Haverhill Reservoir

From Todays PB

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

Rochester-area fishermen are finally getting their hooks in the Haverhill Township flood-control reservoir.

Township leaders relented on their opposition to legalizing public fishing on the rural, city-owned property. The city council on Monday approved a memorandum of understanding with the township allowing fishing there on a temporary basis, at least through the winter.

It opens up a desirable, but previously illicit, fishing spot about 1 1/2 miles east of the city, on Olmsted County Road 11 (55th Avenue Northeast), north of Silver Creek Road.

Built in the early 1990s, the reservoir was off-limits to fishing under an agreement with the township.

Because of that, fishermen who wanted to access the water legally couldn’t simply park their cars and walk to it. They could, under state laws governing access to public water, do so by wading the creek from Silver Creek Road north into the reservoir. Others simply disregarded the law and crossed private land to get there.

The agreement gives the city the right to build a 30-car gravel parking lot on the west side of the reservoir, off County Road 11. That might open later this week, said Assistant City Manager Gary Neumann. A paved lot might be added next year.

The township decision had to do with safety, said Ben Hain, chairman of the township board. Cars parked on nearby roadsides and in front of farm driveways posed a traffic and pedestrian safety hazard, he said.

Also, township leaders came to feel that their opposition served only to reward scofflaws, Hain said. “Let’s let the honest people use it, too,” is the decision he says township leaders came to.

The township’s first choice still would have been for the city to enforce trespassing, Hain said.

“I’m not happy that it’s kind of come to this,” he said.

Officials will monitor for littering, for whether fishermen respect private property and for whether they respect the dawn-to-dusk hours of operation.

The agreement also calls for closing off the reservoir for fishing during April and November, when migrating pelicans and swans are in it.

“That was pretty important to some of the neighbors,” Hain said.

City and township leaders discussed an agreement through the summer, but talks had broken off well before Haverhill Township returned with an offer last month. The township board set its terms at a meeting Nov. 21, Hain said. That they finally sent an offer came as a surprise, Neumann said.

“We’re real grateful to the township for making this happen,” Neumann said.

I’m glad to see this. I hope everyone will obey the dawn to dusk time rule, and will not litter………..

This is great news. It is what everyone has been waiting for. Lets prove that we appreciate the privledge to fish there by picking up after ourselves and showing the neighboring land owners that we are true sportmen.
Thanks, Bill

I’m sorry but I have to play the skeptic here. Assuming that half the cars have 2 people. Thats 30 x 10 fish limit. Three hundred fish from 30 cars and on the weeekend now with the easy access that probably atleast means 300 to 500 fish taken out of there in a day or almost a thousand a weekend. People aren’t going to travel up that big hill to go out there for catch and release. I think the lake will be fished out by febuary or march. Those are just my thoughts.

It will be interesting to see what happens. It really did receive a lot of pressure last year as well. Hopefully not everyone will take a lot of fish from there, but there are still a lot of people that keep all they can…..

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I’m sorry but I have to play the skeptic here. Assuming that half the cars have 2 people. Thats 30 x 10 fish limit. Three hundred fish from 30 cars and on the weeekend now with the easy access that probably atleast means 300 to 500 fish taken out of there in a day or almost a thousand a weekend. People aren’t going to travel up that big hill to go out there for catch and release. I think the lake will be fished out by febuary or march. Those are just my thoughts.

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I think that the damage has been done with respect to the fish size and I don’t think it can be brought back with the help of stocking. The law breakers took the best fish and the fishing public now get the tailings.

I like the idea that this is open “conditionally”. The dawn to dusk rule now provides those with the ticket books the tools to use them. Litter is always an issue, but who is going to police it?

As far as special regs go, this measure should have been incorporated as soon as people began to re-interpret what they consider their “rights”. Had a “catch and release” order been set on the lake 2 years ago when all this crud started up, you wouldn’t have seen the people out there as we did and there would still be a fish population that included a fair number of larger fish.

Now we have two potholes with dink fish: one east and one west.

