More water closed to wading

[Bob R]

I drove down to Kelly's Ford this morning to fish the Rappahannock and found the area closed to all activities except launching of boats.  There is drop off into a pool just upstream of the bridge that I've been fishing for years.  That pool because of the depth and sandy beach area was popular with swimmers as well.  This morning I found "No Swimming", "Area Off Limits", and a few other signs that basically say unless you're launching a boat you're trespassing. I don't know why VDGIF shut the area down but I assume it's probably for the same reasons the Park Service have in D.C. waters.  Very disappointing if a few who don't know their limits have closed off miles of river to the rest of us.    Some of the signage. 

[Aden]

What's next, only red heads allowed? All others are trespassing. I could understand if they didn't want people using the boat ramp to enter the water on foot but this is just wrong.

[Carl Z.]

Well, take your float tube (it's a boat, isn't it) and launch it there (then tether it someplace and go wade) :-)

On the serious side, if the DNR leases a sportsman access and it is taken over by swimmers and partiers I can see it being a problem.  It might prevent someone from renewing a lease or such.

I don't know about this site in particular, but any public access site has the potential for getting out of hand.  Unfortunately it's the world we live in.   It would be interesting to know why they closed it down.

Carl

On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 10:43 AM, Aden <aden...@gmail.com> wrote:

What's next, only red heads  allowed? All others are trespassing.  I could understand if they didn't want people using the boat ramp to enter the water on foot but this is just wrong.

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[HeaveToo]

I am sorry to hear that.  That was an okay fishing access area.

I really think that public hearings or something should be published about why these things happen.  It is ridiculous that places are shutting down access without letting the public that they serve know why.

if it is a health issue, okay then but let us know.  If it is a litter thing than that is just sad.

Years ago there was an access to the Rapidan River near Germanna Community College in Orange County.  DGIF shut the site down.  They said that it was due to trash and riff-raff. 

Unfortunately these things also happen at Kelly's Ford so we can assume that this will happen there eventually.

We are loosing our public access to these fishing waters.  Just pathetic and sad!

[Rob Snowhite]

We can't wade in the river but it has been legal to swim off of National Harbor:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/national-harbor-suspends-swims-amid-insurance-dispute/2014/05/28/11231afa-e299-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html

On Sunday, May 25, 2014 8:41:43 PM UTC-4, Bob R wrote: