Belly Boats / Float Tubes

[Fishinokie1]

I'm going to take another run at getting Float Tube access to one of our Greene County lakes. I do not currently own one but would buy one in a heartbeat if I could use it on one of these lakes. Looking at the list of activities that are available for these lakes it does list Belly Boats but doesn't say Yes or No for any of them. We all know the answer has been No. I've never been able to get them to tell me their concerns for the use of float tubes but when I was ran off of Fellows a long time ago all the guy could tell me is that they don't allow swimming. Maybe they are afraid that it would turn into a fiasco loop hole that would allow everyone with some type of flotation device to float around the lake and say they were fishing, that I could understand. But it seems that the parks in and around Springfield have been eliminating as many fishing opportunities as they can over the past several years. Even the little park lake where Wheatenhiemer first took me to fly fish is off limits to fishing now. At some point we have to get this moving in the other direction so that we are giving the kids of this area an opportunity to fish.

I have put together an online survey that I would like as many people to answer as possible. I hope this will give me some added leverage when I approach this again. Everyone's response is appreciated and I will keep everyone informed on the progress.

Belly Boat / Float Tube Survey

Fly, I found a great spot on Wednesday for my tube. I went up to Stockton to the Masters Rec. area. There are some great shallow points and brush everywhere. I would recommend going early since the wind likes to pick up out there in the afternoon. I caught 4 nice walleye and way too many bass to keep track of, all of them were shorties. They are right up on the banks. I was hunting crappie, but all of the bass and the wally's were just as fun. If you get your tube, give this area a try. There is a $3 fee for boat launch, I paid it even though I was in a tube. If you have not used or fished out of a tube, make sure you get a good PFD that is comfortable. I bought a new one this year at BPS and you can not tell you have it on. You do not want to be out on the water without one......

[Flysmallie]

Fly, I found a great spot on Wednesday for my tube. I went up to Stockton to the Masters Rec. area. There are some great shallow points and brush everywhere. I would recommend going early since the wind likes to pick up out there in the afternoon. I caught 4 nice walleye and way too many bass to keep track of, all of them were shorties. They are right up on the banks. I was hunting crappie, but all of the bass and the wally's were just as fun. If you get your tube, give this area a try. There is a $3 fee for boat launch, I paid it even though I was in a tube. If you have not used or fished out of a tube, make sure you get a good PFD that is comfortable. I bought a new one this year at BPS and you can not tell you have it on. You do not want to be out on the water without one......

I have used a float tube around Masters before. It is a good area, just watch out for those pleasure boaters. There is another area that is close to there where you can drive right down to the bank. Great smallmouth area. It takes a 4WD that you don't mind a few scratches on to get there but it's worth the effort. If you are interested let me know and I will get you some directions.