I gotta totally agree on the fishing pressure is going to kill the lake, there should have been a very small limit placed on the lake and catch and release on the northerns. I would like to fish it but not for fish as small as the other lakes around Roch have in them, I think I’ll stick with a nice private one I have rights to. Maybe in 3 or 5 years they will get it right with putting limits out before they open new water.

FISHINFOOL

I have an “in” to a couple of the private wonders as well and, while I seldom fish either, it is nice to know that quality can be preserved in them. When I do hit these places it is all c/r….the fish tend to have a real problem with black spot and yellow flukes, but man can those pound gills fight. The humungo crappies do a nice number too.

As for that reservoir, I am not a hill climber so I’ll fish where there are none. And I’ll fish where the outlaws haven’t degraded a wonderful resource. I’m like you fishinfool….I like quality. People can have the dinks left out there.

Have any of the other reservoir’s in the rochester area been “fished out”. I was under the impression that they were all petty good with good numbers of fish still in them.

Fish “numbers” is not the issue. Numbers of “sizable fish” is another story.

About three years ago word got out that some decent crappies were being caught in the Gamhaven puddle. We were looking at limits of nice fish in the 10+ inch range. To get to this lake it was a considerable hike from either direction.

Last year people were hard pressed to find a keeper sized crappie. Catching dink fish is easy though.

Now keep in mind that Gamehavebn is strictly walk-in. How many boats do you think are going to hit that water during open water? Not many I’d dare say. So….where did the nicer fish go? In the pails of ice anglers who take the nice ones trip after trip and then line up to kick the lake in the groin when they can’t find those nice fish any more.

In any small, enclosed system, such as what we find in these local reservoirs, it is vitally important to have ENFORCED!!!!!!!!! rules and regulations in place if there are fish in them. Personally, I feel that requiring all anglers to return the larger fish to these waters simply is the smart approach so that anyone has a chance to at least enjoy the catch of one. If large crappies exist in one of these ponds the are 11 inches, have a rule that requires the anglers to put back all fish over 10 inches. AND THEN ENFORCE THE RULE. This was an option that was circumvented at Silver Creek. If you run up and kick a cop in the shins for no reason, you’ll be arrested and charged with something, have to go to court and will be fined. Try arguing your case and you will find that the law is absolute. When the illegals were crawling all over Silver Creek, the police and game wardens had the chance on hundreds of occasions to ticket the violators, but chose to arbitrarally[?] skirt the law….actually redefining it so they didn’t have to enforce it. The lawless ran rampant and fished the best fish out of that body of water….illegally of course. What’s left? Numbers of fish you will be told. Just not numbers of nice fish….which you will not be told.

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Fish “numbers” is not the issue. Numbers of “sizable fish” is another story.

About three years ago word got out that some decent crappies were being caught in the Gamhaven puddle. We were looking at limits of nice fish in the 10+ inch range. To get to this lake it was a considerable hike from either direction.

Last year people were hard pressed to find a keeper sized crappie. Catching dink fish is easy though.

Now keep in mind that Gamehavebn is strictly walk-in. How many boats do you think are going to hit that water during open water? Not many I’d dare say. So….where did the nicer fish go? In the pails of ice anglers who take the nice ones trip after trip and then line up to kick the lake in the groin when they can’t find those nice fish any more.

In any small, enclosed system, such as what we find in these local reservoirs, it is vitally important to have ENFORCED!!!!!!!!! rules and regulations in place if there are fish in them. Personally, I feel that requiring all anglers to return the larger fish to these waters simply is the smart approach so that anyone has a chance to at least enjoy the catch of one. If large crappies exist in one of these ponds the are 11 inches, have a rule that requires the anglers to put back all fish over 10 inches. AND THEN ENFORCE THE RULE. This was an option that was circumvented at Silver Creek. If you run up and kick a cop in the shins for no reason, you’ll be arrested and charged with something, have to go to court and will be fined. Try arguing your case and you will find that the law is absolute. When the illegals were crawling all over Silver Creek, the police and game wardens had the chance on hundreds of occasions to ticket the violators, but chose to arbitrarally[?] skirt the law….actually redefining it so they didn’t have to enforce it. The lawless ran rampant and fished the best fish out of that body of water….illegally of course. What’s left? Numbers of fish you will be told. Just not numbers of nice fish….which you will not be told.

