Anyone know how to drain a lake?

[WickedPorter]

Looks like they are trying to avoid flooding Des Moines. Your 4th may not be as good as you hoped, they are asking boaters to stay off the lake.


http://m.kcci.com/news/lake-managers-asking-boaters-to-stay-off-saylorville-lake/26754676

Yes ... the lake (reservoir) is definitely serving it's purpose well ... at the expense of my fun. Oh well.

The debris is not nearly as bad as it was when it first started to rise. There are still a few large trees to avoid here and there. That said, I did see an idiot pulling a tube at high speeds a week ago Saturday when the lake was completely full of debris/trees. It had to be on the top 5 list of most dangerous things I've seen on this lake so far. Also saw a few cigarette boats going full throttle across it, I'd think it would be pretty difficult to navigate around a full floating trunk doing 60mph+, I would think they would tend to sneak up on you pretty fast. I'm not about to find out ...

 

[Zeus2013]

I think I remember one of my favorite cartoon characters swimming to a lake bottom and pulling the drain plug. Does yours have one?

 

[WickedPorter]

I think I remember one of my favorite cartoon characters swimming to a lake bottom and pulling the drain plug. Does yours have one?

LOL! Unfortunately, it's already pulled, it's just not big enough! I really like Des Moines, so probably shouldn't try to make that particular drain any larger ...

 

[WickedPorter]

I went on a scouting mission this afternoon. Not nearly as many full tree trunks, but all kinds of branches/pieces/etc. I had to stop and clear the pumps approximately 12 times (reverse trick worked wonderfully), but this one time wasn't enough. The little guy pictured below got stuck on the impeller, and while the engine was still able to spin, this thing wasn't releasing it's grasp on the blade and just spun around with it. Very interesting "major cavitation" feeling, this pump wasn't able to do anything until it was removed. It took quite a bit of effort to dislodge it through the clean-out port, but finally got it loose. THANK YOU CLEAN-OUT PORTS!!!

I'll be waiting for the water to start receding before going back out again. As soon as the water starts going down, the crap clears pretty fast. That should (hopefully) start happening early next week.

Positive note: I dropped anchor in the cove and was able to do a full detail on the interior for this weekend. Even though we won't be getting out, we'll still be hanging out on ol' Nellie in the slip this weekend. (more photos below)




Deceptive shot of a seemingly clear lake. Not the case:


Working hard ... :

 

[woodard1983]

bet you wish all that water was still in the lake now

I was enjoying the high waters, went up the river and did a lot of wakeboarding/surfing where there was smooth water...made a couple trips up to ledges and took the jet ski up the river to boone...

side not, I saw another ar240 out on the water tonight while on the jet ski....I'm pretty sure I saw yours on the slip and don't think I've ever seen this one before....that makes 2 ar240's, 2 ar230's like mine, 2 242 ltds, and an older 05ish ar that i've seen on the lake this year...pretty impressive growth considering no dealer support whatsoever within 3 hours and that the 05 and my AR were the only ones on the lake just 3 or 4 years ago!!1

 

[WickedPorter]

bet you wish all that water was still in the lake now

I was enjoying the high waters, went up the river and did a lot of wakeboarding/surfing where there was smooth water...made a couple trips up to ledges and took the jet ski up the river to boone...

side not, I saw another ar240 out on the water tonight while on the jet ski....I'm pretty sure I saw yours on the slip and don't think I've ever seen this one before....that makes 2 ar240's, 2 ar230's like mine, 2 242 ltds, and an older 05ish ar that i've seen on the lake this year...pretty impressive growth considering no dealer support whatsoever within 3 hours and that the 05 and my AR were the only ones on the lake just 3 or 4 years ago!!1

Wow, seems the pack is growing, nice! Mine sits in a slip on the north fingers of the 800 dock.

As for the lake level, I don't mind it at normal pool ... I do wish normal pool was raised about 4-5 ft to eliminate some of the sandbar issues north of the bridge. It seems like everything is just "better" at this level though, the algae is dissipated, no floating pump-cloggers, etc. I'm sure it's nice to go that far up north though, I've never attempted it but would like to at some point when the water is higher again (as long as the floaties are minimal).

It seems as though summer has finally arrived... hoping for some really nice days the next 6 weeks or so to round out the season. Hope to see you out there!

 

[woodard1983]

yea, I'd like a good 5-10 ft, gives so much more room on the lake....water sports are nearly impossible at this point unless you get up pretty early....I'd be REALLY happy if we got another 6 weeks of boating!!!!