Tips for Relocating rocks in shallow areas of lake

[Newbiesaukee]

Let me be clear...our winter home is in a city with ridiculous restrictions such as...no pick up trucks, even personal ones, allowed to park overnight on your own property ( this was changed only last year). A building permit needed to paint your house, etc., etc. I do "bend" these rules at times.

However, I think Shore Things analogy is absolutely appropriate. If the Lake is public, then certainly that includes the bottom. I live on the waterfront. I am used to bass fisherman coming next to the dock but if I move a large rock which makes it difficult to maneuver from my property, and there are some, should not,the bass fisherman have the expectation that the rocks would be in the same place as the last time he visited so he does not run into one. It is also HIS lake bottom.

Judging from the responses and the solutions rendered on this Forum we are not only talking about moving small rocks we stub our toes on but including significant boulders.

To stretch the analogy further, we probably would not be very happy with a fisherman moving rocks from the front of "our property."

We probably all ignore silly rules...but I don't believe we should be dismissive of Shore Things very logical comment.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by Newbiesaukee

Let me be clear...our winter home is in a city with ridiculous restrictions such as...no pick up trucks, even personal ones, allowed to park overnight on your own property ( this was changed only last year). A building permit needed to paint your house, etc., etc. I do "bend" these rules at times.

I lived in the same city—and it's a pretty large one—"downtown" is growing especially fast. The city had restrictions on overnight parking of pickups or commercial vans at your residence. When the resident would apply for a permit, the city would even restrict what color you could paint your house!

Having said that, Hurricane Andrew showed which houses were built onto, or remodeled, without a permit.



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"Bending" the Rules...

What I've seen around me, is that newbie lakefront owners like to move "their" rocks inland a few feet. We did the same thing as kids, but I don't remember why. Perhaps it's a need for a human's "dominion over the land" thing?

If egress is needed to the dock, boulders should be moved to deeper water—which is easier. If there's anything better for fishermen (and fish) it's "structure".

Bread-box-sized boulders are fairly easy to move when they're submerged, as their weight has been halved by displacing water. Using a $30 "digging bar" (incorrectly called a $135 Johnson-bar) the boulder can be nudged along the bottom. (A Johnson-bar would work, but not as well).

Larger boulders can be lifted with heavy rope or chains from a boat using a "cable-winch" (come-a-long). Use an aluminum canoe or rowboat, make a bridle of chain or cable, and reinforce the gunwales with an appropriate frame of wood 2-by-X to spread the load. [/QUOTE]



Mornings are getting chillier, and the water cooler, so start soon...it won't be any warmer in April!

If a strap breaks, or the canoe folds in half, the boulder was too large.



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[ApS]

I'd gotten energized over the prospect of moving a boulder on my property that's plagued me for many years. It's been a nuisance during every boat-launch from my steep shoreline. It was once a part of an old rock wall, and delivered by dump truck in the winter. (The delivery predated "bubblers"). The idea of adding "fish structure" as well, was particularly appealing.

"Do it for the fishes"...





So, Sunday, I pried it off the shoreline into knee-deep water that just covered it—wrapped ordinary tire chain around it, and pulled away. (About 15 feet ).



A coal shovel with an open handle was then jammed underneath the boulder, and the rope run through the handle. Any shovel will work using a timber hitch to keep it aligned.

This "shovel-sled" allowed dragging this tear-shaped boulder (about two bread-baskets in size ) under our dock, where it got stuck again on an existing rock pile. I then brought our aluminum canoe over, turned it sideways, tipped it 'way over, and secured one thwart to the heavy rope. Another rope was tied to the opposite end of the thwart and pulled, leveraging and lifting the boulder over the rock pile. The boulder was then moved about 100 feet to where abundant rock structure was already located.

If your boulder is in deeper water, one can use the canoe as a float (as suggested above). Lacking a wire winch, you can sink the canoe down to the attached boulder—secure it—and bail it out to lift the rock. The boulder can then be floated to where it's no longer an obstruction—and becomes useful fish "structure".



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