Thread: Video Tip

I see...those lakes are mostly in NE Ohio and I suppose their make up is more dictated by the terrain in which they were constructed. It would be hard to build a lake in NE Ohio by damming a deep valley full of massive trees if there are no deep valleys full of trees in the area to start with. I do know Cowan has plenty of deep water so I don't see it as part of that "5' deep" shallow list. The upper end of Cowan definitely has a silting problem. It certainly ends before island. I do know they did some dredging at Stonelick a few years back but I have no idea as to what extent since I haven't had a boat on there in years. I guess I point that out because to me it does show an effort to fix some problems that have occurred. I thought I heard somewhere that a similar effort was made in the upper end at Rocky Fork and I also know 2 lakes in Hamilton County parks (Winton Woods & Sharon Woods) both have been drained (or at least partially drained) and dozed to remove silt. I know 1 of these lakes are COE and the other lake may be COE but I'm not certain.

Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR

Here's a short list of our lakes besides Erie that have bloomed...Blue Rock, Burr Oak, Deer Creek, East Branch, GLSM, Ladue, Alma, Wingfoot Alum, Delaware, Jackson, Hope, Mount Gilead, Scioto, Stonelick, etc...IMHO, that is just shameful.

I don't blame the ODNR or the COE on the blooms but it's more of a problem of past farming and sewage practices plus more so because of all the lawn chemicals. It's impossible to erase all the past sins by past generations overnight or to have an instant fix to the problems. I would almost bet that when the older lakes were constructed that the COE, the ODNR nor anyone else would have seen the subdivisions of today with the manicured lawns. Back in the 50's & 60's places like the LMR were littered with summer cabins and the untreated sewage was ran directly into the river. It's hard to remember exactly when but the owners were told they had to add sewage or close the cabins. Quite a few closed.

If you look at the reservoirs that were build back in the 1940's & 1950's compared the newer generation of reservoirs built in the 1970's the is no comparison. Brookville, Caesar's Creek and East Fork are examples. They didn't leave all the timber but they did leave some and all the lakes have plenty of depth.
I also see an improvement in farming practices over the last 35-40 years as more and more farms use no-till farming as their main method of planting fields. I also see some areas of highly erodible fields that have been taken out of production and rock/grave run off brakes added, the areas were planted with grasses to stop erosion/run off problems. I see some farms that have some low production areas that have been planted with wild live mixes of plants and these areas are no longer disturbed.

Over the years I have seen a lot of good changes. Most aren't advertised, most aren't big and they aren't singularly going to change much but combined with the thousands of other little things they do make a difference. No one but no one is going to fix all the bad things that have built up for the last 60 or 80 years overnight. GLSM is an example....Is it perfect, NO. Is it improving, it seems like it.

Now it's time for me to fishing. It's a sad, sad day for me. I've had Fridays off and have worked a 4 day or less work week since mid September. I still have the upcoming holiday's off but this is my last official Friday off and after the 1st I have to go back to a 5 day work week. I am going to the EF Lake to fish for a few hours to ease the pain.