Alkaline Lake Access

[rmiller]

Fished on Wednesday access is good there is snow on the ice but pretty manageable. 4 wheel drive pickup and paying attention to where I was going didn't have any trouble at all. Caught 2 walleye 22-24 feet of water. Water is super clear! 20ish inches of ice

 

[Ponyroper]

Fished on Wednesday access is good there is snow on the ice but pretty manageable. 4 wheel drive pickup and paying attention to where I was going didn't have any trouble at all. Caught 2 walleye 22-24 feet of water. Water is super clear! 20ish inches of ice

24' of water? Wow, the lake is at least 6' deeper than the last time I was there a couple of years ago and I expect it will get even deeper next spring when all the snow down there melts. I still remember driving across it when it was just a slough only a couple feet deep. Might have to go down there again next year.

 

[Ponyroper]

Has anyone caught any of the tagged Walleyes in Alkaline yet?

 

[Bacon]

24' of water? Wow, the lake is at least 6' deeper than the last time I was there a couple of years ago and I expect it will get even deeper next spring when all the snow down there melts. I still remember driving across it when it was just a slough only a couple feet deep. Might have to go down there again next year.

It’s not that deep. 20 ft max and you would have to search for that. It will only get so deep then it flows out the north end. Eventually gets to Lake Isabel and after that to the river eventually.

 

[Meelosh]

Guy out here had a tip up pop about 20 minutes ago 100 yards from me. Was giving a serious anxiety attack for about 5 minutes. He still hasn’t checked it.

 

[LBrandt]

Finders ----- keepers.

 

[Sluggo]

Has anyone caught any of the tagged Walleyes in Alkaline yet?

We caught 4 that were tagged one day last spring. And caught 1 more this fall.

 

[CrankB8]

It’s not that deep. 20 ft max and you would have to search for that. It will only get so deep then it flows out the north end. Eventually gets to Lake Isabel and after that to the river eventually.

Can I borrow your depth finder? The 2 I've got as well as the 3 my buddies have are all not functioning properly. We were showing 22 ft under 24" of ice.

 

[mrperch]

Can I borrow your depth finder? The 2 I've got as well as the 3 my buddies have are all not functioning properly. We were showing 22 ft under 24" of ice.

I concur my wheelhouse is the same in 22 ft at ducer with 24 inches of ice yet

 

[Meelosh]

Just a little reminder here folks as it seems to be a problem.

The boat landing is blown in and you won’t be able to access it via pickup until spring.

The road circled in blue is the access point.

The trail circled in red, is not the access point. It is private property and you won’t be able to get to the lake. Respect the posted signs.

 

[Phill Latio]

That road circled in red is a section line, posted or not it’s legal to drive down it, per century code anyway correct?

 

[Allen]

Not if it's been declared closed by the county.


The farmer was hauling hay out of there last weekend, and as noted above...you wouldn't be able to access the water from it anyway with a vehicle.

 

[Phill Latio]

So how does one get it declared closed? It’s been a few years but I used to hunt that area a lot and always remember that being a decent established trail

 

[Allen]

So how does one get it declared closed? It’s been a few years but I used to hunt that area a lot and always remember that being a decent established trail

One, or more of the owners of the land it accesses would have to petition the county for closure and probably list a reason like "it's impassable". In this example the land would appear to be owned by one person (entity??) on the north and south side. If so he could easily petition to have it legally closed because it accesses nobody else's property, especially public land.

I've been in attendance at a couple of different counties' commissioner meetings when this has come up. For the most part, I like that in all the examples I've seen, the county commissioners legitimately deliberate the closures. Not only do those section lines tend to go nowhere today, but the explore how it could in the future. They can also do temp closures, for things like gravel pits or oil development and put expirations on the closure.

 

[Jm1986]

Access on the south side should be pretty good now. Especially with the mass exodus of wheel houses Saturday night the snow should be packed down quite well.

 

[guywhofishes]

mass exodus?

- - - Updated - - -

due to ensuing melt?

 

[Allen]

Probably cheeseheads and Minnetuckians heading home.

I know that on Saturday afternoon there was no way a person could use the boat ramp (south side access) to get on the ice with a pickup. Looked like it would have taken a pretty good effort to clear it as well.

 

[guywhofishes]

Probably cheeseheads and Minnetuckians heading home.

I know that on Saturday afternoon there was no way a person could use the boat ramp (south side access) to get on the ice with a pickup. Looked like it would have taken a pretty good effort to clear it as well.

so this happens every weekend?

 

[Allen]

so this happens every weekend?

Couldn't tell you for sure as this was my first time out there this year. Wow, was it busy on Saturday! Then I went back Sunday afternoon and it was a whole different story, about half of the houses and people were gone.

 

[SerchforPerch]

One, or more of the owners of the land it accesses would have to petition the county for closure and probably list a reason like "it's impassable". In this example the land would appear to be owned by one person (entity??) on the north and south side. If so he could easily petition to have it legally closed because it accesses nobody else's property, especially public land.

I've been in attendance at a couple of different counties' commissioner meetings when this has come up. For the most part, I like that in all the examples I've seen, the county commissioners legitimately deliberate the closures. Not only do those section lines tend to go nowhere today, but the explore how it could in the future. They can also do temp closures, for things like gravel pits or oil development and put expirations on the closure.

I agree with most of this and its typically not an easy process to close a section line but like stated above it can be done for certain reasons. From an awareness standpoint has this section line been officially closed?? Curious if was successfully done as the section line does provide access to a public waterway..