart buy when its down but most will wait till its near another high before they feel they have missed their chance and jump back in;)

Holy sh#t I have never seen anything like that.

Oh man, what a shame...that is so disheartening. Must be awful to own a grassfront home there. :(

My sincere regrets - There is a silver linning to this;

I would look for all the stuff I lost overboard
eleven pair of sunglasses
five hats
four pagers
two telephones
one wallet
one prop
two gold chains

Baja Daze

Real estate values have really been hurt. Nobody needs a grassfront home with a dock.;) Homes are for sale by a 4 to 1 ratio. If some one had some money to invest, there are some good deals on homes. Iam sure they would come out to the good in a few years.


Miami

Looks like you lost as much stuff overboard as I have through the years. :D Time to breakout the metal detector and clean up.:D

Flashback;
Some of the lakes in MIchigan look like that:mad: :mad: I hope that we get some rain this fall and a good winter!!

Fly level

Tell me you are talking about some of the outer lakes, because I could not imagine any of the Great Lakes getting this low.

That sucks....We have a local lake here in San Diego (mostly for fishing) that looks the same way. We have been in a drought for a while now. In the early 90's we had water rationing, and if you used over your allotted (sp) amount they would charge the s#%t out of you on your bill. Hope you, and we, get some rain!!

Havasu Cig

Amen brother!

I always wondered what a lake would look like dried up:(

I bet there is some GOOD fish'in in the channel!!!

Good luck with the rain, maybe some of the Apache boy's could do a rain dance for y'all;)

DallasHeat

Dallas,

I know Flashback can give you better information, but this caused a MAJOR fish kill in the lake a few weeks back. I have two friends with property down there and they have never seen it this bad. Alcoa controls this lake and they have had problems for a few years now, but nothing like this.

I hate to see this and really feel for all the property owners there.

Yes, Highrock has had a major fish kill. The fish that were left in shallow water and outter pockets of the lake were using up all the remaining oxygen without being refreshed by new river water. Other wild life has suffered as well. And don't forget about all the mosquitos breeding in the grass.

water level
 

flashback, what an unbelievable sight!!!!! Sorry for your lake. My local lake is 2 feet high!!! Please feel free to come and take some !!!! We've had just about the wettest summer in history...As a matter of fact I dont think we'd miss any lakes around here either. mark

hirschy77

Its weird how the weather goes in cycles throughout different parts of the country. I guess the best place to have a guarranteed boating season is on the ocean. Cause if it goes Dry were all in deep Chit!:D

Hope you guys dry out a little, when you get a chance send some our way!:D

I am wondering why they will not let you can not walk on lakebed?

My friend lives north of Lake Monroe, Sanford FL,
on the St Johns River (40 feet deep there) and she has
2 feet of water over her dock ! And, that was BEFORE
Tropical Storm Eduard came thru last night !BEFORE !

My pool is up 6 inches again!:(

Holly crap man that is just insane!!!!!! I wonder why they will not let you walk on the bed as well. I would think that they would want you to get out there and mow that place to keep the weeds down and get some stuff out. I hope that you get some rain and lots of it soon. Maybe pray for a hurricane to hit ya.

Jon

That does suck! Time for an Indian Rain Dance! I hope it POURS for you folks SOON! We, here in Fl. were also in a 3 yr. drought, BUT this year's rainfall has wiped out our drought and we are like 9+ inches about normal rain fall!
Good luck,
MD