Here’s a photo and report from LaSalle Lake of what was like being trapped in the line for more than 1 1/2 hours Sunday morning because of the late opening by staffers.
Reports from the site indicated the gates to the LaSalle County cooling lake were opened about 7:42 a.m. Opening time for fishermen is 6 a.m.
Here’s one guy’s report:
This was the scene around 7:15 this morning at LaSalle. People were upset but pretty low key considering some had waited for more than 2 hours.The line stretched around that corner in the picture at least another 10 cars/boats or more. Someone finally opened up around 7:45. Guy in front of me said gate opened late a couple times recently. I know its at least the third time I’ve had to wait in the last couple years but never that long. Morning never really got better. I knew fishing was gonna be tough and that first couple hours was gonna be a key to having a good outing. Not only was it real sunny but the wind picked up enough to create small whitecaps which limited how you could fish. I had wanted to slow down and drag plastics but that wasn’t very practical in the places I wanted to fish because of the wind. I wound up with a couple small bass and a handful of small cats. Got off about 11. Maybe next time.
Considering what an asset LaSalle Lake is to outdoors in Illinois, I am not sure why it is treated so off-hand manner. May just be because it’s isolated spot in the country of LaSalle County.
I don’t know but this is unacceptable.
For those who don’t know LaSalle, once you’re in line with a boat, you’re trapped. You cannot turn around. As the morning wore on, guys coming down the country blacktop saw the line all the way around the bend at LaSalle and kept going.
