Lake City Public Accesses

I am hoping to get down there Friday AM and I am wondering how the accesses in lake City are with the high water. My first choice would be Hok Si La access. Anybody have any info?

No issues with that launch or Roschen at current levels.

They could get fairly busy this weekend with good looking weather for Friday. Their biggest fault is that they don’t have a ton of parking at either.

Roschen has a new dock but have fun loading if you are by yourself! Maybe Bucky knows why they have it so short……wind?? you basically have to sprint from your truck to the dock so your boat isn’t on the rocks in the event you didn’t tie it down strong enough. it’s fine if there is no wind or you have a buddy back you in but some of us like fishing alone or for me, with my pooch.
hok si la has a longer dock which is nice. another option is parkside in wabasha which is a quick drive to the foot of Pepin. I think i will try that one this weekend but it is likely the busiest.

eyeguy507 wrote:

Roschen has a new dock but have fun loading if you are by yourself! Maybe Bucky knows why they have it so short……wind?? you basically have to sprint from your truck to the dock so your boat isn’t on the rocks in the event you didn’t tie it down strong enough. it’s fine if there is no wind or you have a buddy back you in but some of us like fishing alone or for me, with my pooch.
hok si la has a longer dock which is nice. another option is parkside in wabasha which is a quick drive to the foot of Pepin. I think i will try that one this weekend but it is likely the busiest.

Roschen’s biggest downfalls are that it’s not very protected and the parking isn’t much. Any wind that isn’t out of the West or Northwest can make that one tough in a hurry. South, SE, E, NE winds all quickly make that one almost unusable by yourself. I agree that it could use a longer dock also to let people play the wind with how they tie off to go get their rigs.

Hok Si La’s dock isn’t real long either if I remember correctly? (or maybe they haven’t had every section on when I’ve been there lately). Hok Si La is more friendly with wind for sure. It’s downfall is also parking along with the fact that you regularly see chaos with the steeper approach when backing or the fact that there are 2 lanes not divided by a dock in the middle.

Both offer some solid entertainment for a lawn chair and 6-er on a holiday weekend.

eyeguy507 wrote:

Roschen has a new dock but have fun loading if you are by yourself! Maybe Bucky knows why they have it so short……wind?? you basically have to sprint from your truck to the dock so your boat isn’t on the rocks in the event you didn’t tie it down strong enough. it’s fine if there is no wind or you have a buddy back you in but some of us like fishing alone or for me, with my pooch.
hok si la has a longer dock which is nice. another option is parkside in wabasha which is a quick drive to the foot of Pepin. I think i will try that one this weekend but it is likely the busiest.

Wabasha has more traffic for sure from pleasure boaters, but substantially more launches with 4 lanes at Izaak Walton Park. Be extremely careful there heading towards the marina slips. On the weekends people come flying out of there with no real pattern or following rules of the water. There are often huge boats tied up on the ends of the booms temporarily creating blind spots too.

Depending on where you plan to fish/boat, Camp Lacupolis just above Reads Landing lets people launch quietly for a small fee with no traffic ever. On the WI Side Stockholm has a launch that is almost always quiet too. It’s a bit of a different angle backing in, but great weekend launch.

Bring waders or shorts if you ae putting in at Ike’s in Wabasha. Use the public landing at the Marina next door, then park at Ike’s. I’ll smile and wave when you go by!

Anyone know if the Maple Springs landing is usable?

David Wayne wrote:

Anyone know if the Maple Springs landing is usable?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen it not useable, to some extent.
But, depends on how big your boat is. It’s a small ramp and the stream is narrow.
You must know that already.
Another problem is the channel under the RR bridge. With the high water it should be passable but it silts in fast.
I’ve seen it change overnight so yesterdays report might not be valid today.

Thanks. I used to put my Lund 1675 Explorer in there, but it’s been a few years.