Lower P2 becoming a recreational area makes me laugh. Its the scariest part of the Miss in the first few pools. Lots of places to get a novice in troube. I really dont recall a lot of pleasure boats doing anything around there except staying in the channel.
You probably don’t know then that they are planning on closing the spring lake access and re-opening at the recently acquired and previously privately owned “Bud’s Landing” either, since that is apparently a deeper landing and “safer” for boaters to get out of.
I think their plan is to close off the west end of the lake, near the old barge runs with a huge barrier and probably create more artificial islands to control the flow similar to down in Winona. Yeah, more of the same islands that did nothing for that pool..
They will also be converting the islands around spring lake into designated camp sites and a canoe trail, yay..
Thanks for posting that reading material John!
What you have here is a group of $$$ lovers that are working there own special intrest IMO! I dont have the time now but would like to break that article down a bit. Seems like they are saying two things at once. One that we like to here and the other that they like to hear.
Chapdelaine’s focus isn’t fish, it’s people. He believes if more people use Pool 2, it will lead to greater political pressure to preserve it.
“There has never been a voice for the recreational user,” said Chapdelaine, “until our group.”
“We should be attracting kayakers, hunters, anglers,” said Jester.
I also see this ” Another suggestion is to limit fishing in P2 to give native fish a chance to flourish before the carp arrive”
one more ” P2 has especially suffered because no islands have been built” Chapdelaine says Island building needs to happen to make the river “Healthy” again yet Machjewski from the corps states right above it that this will slow things down witch will allow more sediment to settle!!!
Who is this guy!!!! The Islands he is speaking about will be a big pile of sand!! In time these will just wash away as well. He speaks about his boat trips and how no one is down there and the water under him is packed with walleyes and bass. Yet they talk about limiting fishing and put out the image the us CPR fishermen are destroing the ability for these fish to flourish in a “Catch and release” pool.
What a pile of crap. This should just say….. Fishermen do not present the money or politics to make the river the way I want it. So I am going to type a pile of crap for all my other rich buddies to go along with so we can park our oversized boats where we want. Use things like islands to cut down the big waves made by the wind and not our wake! And use outside issues like asian carp to try and make our intentions transparent.
I might show up to the meeting. Its right by my house and I can always use some good humor. I believe in the Engineers crop and also our MN DNR. I also believe asain carp can/will be and issue one day but its groups/people like this that alter there intentions to improving the habatat of the river and surrounding wildlife. All about $$ folks and what I believe is the bottom line here. Fish, eagles, and even mayflies all fall to the wayside here.
Didnt see anywhere in that plan when the project is to be completed. Lots of plans for that area. Not sure is it will be done in my life time but you never know.
I think they wanted to start at least some of it by 2013.
Quote:
Didnt see anywhere in that plan when the project is to be completed. Lots of plans for that area. Not sure is it will be done in my life time but you never know.
I must have missed the piece where they talked about limiting fishing opportunities. AFAIK the pool was made C&R to understand what impact that would have on the fishery, long and short term, and because it is an impaired waterway, meaning it has been damaged by pollution (*cough* 3m).
I think before we start throwing these guys under the bus we need to get some clarification and see where they stand on this stuff.
mfreeman, it is in the 1st article that John posted from Bob Shaw about the asian carp invasion that we have not seen in P2. I believe the 5th paragraph up from the bottom.
Its a good thing they didn’t freeze a bull shark and bring that along as well…. Then people would never swim in there again!!
They also say it was suggested that they close the lock and dams to rec boating. So this is not all coming from one guy but a number of speakers. Its just the comment alone to limit fishing in a “C&R pool” that is a dumb statement by itself. This makes you wonder who these people are and if they are even aware that it is a CPR pool. Just tells me something about there worries/intentions.
Yeah I don’t think you’re too far off..sigh..
I sent an email to Mr. Chapdelaine pointing to this thread.
In a nutshell, Friends of Pool 2 support all recreational activities including fishing according to his email. “Either excessive silt or invasive carp would destroy recreational activities on P2.”
He and his friend do fish the area.
I was hoping he would jump in here.
Quote:
I sent an email to Mr. Chapdelaine pointing to this thread.
In a nutshell, Friends of Pool 2 support all recreational activities including fishing according to his email. “Either excessive silt or invasive carp would destroy recreational activities on P2.”
He and his friend do fish the area.
I was hoping he would jump in here.
