Northwest Fishing Reports

WARNING- Following these simple instructions might save you $517.00 and TONS of embarassment!

I have always tried to live my life learning from others mistakes. Well, today I became the example. While trying to get in a little bass fishing in the fabulous NW weather I learned a few things about my Lake Tapps.

1. The county launch has a drop off at the end of the concrete ramp. Potential damage to trailers in low water levels. Potential savings- $500.00 in repairs

2. The Allan Yorke launch will work fine with the lake drained.

3. After paying the required $8.50 to launch you might be saddened to know that once you put the boat in the water, way down the ramp, the electronic bullard will begin to rise and effectively block you behind it. Potential savings $17.00. ($8.50 to get your car out the first time, another required $8.50 to retrieve your boat, and more than likely $8.50 to retrieve your car!)

To add insult to injury, we were not able to start the motor. I had a bad connection at the battery terminal and basically ended up wihta dead starting battery#-o

Did I mention the unusually heavy flow of traffic at the exact time that I noticed the bullard rising. I think that I might have heard the snickering and laughter of a few senior citizens and children as they drove by pointing.

SO, moral of the story is... have Dilbert with you. He bought a annual pass for the launch and can swipe that thing as many times as you like!!! I am happy that I was able to provide a bit of entertainment to all of you reading, and to those of you who drove by and laughed today...Karma sucks

ouch. I feel your pain.

It probably should be obvioius......... but what is an electronic bullard?

The bollard is a big metal post that blocks the boat launch ramp. When you pay or swipe your access card it retracts down into the ground granting the user access to the ramp.

I can't believe that I didn't think to get pictures of the car trapped down there!#-o Perhaps is was because of the constant heavy rain. Or maybe because the one time I try and start the boat the battery died.

Well, you know the saying:

Well, I actually had an accident at the launch yesterday. Full pool at Tapps is 543.7' elevation, yesterday 540.6'. Bollard raised while driving up the ramp, not visible from the vehicle, took out everything in front of the front cross member, and lost a few quarts of oil in the process. I was able to stop the runoff from hitting the lake though. Hopefully the city will take notice and provide warning, or find a way to prevent this in the future. While the policeman was there looking and laughing, another boat went to launch and used his pass to drop his bollard. He then pulled forward to straighten out and evidently pulled out of the front sensor. Well, you can guess what happened, it began to rise and could have caused damage to his boat. We, myself and the officer, stopped him before anything happened. He again swiped his card and finished his launch. Here's a couple of pity photos for those of you who are laughing with me right now...or is that laughing at me#-o

Those photos don't do it justice. The oil pan is now an innie instead of an outie. Ouch.

I have fished all across the US and never came across anything like that. That seems like the worst possible idea. So you have limited time to launch before it goes up again?

Deadeye wrote:I have fished all across the US and never came across anything like that. That seems like the worst possible idea. So you have limited time to launch before it goes up again?

Good question... there are no clear directions, warnings, or mention of time limits.
The city is Bonney Lake is greedy :money: and didn't want to miss any launch fees.


So 2000Subaru, did you have to pay another $8.50 to drop the bollard down from the half staff atack position?

Yep I've never seen such a thing as that. Not sure if I like it. Seems like a great way to ruin the undercarriage of your car if it starts going up and you don't know it is...

Well...beings as I haven't done anything dumb this week and whatever I've done nobody got pictures of let me say this looks a little dumb.

Not sure how this would stack up against getting stuck on a lure that's hung up in the carpet.

Let's hope Bonney Lake puts in another sensor or some other fix to this problem. I also don't think Dilbert isn't showing the proper amount of sympathy. If he would have called in sick yesterday and gone fishing this wouldn't have happened.

Looks like the city has already had to fix an issue with the launch once...


http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca ... 69297.html

That's crazy, I have never seen anything like that. I would make sure the city gets the bill for damage to your car!

2000subaru wrote:Looks like the city has already had to fox an issue with the launch once...


http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca ... 69297.html

Dilbert was saying that was the lower sensor on the ramp.

I thought we'd hear the results from your visit with the city. Any progress?

Just paperwork and a nice receptionist. Car is at the DEALER for repair.

Ouch. I feel for ya there. Kirkland's launch is the same way, but I haven't heard of it doing that -- I can't imagine how irrate I would have been! Wow! Yeah, that's not your fault...make sure you don't pay too much here. When I think of the launch in Kirkland, I think of the post that goes up and down with the swipe of a card -- the city/county/state needs to think about the proper use of these potentially hazardous self-minded metal posts.

in theory that launch would be awesome to prevent people who dont want to pay to use the launch. looks like the engineers didnt think it through though. there will be more cases like this. im sure you are not the only one that post has caused damage to.

I wonder if the launch guys thought of making a $4.25 fee to lower the bollard, which would then raise itself after you backed in past it, then another $4.25 swipe to lower it to get out. You wouldn't have any problems with stupid machine trying to hurt your car because it feels like it, and it might prevent people from having to double pay when they are trapped.

Sucks about your car man. Wrecking your car is almost as bad as dropping your baitcaster into the water.

Wow, that sucks. Fortunately, you have recourse for the ectra fees you paid. I would also see if the city could reimburse you for the damages to your vehicle. It is short sightedness on their part. Something like that should never have been "overlooked". I am shocked that planners didn't foresee this. I really hope the city at least helps you for the damages incurred to your car.

2000subaru wrote:Just paperwork and a nice receptionist. Car is at the DEALER for repair.

I'm glad no tweaker broke into your car when it was in the launch parking lot. That would have been insult to injury.