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The way this has been handled is a disgrace!! CT, I think your right on about what has already hapened to this body of water. For 2 yrs. I watched all of the “entitled” fisherman fish this water even after they were told it was closed.Its hard to believe that we’ve been let down again by our public officials(co’s, sheriffs) by the way they handled keepin peple out. What a Joke. To all of you entitled fisherman, enjoy the water cause it’ll be fished out by the end of the hard water season. Then next year dont get on this forum pissin and whinin about the lack of fish.

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When the illegals were crawling all over Silver Creek, the police and game wardens had the chance on hundreds of occasions to ticket the violators, but chose to arbitrarally[?] skirt the law….actually redefining it so they didn’t have to enforce it. The lawless ran rampant and fished the best fish out of that body of water….illegally of course.

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That statement is absolutley ridiculous.

So YOU have a different interpretation of a law……what makes YOU right? You’re mad that LAW OFFICIALS didn’t ticket people for doing things YOU thought were illegal? If a cop or CO saw a REAL law being broken, he would write a ticket…..simple as that…..You can’t just make up some huge government/cop conspiracy because people are fishing a spot you don’t think they should

Sounds like a case of Grumpy old man syndrom to me?

Actually Jake, as I remember the sheriff’s office actually stated, that although it would be tresspassing to gain access they would refrain from enforcing the law. Not to mention the fact that vehicles were very obviously parked illegally along a marked roadway, and field drive. One could gain legal access by DNR standards by wading the feeder creek, but this obviously was not the case for most fisherman as there was a well established trail over the dike. I agree with CT in that if the county would have towed a couple of vehicles, given a tresspassing ticket or two rather than slapping a parking ticket on the windsheild that there would have been less abuse.

Maybe I’m a little over sensitive to the situation, but it seems like some “sportsman” have a over active sense of entitlement.

Now it seems as though the county and township have come to some sort of understanding, but lets not let the ends justify the means!!! Nobody should feel like they have to let someone do something because they are going to do it anyway. Its like a little kid giving the school bully his lunch money before the bully even asks, because the kid knows if he doesn’t he’s just gonna get beat up later.

I guess I’m not fully aware of the parking issues as I’ve never actualy checked it out . Did the sheriff put up the NO PARKING signs? Or was it a resident that just didn’t want people to park there?

I agree that if people were parking, or walking on private land, or doing something else that was actually illegal, that should have been enforced……but I believe the people parking on a public road way, entering through the creek and never breaking a REAL law, should not have been ticketed or hassled.

We’ve dealt with the “Wet Foot” law many times while duck hunting…..both MN and WI…..CO’s, city police and county sheriffs……every time, WE’RE legal….and in one case this year, the person that was hollaring at us for hunting HIS land got the ticket for hunter harrasment

I am not mad at the law enforcement, Jake. Frustrated perhaps. In order to understand all of the fluff one would had to have been around when the negotiations to procure the land were being done. That was quite a while ago…20 years?

What is maddening is that this place would have held a lot of potential had all of the agreements that were made years ago had been adhered to, at least until a workable solution for public use was drawn up and implemented.

This puddle will not tolerate fish being kept without a strictly enforced size and numbers “special” limit….much like that found at Fosters for the trout or at Chesterwoods for the sunfish. Even pool 5 of the Mississippi has special sunfish regs.

Stop and think about this now. With the law enforcement community saying that they were not going to respond to calls from there regarding the lake, what incentive did those who went into the area, knowing that they could trespass without call, stay within any of the limits you and I have to abide by if we are keeping some fish for the table? What if someone went thru the ice and calls were passed over? What if it was you that went thru the ice?

All I am saying is that things were handled miserably by the law enforcement people and the CO’s who work this area. Now, those who have waited for a chance to fish this legally will find little there to make the hills worthwhile. They can go the Willow and catch the same and can drive almost to the water.

