Lake Hopatcong:

[AndyS]

Knee Deep Club...ATTENTION FISHERMEN !!! The BRC (boating regulation commission ) has a proposal to prohibit vessels from anchoring closer than 200 ' from the shoreline on Lake Hopatcong, due mostly to all the boats anchoring in Byram Cove on the weekends. (N.J.A.C. 13:82-3.11) You need to email or send a letter asking them to exclude those who are fishing from this, by Feb 3, 2017, to Edward Harrison Jr., acting Chair Boat Regulation Commission, c/o Marine Services Bureau, Div of State Police, POB 7068, West Trenton NJ 08628 . His email is LPPMSB@gw.njsp.org

[Chrisper4694]

what the hell...

[NJSquatch]

this is just shear stupidity....

thanks for letting us all know!

[Charlie B]

OK Byram cove can be a zoo but there are better ways to deal with it...Charlie

[icebadger]

andy i just sent them a letter asking them to re-think about this.lets hope fisherman are exempt.

[Charlie B]

Maybe the Knee Deep Club can help get an exemption for fishing. They seem to have some influence with the state. No meetings this time of year so it's hard to tell what the club is up to...Charlie

[NJSquatch]

Here is the language from the proposed legislation found on page 2 on the NJSP website (http://www.njsp.org/news/pdf/pr/20161206-2583-a.pdf). Doesn't mention fishing at all.

"At the request of citizens who own property along the shores of Lake
Hopatcong, particularly in Byram Cove, and after consultation with
State Police Marine Services Bureau, the BRC proposes new N.J.A.C.
13:82-3.11(l) to prohibit certain activities on the lake between May 15
and September 15 of each year. These restrictions will alleviate
crowding and dangerous behavior during the height of the boating
season when the lake is most crowded. Specifically, the BRC proposes
to prohibit vessels from anchoring closer than 200 feet from the
shoreline. The BRC also proposes to prohibit the tethering of a raft or
tube more than 20 feet from an anchored vessel and prohibit more than
10 vessels from anchoring together (commonly known as rafting)"

[acabtp]

quick!! people are having fun! somebody stop them!

what a crock

[NJSquatch]

For anyone interested I created a map showing the proposed 200' exclusion area.

Awful lot of good fishing spots within that buffer.:eek:

Google Map (https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=10vBS-eInkIgwCAk19ZF5Nk0P1QU&ll=40.94679494733876%2C-74.63227&z=12)

[Charlie B]

Unless they ban anchoring altogether it will have no effect on the problems on Byram cove.Same for limiting raft ups to 10 boats.Limiting raft ups to 2 boats may help but a 10 boat limit does nothing.The problem is with loud music, people pissing in the water,drunk,roudy, and lewd behavior. So just ticket the offenders and the problems will subside.

[Charlie B]

I just emailed Ed Mackin president of the Knee Deep Club hopefully the club can put some pressure on the state to reconsider or at least exempt people fishing...Charlie

[Bruce Litton]

I hate this sort of @#$% I will write

[Skunk City]

Spoke to Laurie at Dow's today, both her and KDC are already involved!

[birddog]

I would assume all of the party people would then have their snoopy fishing poles hanging over the side of their boats.

[catfishonthelake]

Wouldn't it make more sense to regulate the distance you can anchor from another vessel, in turn addressing overcrowding, safety issues and serving all users of the lake and not just the homeowners?

[Eskimo]

.


It's in the news today: http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2017/01/03/new-rules-would-restrict-lake-hopatcong-fishing-parties/96117918/


Seems to me the tail is wagging the dog here and the involved law enforcement agencies are catering to the the shoreline real estate owners.

On one hand, I can empathize with the people living in the houses along the lake. I'm sure it's annoying to have the 'Byram Cove Party Crew' parked outside your back door. On the other hand - it's a public lake. If they don't like 'the public' they can sell and buy real estate on a private lake.


.

[NJSquatch]

Glad this got picked up by the newspaper and that they reached out to the various LH entities. Hopefully the Lake Hopatcong Commission and Lake Hopatcong Foundation will speak up as well.

There are 106 residential lake front properties between Sunrise Point and Sister Islands. Seems just a tad disproportionate to appease a few homeowners given the number of people that use the lake. My guess it is just a handful of well to do property owners making the fuss. It is not like the lake was ever private and these activities have just magically started occuring.

The real annoying thing is the BRC meeting (http://www.njsp.org/marine-services/meetings.shtml) is scheduled for next Wednesday morning 1/11 (10 am) in Sea Bright and the comment period ends February 3. I will be writing a letter and sending an email to Mr. Edward Harrison (LPPMSB@gw.njsp.org) expressing my concern over the proposed rule. I would encourage others to do the same.