St Louis area

[slia67]

With all the flooding, has anyone found any decent areas to boat yet?


Doug

 

[Manipulator]

Re: St Louis area

Yes...LAKE OF THE OZARKS

 

[Chad D]

Re: St Louis area

i know this is bad. Im going to try to go to mark twain. little small but its close and not flooded.

 

[Manipulator]

Re: St Louis area

That's a good size lake. Never have boated on it but have been up there several times. A quiet lake, not much going on as far action. But if you want to get away from it all, its a nice lake to go to and just hang out.

 

[pjb0422]

Re: St Louis area

Mark Twain is nice and just a tad bit closer to STL than LOZ. MT has a lot of timber still standing so you need to be aware of where the channel is to stay out of the trees in some of the arms. The main lake is nice and wide. It is a very nice lake if you just want to hang out is a cove but if you want to just boat around, you'll find that it can be a little small for that.

Phil

 

[slia67]

Re: St Louis area

After checking the Army Corp of Eng site http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/, it looks like we'll be heading to Carlyle Lake for the spring shake down.


Chad,

With all the rain, hopefully you won't have any problems with sandbars. (don't ask)



Doug

 

[kaliman91]

Re: St Louis area

We hit Carlyle 3 weeks ago and it was nice. High water but the wind was nowhere to be found and the the water was like glass. Was in the low 70's and only a handful of boaters.
Had to use the high water ramp(Apache) with no dock which sucked to have to walk in mud to board the boat but atleast we got the boat wet.

Plan on going this Sat weather expected to be in the mid 70's and sunny.Only been there once but it was nice hopfully with the water down it will be even better.

 

[maxumus]

Re: St Louis area

I am about 4 hours from Mark Twain. I can go on week days. I have been to bull shoals (which is 10 hours) is it the same kind of lake, by the corps. How is the water clearity comparrison. What is the shoreline like and is there a few beaches or docks to stop at for gas and food? Any pointers on launch ramps or places to stay the night in hotels or on water. I have a '96 21' Maxum, this should be fine on MT right, I heard ozarks can get really ruff water.

 

[stl]

Re: St Louis area

A lot of guys have been going to Baldwin lake in Illinois, near Red Bud. It is probably a little over an hour from St. Louis. It is really only a fishing lake with a 50 hp restriction. I have been wanting to try it myself.

 

[Chad D]

Re: St Louis area

maxumus, MT is not clear. it was a farm valley with a mud bottom that was flooded. i go to norfork, bull shoals' sister lake and love it down there and love the clear watter. Mark twain has two marinas and lots of ramps. try this web site should give you some good info. www.cannondam.com also baldwin lake would not work for me. I have an 18ft Cimmarron with a 350 and a jet drive. I think im just a little over the HP limit

 

[stl]

Re: St Louis area

What kinda boats are you guys running? If you are talking fishing boats I saw a few on the Meremac near the 44 bridge. I have heard the river is below flood stage at Valley Park and the like. As far as I know Flamm City ramp in Arnold is still under. Personally I am going to wait for the Meremac to go down. From what i can tell there is still a lot of debris floating down the river.

 

[stl]

Re: St Louis area

You can also look at Lou Yeager or Glen Shoals both up around Litchfield Illinois both are very nice lakes, and just over an hour away from St. Louis. I have not been on Lou Yeager in a long time but have been on Glenn Shoals a lot recently. There is a real nice campground near Glenn Shoals. The only problem is both require a daily permit to launch and I think they are getting 20 bucks these days. Both lakes are great for fishing as well as pleasure boating, but Glenn Shoals won't allow pwc on holiday weekends

 

[slia67]

Re: St Louis area

Baldwin won't work for me either, 5.7L Alpha one. But I am familiar with the area, we usually boat on the Kaskasia on weekends. I'm hoping that Kinkaid or Rend Lake is in good shape, because it looks like the Kaskaskia is going to be flooded for quite some time.

Doug

 

[thunderroad]

Re: St Louis area

Lake of the Ozarks will be very rough starting next weekend. You might be able to stand it this weekend. You'll find the smoothest water on the Gravois Arm. Put in at Gravois Mills. They've got a VERY nice dual ramp and dock set up with a couple acres of paved parking.

 

[Chad D]

Re: St Louis area

here is a glimmer of hope. im looking at the mississippi river levels and the forcasted levels. as long as the rain holds off ( Yea right ) we will only be about a foot and a half above flood stage by next friday. mabey the last weekend of may or first weekend of june we can be out on the river. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydro...ew=1,1,1,1,1,1&toggles=10,7,8,2,9,15,6&type=0

 

[slia67]

Re: St Louis area

I put in at Carlyle yesterday. With the wind being as strong as it was, the lake was pretty rough. After being there for an hour or so the wind started to lay down, at least enough that if we kept to the western shore we could put it through its paces. All in all it was a good few hours, and the boat performed flawlessly. It was a good shake-down run.


Doug

 

[kaliman91]

Re: St Louis area

We dropped in on Sat and couldnt have asked for better weather. To bad the water was cold. Not alot of traffic which was surprising since all the rivers are flooded i would think this would have sent all those with cabin fever to Carlyle.
It was alittle rough around Noon but as you said we stuck to the western shore.Mainly stayed around Keysport nice to so the beach/swimming area is no longer flooded.
Saw maybe 10-12 power boats 1 jetski and maybe 20 25 sailboats. We didnt go to far south so i dont know how it was down by the dam.

Rivers are falling we might be out this weekend. Looks like The Miss and IL will both be below flood by Sunday.

 

[slia67]

Re: St Louis area

Made it to Kinkaid Lake last weekend. It's in good shape, not too many people. And the water was warm enough to be able to tube or ski in.

 

[PowerAddict]

Re: St Louis area

with the water being up, george winter park in Fenton is pretty nice, the few coves they have and the river being wide make for a pretty good sized area to cruise around. I was there on monday. A little debris, but not bad. I liked it, its clooose too, which is a plus.

 

[Manipulator]

Re: St Louis area

I live not too far from Lake Carlye, to me its just a big muddy pond and very shallow. No coves to explore and only 7 miles of water from the dam to the north end of the lake. Yaeger and Glen Shoals are good lakes but small, they're like a small arm off the lake of the ozarks. Kinkaid is nice too but again, a small lake. It is clean, clear and deep. The closest lake in Illinois from St. Louis that is comparable (but not by much) to lake of the ozarks is probably Lake Shelbyville. Comparable in that is good size, has a few arms and many coves. Rend lake in Southern Illinois is similar to Carlyle (wide lake, shallow). I have never been on Rend so I really don't know what there is to do there. Missouri offers the best lakes to boat at (if you liver in St. Louis), most are deep and most of the southern lakes are clear. I recently sold my boat, I love lake of the ozarks but the drive was getting to me. I plan on getting a smaller boat and just running around the smaller boats around St. Louis. I would like to go check out Rend sometime. Lake Egypt in southern Illinois is suppose to be nice and fairly good size. When comparing Illinois lakes to LOTO there just is no comparison. If being in rough water is not your thing, like mentioned, the gravois arm is fine for smaller boats and rather large with lots of coves and a few arms, the Big and Little Niangua arms are also calm. From the 35MM on down on the Osage arm is fine too.