Water levels

Put the boat in on the north end this past weekend, and with all the rain, I think we only have 2 or 3 inches of clearance before we won’t be getting it on or off the lift. This has happened 3 of the last 5 years we’ve owned a place up there. Neighbor has been there decades and states they’ve never had an issue until the past few years. He claims that they are deliberately lowering lake levels at the Kathio dam. Is this just a case of an old man yelling at clouds, or is there something truthful to what he’s saying? I might be investing in some sealegs as opposed to the lift to enjoy the pontoon. Last year the boat was off by July 4th weekend. 2 years prior I helped shove/scrape multiple neighbors’ boats off of lifts at the end of the season.

The dam in Kathio is gone. They took it out years ago. So what he’s telling you is inaccurate because there is no dam anymore.

The connection point in Vineland Bay to the Rum River as it crosses under hwy 169 was also altered years ago too. They had metal pilings in there as barriers, and they took those out and replaced it with a rocky spill over.

There’s not a whole lot of water that enters the lake. Its mostly just a bunch of feeder creeks. The general lake levels are held to the mercy of mother nature and how much rain we get. Obviously the last few years have been on the dry side.

I believe I had heard they were lowering it too. I dont know if that was just a temporary thing a few years ago or if they are continuing to keep it low however. WIth so little snow this year that is likely the majority of the issue right now.

Its not only Mille lacs. Most all lakes in Central Minnesota are well below normal levels. This wet spring so far is helping some, but still a long way to go to get to normal historic levels.

gim wrote:

The dam in Kathio is gone. They took it out years ago. So what he’s telling you is inaccurate because there is no dam anymore.

Removing the dam would obviously lower the lake level.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Removing the dam would obviously lower the lake level.

Yes, but the OP indicated that someone was telling him they are regulating the lake levels with the dam. Which is false, because the dam has been gone for years now. There is no way of regulating the water levels in that lake. Its almost solely based on rain fall.

I don’t know what removing the dam in Kathio State Park did initially to lake levels in Mille Lacs. The goal was to turn Lake Ogechie into a marsh for waterfowl production.

The Rum River as it flows south through Mille Lacs, Sherburne, and Anoka counties has been very low the last several seasons. Its been so low by June that I’ve been unable to fish it; and my jon boat can float through inches of water.

Lake levels have been dropping for years now due to drought and it will take a lot of rain over the course of a period of time to bring them back to historical levels.

They did deliberately lower lake levels by removing the Buck More Dam in 2015. They did that to help Lake Ogechie return to producing wild rice.

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/sports/indians-feel-removing-dam-will-help-lake

The neighbor that was giving me this info was telling me it was a tribal issue, for what it’s worth. I didn’t want to go there, just wanted to see if this is just weather related or something else.

So, sealegs…safe on the north end sand? Or am I going to find our toon on it’s side due to high winds or waves? It’s actually about half as expensive as the lift we purchased last year, I just am leery that I’m not going to find it where I left it.

Appreciate the feedback.

After reading that article BigWerm, that’s what he was talking about. He was stating it was a wild rice harvesting issue. He must’ve confused the two dam names when he was telling me. So ramblings of a crotchety old timer mixed with some grains of truth is what I’m deducing.

The Mille Lacs Messenger is now publishing water levels from the US Geological Survey taken at the Cove public access. For a while the data was not available.
4/22 8 am 1251.63 ft
20 year average 1352.80 ft
14 yr low (2007) 1249.93
19 yr high (2002) 1253.08

From 2002 to 2007 the lake dropped 3.15 feet or roughly
3′-2 1/4″.

As of 4/22 we were .17 of a foot below ave.

This weekend has raised it a good 3″ in my view.

If I still had my engineers folding rule for site work I’d be more accurate for converting from tenths of a foot into inches.

Good info Brian, thanks

The DNR maintains a page dedicated to river levels around the state. There are 2 gauges listed for the Rum River. One is in Onamia and the other is in St Francis. The one in Onamia would be a pretty good estimate as to how lake levels in Mille Lacs might be. Right now its in the “medium” category.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/river_levels/index.html

As far as sea legs on the north end I would be very leery of using them.

Brian is you 20 year average suppose to read 1252 and not 1352?

Im guessing you could answer that youself.

Sea legs on the north end are just fine. We have them on our pontoon as do the neighbors. No issues with the sea legs, but the water is so low, we still can’t get the pontoon close enough to the 100′ dock to use them.

We found a trough to put the lift in that was about to my knee caps. At the end of the dock it’s about mid shin. Just looking for options to enjoy the boat for more than a few weeks. I know a lot of people using sea legs on the north end, but like ripjiggen I’m scared that it’s going to get moved.

G-raff, do you find that the legs get buried down in the sand? How strong is the motor to lift them out? Do you find that you worry more about the wind or the waves? Any info you could provide would be helpful.

31 Years of USGS Mille lacs Water levels (Plus near real time)

Graph

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We have a 23 foot pontoon and the sea legs lift it out of the water with 8 people on it with no problem. Never had an issue with the legs getting buried in the sand. Its never moved in the wind or waves once it is up in the air. What you will notice is you will lose a little bit of speed with the added weight of the sea legs.

My friend owns a cabin on the north end and has a pontoon with sea legs. They’ve never had an issue with it moving. I noticed that the neighbors have ground anchors that they put in the sand, attach a mooring buoy, and then tie the front and rear of the pontoon down to them.

Regarding the lake level, I have also heard that the new rock bed at the outlet of Mille Lacs is lower than the previous concrete wall.

My bad on the typo.
I know of some people down in Wahkon that have Sea Legs. They said besides adding weight the caught water at higher speeds.
I do have a neighbor that has them but I don’t see that boat out on the water much. Teenage kids use it as a docked patio.
I’m fortunate in that adding dock footage results in getting more depth. I have another 32′ to add if needed. I’m right at 120′ feet now.

Hopefully lake levels are coming up with all this rain?

My dock was at least usable this spring and I see maybe 1-2 inches today. The skeeters suck but need we the water.

Between the lift settling in the sand and the water levels coming up due to the rain, I went from 3 inches of clearance under the pontoon to about a foot while putting it on the lift on opener. I’m guessing it’s even deeper now with the rain this week. We just need continuous rain throughout the summer. Last summer and 3 summers ago we got good rain through May, then it was dry as hell for the rest of the summer.

It seems like all this rain we have got in areas this spring have really helped the lake levels. I guess not much of this spring rains have happened in the area we fish in Canada each spring ( North of The Pas area ) I just got a report from a guy in that area and he said the lake is REALLY low right now. He said its the lowest he has seen in over 20 years. He said some lakes in the area are down 3-5 ft. They had real drought conditions in that area last year and had little snow this last winter. Not good. I’m hoping they have some big rains in the next 2.5 weeks, but looking at the forecast its not looking like it. May be a real interesting trip this year

I just checked the water level gauge out of curiosity. The lake is about a half a foot higher than last year on this same date and just slightly under the historical median. Good numbers!

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Interesting…

With all that rain yesterday, the lake is now nearly a foot above last year’s level on the same date, and .34′ above The historical median.

BrianF wrote:

Interesting…

With all that rain yesterday, the lake is now nearly a foot above last year’s level on the same date, and .34′ above The historical median.

To that I would say “keep it coming.”

You know darn well that a drought is inevitable again at some point in the near future.