The laws were very clear to me. The re-interpretation was done by others. A couple of tickets three years ago could have secured this place for everyone instead of a bunch of law breakers who have done a great job of raping the keepable fish.

So you are aware Jake…..even with the ability to now enter there to fish, I won’t. The hills are something I can’t do in my old age. My frustrations were voiced for and on behalf of the legal fishing public with nothing to gain for myself.

I agree….special regs need to/should have been put into place on this lake to sustain a reasonable population of decent fish as soon as people started to fish it…..No argument there. In fact, if it were up to me, they’d put highly HIGHLY restrictive regs on all the small reserviors around town (Including Lake Zumbro). Personally, I don’t care if I ever clean another stinkin sunfish in my life.

The problem I had/have was with the paragraph I quoted above……In where you called out ALL who have fished there as being”Lawless”, “Illegals”, “Moreless”, “Devil Worshipers”, and whatever else……and you have sternly stated this on every post on every public forum you’ve posted on for a couple years. When the TRUTH is, they were indeed fishing within the laws that have been established by the state. There were no special regs placed on this body of water, so the only regs they need to legally follow are the general fish and game rules set by the MN DNR.

Yeah, it’s a bummer it happend the way it did…..and something different could probably have been done to make it better for the general fishing public involved…..but it didn’t……So take a deep breath, settle down, and go fish one of those super special private ponds you have access to…..Before the LAWLESS ILLEGALS find a creek into one of them too!!!!

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When the illegals were crawling all over Silver Creek, the police and game wardens had the chance on hundreds of occasions to ticket the violators, but chose to arbitrarally[?] skirt the law….actually redefining it so they didn’t have to enforce it. The lawless ran rampant and fished the best fish out of that body of water….illegally of course.

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That statement is absolutley ridiculous.

So YOU have a different interpretation of a law……what makes YOU right? You’re mad that LAW OFFICIALS didn’t ticket people for doing things YOU thought were illegal? If a cop or CO saw a REAL law being broken, he would write a ticket…..simple as that…..You can’t just make up some huge government/cop conspiracy because people are fishing a spot you don’t think they should

Sounds like a case of Grumpy old man syndrom to me?

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You must have been one of the guys going out there. You should do alittle research before jump on someone first. I live in the haverhill township and have listened to the talks and saw the pictures of the trash, cars parked on the road etc… and have seen the co’s and sheriffs drive by and not even thought about stoppin’, so yes Jake they have looked the other way!! The township asked that people stay out until a plan could be put into place, but the “entitled” took apon themselves to keep going. Imagine that, selfish outdoorsmen. This attitude of entitlement is what is going to wreck it for the future generations.

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and have seen the co’s and sheriffs drive by and not even thought about stoppin’, so yes Jake they have looked the other way!!

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Just wondering…..How can you tell what a co or sheriff is “thinking” by seeing him drive by in a car?

Maybe he was thinking I can’t wait until I see one of those ice fisherman throw a piece of trash on the ground so I can write them a littering ticket? Or I can’t wait for the city to grant access to this lake so I don’t have to keep driving by this stupid lake? Or I can’t wait until I get home cause my lovely wife is making garlic pot roast for dinner?

If anything, I think the point that you see them drive by would point to the fact that they weren’t looking the other way?

and No, I’ve never fished there before……I’ve got my own private secret spots that the whole city doesn’t know how to get into

There was articles in the PB stating that if people were parked on the roads or in the driveways to the water they’d be ticketed and I would see cars on the west side and the south without so much as a warning on them. I guess they really followed through with there warning?? So they must have wanted to get home to their pot roast :

Careful there Greg. A lot of strong opinions from guys who have never fished there and don’t care if they do.

So now that everyones had a chance to complain about how this was handled. What is to be done next?

It’s real easy to point fingers at the cops, co, township, “skofflaws” and entitled illegals, thats all in the past. How do we get regulations on this reservoir?

