We have a site at the south state park this week end. What do we need to watch out for and danger areas on the lake? Any insite would help.

SWIMMERS ITCH! It's rampid up North this year because of the high temps.
Otherwise, I don't know anything about the lake.

We have a cottage up there...havent heard a word about swimmers itch.

Anyways, two spots to watch our for. One is "sunken island", located NE of the S. state park near the shoreline.

Be careful if you cut between "treasure island" and the shoreline.

Treasure island is the only island on Higgins, due North right after you pass through the bottleneck.

x2 with the swimmers itch. Dont let it scare you though but take these precautions and youll be fine. Before entering the shallow water make sure you use sunscreen on your legs. The parasites that cause swimmers itch have a hard time penetrating with thte lotion on your legs. After getting out of the water be sure to dry off with a towel. Honestly, I dont do the second part and after spending last weekend there I got 2 spots. no big deal because its like haveing 2 mosquito bites. Also, its getting too late in the year so its subsiding.

As for what to watch out for 89gti hit the nail on the head. I have had one friend take out his outdrive on the sunken island because its rock. And he has done it twice. lol

Been up there every weekend in July and the whole week of July 4th and have not experienced any swimmers itch. Lucky, maybe. When the sun is out you can see all the shallow spots on Higgins. The color difference is dramatic. If it is cloudy and overcast you better know what you are doing or you can get in trouble fast. A chartplotter with depth contours is your friend. You can be in 20 to 80 feet of water one second and 3 feet the next. The depth changes that fast in a few spots. It's OK to go between the shore and Treasure Island. Just stay in the blue. There is a good 8 feet of water at the shallowest spot. Stay away from the sunken island on the south end. Some boaters actually party out there, but they are braver than I am. My son sucked up some rocks in his Sea Doo just idleing across it. The south State Park is beautiful. If you watch where the other boats are hanging out and stay close you should be fine. Enjoy! It is one of the nicest lakes anywhere. I'll be there again this weekend. Supposed to be sunny and 80s both days. The water was 76 to 78 degrees last weekend.

Sounds good. Thanks for the help guys. I looked on google earth and it shows the shallows fairly well.
I have topo maps on the gps and that will help. There will be 3 of us up there this weekend. Our 28 Active Thunder with tri color lightning on the sides, 32 Sunsation with yellow grey and a 30 all white Checkmate. Stop by and say hi if your around.

Well we made it back from Higgins. Its a nice lake. The water is very clean and clear. The lake is OK for size but the island area cuts it down some. The South state park we stayed at is OK. There is 3 areas people hange out and the South park seems to be the most popular. No swimmers itch in our group. The law came around about 3:30 so we left for fishermans point sand bar. It was fun also. Got back to the south ramp for all the boats to come in and talked to one that got a ticket for exhaust. Said he was one of five. Told it was $350.00. We made some speed runs after the law left and headed down state to Hardy for Sunday. Fun lake overall.

Glad you had a good time and didn't experience the sheriff's "hospitality".

I have never heard or seen of anyone getting loud exhaust tickets on HL, we boat there 4-5 times a year and I run straight exhaust and always got a wave from the sheriff. Not saying it isn't true just have never came across it. That stinks if they are going after boaters for that.

They started the noise tickets back up hardcore this year. Need some of the old people up there that complain about it daily to the 911 non emergency number to die off over the winter. Crude to say that but its the only way to go back to a boater friendly lake.