Thanks Brian! Some input would be great. I know a newspaper can always bend a story one way. To me it makes no sense to go and toss fish and fishermen out of the group. When you pick a fight of any kind your better off having everyone on the same boat!!!!!!
mnfreeman, you made a statement to not toss anyone under the buss but when I read into these articles and statements that are provided here it seems fishermen of P2 are the olny ones getting the toss. I may have gone over the top a hair but this is a FISHING forum. That is my reason behind that. I would love to hear any information from Mr. Chapdelaine or anyone else that is willing to share. Honestly I would love to be a friend of P2 myself but would have fishing as a major priority.
Last year there were plans out to notch quite a few series of wingdams to allow mother nature clean out some of the major silted areas. Also to open river lake back up and let the flow do its work there. This was pretty much to help create more fish/wildlife habitat. Really the cost was not too bad for the work involved but I do not know anything about funding…….. It sounds like someone does and from what I read they explain the issue is with federal funding.
So the funds needed are for asian carp and silt…
Asian carp……
This is an issue for the entire mississippi river basin. Why would P2 not be included with any projects? Really the fight does not start at P2. I am not the smartest guy but if asian carp take over P3 and the St Croix I think we are screwed anyways. L/D 2 has been under water the last two years and its not a small little area that you can just put an electric barrier or build a temporary dyke up to keep the carp out when it goes over. I just dont see where asian carp should be brought into a state funding issue
Silt…..
I totally understand where funding at a federal level is an issue here. This is one problem that was explained well. This will not stop. Not long ago you could look up from 494 and see hog lake. Now there is a stinking island there with trees 30+ feet tall. There were pictures attached with a “notching program” taken from the 50’s. These changes do not seem to be anything new but that it is happening faster now than ever. I do not have the file on my PC for these plans but it looked like a great plan for the mid section of P2. I see the concern with the lower section. That sand and silt will land somewhere and make it even worst right??? The corps will still have to keep that corner and the lake open to commercial traffic. Even if we dump this crap in piles down on spring lake. What will that do to help this issue is my question. Are there any facts out there? This notching plan was a good idea IMO to see first hand what the pro/cons are here on P2 and would both help fish and silt issues. Both these issues were a big concern in the article but all I read was that there were no plans for P2 and never will be without some changes. If that is true…… I respect everyone involved that is making an effort to make any change to the better. I dont mean to point a finger at anyone or toss them under the bus. Being a fisherman I am just looking out for my own selfish intentions 
Joe, if you send an email to Kevin, he’ll put you on an email list for updates and meeting times/locations.
Also, encourage him to join Ido and respond here. We are a pretty civil group.
From Friends of pool 2 facebook page. Annual Summer Gathering tonight.
Friends of Pool 2 is having its 1st Annual Summer Gathering. We are planning a short update of issues followed by a question and answer session. The rest of the evening will be mingling and networking with other Mississippi River users to discuss the future of Pool 2. We will also have a membership sign-up table for those who haven’t had a chance to become members. Twin City Marina has offered to have our get-together in the courtyard area west of Drifter’s Bar.
Please join us
Thursday, August 23rd at 6:00 p.m.
at Twin City Marina
Inver Grove Heights
Pop and Water Provided
DRIFTERS WILL HAVE $3 Hamburgers – upgrade to a basket for $1 AND $2.50 Beers
Sounds like a good reason to get the boat out and head down to pool 2.
Friends of pool 2? Maybe Friends of New Beaches on Pool 2. How can this group say they are for the over all improvement of the river when their main goal seems to have a lot to do with beaches on the river. They claim that fishermen and hunters are included in their agenda but it seems to me that those words roll off the tongue very easily. My guess would be if it was truly people that where concerned about the the river in this group that there would be much more talk about returning the river to its natural state than building new beaches. Maybe with more hunters and fisherman involved it would be.
Did you make it to the “meeting” Mike?
The problem with any group like this is that it’s generally formed by one person with an agenda (good or bad), then the “group” forms around this person. Generally it’s his friends that have the same views. The group attract more people with the same views and they inherently become slanted toward the original goal.
It’s no different then our MN Catfish and Sturgeon Alliance…well, except we aren’t trying to build more sandy areas that would be washed down stream to help fill in Pepin…which is a whole ‘nother group.
Kind of like forming a union? 
Quote:
Kind of like forming a union?
Didnt see any strong arm tactics going on there last night but then again we did leave a little early. They did seem to be plenty miss leading. They are for hunting and fishing on pool 2 but didnt really here any actions steps that where going to help promote that. Going to help restore pool 2 by building beaches.
Yes we did make the meeting.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