I fished it last year and I was out this past Saturday. It does seem slower this year but I was only out a few hours. Oh ya, I have yet to keep a fish.

Why is it the DNR can’t step in and manage all these waters in/around town and keep them in panfish? Sounds like DNR 101 to me.

If the dnr was going to set reg’s for this body of water they should have set bfore it was opened.

Kyle…

This situation [as reported in the newspaper] is still considered a “trial” by the township, so not much has been done other than to allow some controlled access with controlled time slots. If people do not toe the line, that will go back to no man’s land….something also stated quite clearly in the newspaper….and the signs will go back up.

As per specific management tools on the fishing, only CWoods has any and that is largely due to the numbers of year-round visitors and the fact that the dnr feels this can be a “trophy” sunfish fishery. The sunnies are somewhat protected along with a couple other species perhaps, bass come to mind here. All of the other retention ponds were given the initial infusion of fish [the dnr and joint powers say nothing was ever added to SC and still don’t fess up to how the fish got there], but I have never heard a formal plan for restocking any of them.

Hind-site is 20/20, we all know that. But still, had these issues been addressed properly twenty years ago things would be much different today. Like so many waters, even within a purely public realm, control measures are added after the damage is done.

It always seems to be too little too late. Now had the autorities been ticketing all those who were out there when the newspaper had reported the the whole thing was off limits last winter, all of the fine money could have gone towards a stocking program and implimentation of some control regulations to help make SC a nice place to visit in a couple years.

I still believe that there should be reduced limits for ALL bodies under a certain acreage for the entire state i.e. under 50 acres a limit of 5 sunfish, etc…

I guess I’d like to think SC and some of the other fisheries around town could still be salvaged. Most of the posts I read on here are pretty bleak.

For my part, I will not be taking fish and I will comply with the trial period rules, which is not the easiest thing to do, packing up as the sun goes down and the fishing picks up.

Another thing I would ask for those that are going out to SC. I’m out there with my kids, so watch your language, this past Saturday we got to hear about the biggest g d f***ing sunny this guy had ever caught, and then every fish he caught he seemed to need to announce to the lake.
And, I wasn’t the only Dad on the water.

Sorry, but if I’m doing my part, I expect others to also.

This is an exteremly sad post for a body of water that is 100% legal to fish. Our tax money bought the property and I am still wondering how they can make/consider state/county/city property “No Trespass” when we were the ones who put the money towards the land. People can park in the ditch, heck people can camp in the ditch and be perfectly legal. I have fished the pond and everytime I fished it we walked the entire creek to the pond while others made the easy trek on land. As for the poeple who live around there and see litter & other debris, does anyone else remember the pile of nails dumped in the ditch? One can only assume who dumped those there. And yes, there should be regs on each and every piece of water in olmsted county, there are way too many fisherman out there fishing and keeping. Is it wrong, heck no, but they should all be protected.

Just one man’s opinion on an onging argument that may never be solved.

I totally agree with bighorn and lars!!

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I totally agree with bighorn and lars!!

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I totally agree bla bla.
If you ever went out and caught a fish or even got out of your truck I’d value your opinion a little more. But since you don’t, I don’t. Keep your under thought opions to yourself.

Heres my two cents on the subject. Who cares? Why worry. Let them fish it, over fish it, pull all the fish out. Good things only last for awhile. Eventually the pressure will subside and things will all even out again.

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Heres my two cents on the subject. Who cares? Why worry. Let them fish it, over fish it, pull all the fish out. Good things only last for awhile. Eventually the pressure will subside and things will all even out again.

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as wrong as it sounds it is very true for almost all fisheries in Roch with the exception of Zumbro for now and the one where you have to pay to enter prevents quite a bit of pressure.

After all this is a named creek and with entry from road when creek freezes and it does it can not be denied. Last year i got dropped off at the creek and walked up nothing at at can stop that. No one can own the water of the creek. I do though 100% agree people are careless with garbage and the over fishing is sickening. The one time i went there this year and the last was talked to many guys with small crappies in their pail wondering where the big ones are. “I said look in your pail!”