High water causing access issues on northeast South Dakota lakes
Day County:
Entire county is seeing record high water levels creating problems on County, Township, & State roads. This is making access to popular fishing areas difficult especially with high fishing pressure currently.
Blue Dog Area:
South access off of HWY12 is completely flooded by several feet of water, area is closed
West (Hatchery) Access is in very tough shape due to a complete saturated access road and turn around. The hatchery crew has been working on this area basically non-stop trying to keep it in operation. Water continues to press through the road, making it much like a waterbed. Doing our best to keep it going but may need Engineering assistance for any long-term solutions.
Hemmingway shore access is closed due to several feet of water over road
County road from HWY12 to hatchery is closed from the South, only access to hatchery is from the North.
Minnewasta
Sunny Brook pass that lead to our access area is closed due to high water
Access area is completely flooded and closed at this time
Hazeldon
Highest lake level ever seen.
Currently a few boats getting on but the access area needs some contractor work to create a new ramp entrance and turnaround area for boats – will work on a small local contract
Rush Lakes
North Rush very soft with high water levels, access crew plans on adding some plank to the top end of the ramp to try to rectify this
South Rush is currently closed due to water over the entrance road (GFP owned)
Waubay Area:
Grenville Access has some piping of water up through the road base creating soft spots much like Blue Dog does. Still accessible but needs some attention, if we get much precipitation in near future this road could go under in places.
Sherriff’s Office has closed Grenville Grade area to pedestrians creating problems at one of the most popular shore fishing areas in the region. Sherriff’s office is writing tickets for this.
Bitter Lake Area:
West Access (Kotzea’s) – County Rd 9 leading into our access area is going under water and will just continue to get worse. Entire area is flat so I see no solution at this area. Access area will need to be closed down as township road will be closed soon if not already.
East Access – Boat ramp and turnaround area are in good shape. Bottom tier of parking is about 2/3rd flooded and will be all summer. Parking space will be very limited to the top tier.
Lynn Lake Area:
County Road 25 is flooded from the South, only access is from the North
Township Rd that both our access areas just went under water this weekend in 1 place and is down to 1 lane in some other areas.
Clark County:
Dry Lake #2
Township road leading to our access has a low spot approximately 200-300 yards that is flooded and water has nowhere to go.
Going to get an estimate from local contractor on costs to raise this section of road as it continues to be a problem each year.
Access area itself is in good shape, just currently can’t get there due to this flooded portion of road.
Codington County:
Goose Lake
Water continues to rise with very little precipitation this spring, closed basin that just keeps eating up land
Currently all access areas have several feet of water over them, some smaller boats continue to launch off the flooded West road grade.
Grass Lake
Entrance road is currently flooded – area remains closed
Kampeska & Pelican
Lake levels currently about 18” over full and trending in the right direction – no issues
Hamlin County:
Lake Poinsett – continues to trend in the right direction and is looking good.
Access road to Saaranen is closed to rebuild the road.
3-Buck Lake – highest water has ever been, about 2/3rd of the leased parking area is under water, this is a closed basin. Working with landowner on possible re-configuration of the parking area
Remainder of region continues to have high water but at manageable levels at this time.
