Careful early season this year... missing/broken markers!!
 

Just a reminder to everyone that is going to be hitting the water early. Probably due to the increased traffic on the ice this year, along with the extra thick ice, there are probably going to be a lot of missing, out of place or broken markers out there. Never mind watching out for debris.... so be careful and know where the hazards are cause you can bet they will not all be marked come ice out.... MP does a good job fixing them but it takes them time to get to them all.

wow
 

Thats one big cigarette for someone to leave out there. You think they would of gone over to the Weirs and buried it in the sand there

I hope that one got reported to the MP!

Just curious, where was it?

I never looked at one before, it looks like they are foam filled PVC pipes?

Early Season Lake Travel
 

We have learned to make our first several trips to East Bear Island during daylight hours. Frequently, we have encountered floating objects [limbs, pieces of dock, etc] which we stop to take out of the water. Almost every year, pieces of dock lodge agaist our breakwaters.

Just off the rental slips by Sheps. It's a bad spot to, very shallow in there.

Yeah that's all they are is a PVC pipe filled with foam. This was intact all the way up till this past weekend. Not sure what happened to it, probably was hit by somebody.

It was probably hit by a snowmobile or ATV when it was partially burried in the snow.

It happened this weekend, as it was intact on Saturday and Sunday it was broke.

As a fairly new boater I must ask, what is the proper way to remove debris that I might come across? Obviously wrap a rope around it and pull it away, but do you take it to the closest shore and toss it on land, then the property owner would throw a fit? If I take it back to a boat launch am I now frowned upon if I leave it there? What do you do with the 'stuff' you come across?

Disposal od Floating Debris
 

Most of the items we encounter early in the season are small enough [and wooden] to haul on board. We take them on to the island and dispose of them there. I'm sure folks with no residence could take them back to shore, rather than leave them floating. Our boat yard has dumpsters available for such items. During the season, we also stop to remove floating trash from our beautiful lake.

While there will always be those few exceptions, I think most lake residents would thank you for the effort if you dropped something on the shore. In most cases, it will eventually drift in anyway, and most lakefront owners are also boaters who will appreciate the effort.

If it is something too big to haul on board, I can understand how difficult it might be to tow it for a long distance. It the landowners are there, ask. If not, when they arrive, they'll just think it drifted in :D

this happened last year...
 

We were on plane crossing the broads out from the east end of Rattlesnake when I spotted something in the water. I slowed and went over to the object and found this huge branch. I knew a friend with a camp on the broads side of Rattlesnake was at the camp, so we picked up the branch and motored into his dock. I gave him a yell and he came down to his dock, and I explained where I got the branch, asking if he could take it off my hands. He said he would be happy to, and that he would let it dry out and then cut it into firewood. Not sure I would have just left it there, but certainly didn't hurt to ask. As a point of reference, I am standing on the front bow cushion of my 25 ft boat, and the branch is hanging over the back by a couple or three feet.

While putting in a boat lift for a client of mine last year, I had a nice couple come up toward the dock and ask if I would take a piece of lumber they had just found out on Sunapee at the mouth of the cove I was working in. I said sure and they proceeded to struggle a piece of 2x10 pressure treated that measured 12' in length. Couldn't believe it and it was newer too, no cut marks, nail holes and still had the end tag.

Moral of the story, is that there are usually plenty of people out and about by the waters edge early in the season. Just pull up and ask nicely if they would be willing to take your find and dispose of it, or in my case, I put it in my clients barn for some unknown future use.

Have pulled small pieces of 2x4, a 3' length of 6x6 (ouch!), patio umbrella, a section of deck (dock?) stairs with railing, a cement filled two bowl sink complete with chain and float that was dropped about 20' inshore of my clients swim raft mooring block (almost set the swim raft on the wrong block) and all sorts of light floating objects over the years from my clients shore in early spring.

This year is likely to produce all sorts of interesting things once the ice starts moving around. Keep your eyes peeled!