Published: October 01, 2009 08:53 am      

Now is Time to Improve Lake Access

Opinion

Lake Cumberland is a fishermen’s Mecca for boaters, but the shoreline is so rugged fishing from the bank is almost impossible in most places.

A lot of people –– men, women and children –– love to fish, but unless you own or can afford to rent a boat, you’re left high and dry. Many older people in this community no longer have physical strength to handle a fishing boat and they have nowhere to fish at the lake.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has done a magnificent job at Kentucky Lake providing areas where bank fishermen can enjoy the water. Piers extending into tailwaters below Kentucky dam allow anglers to walk out to near the middle of the Tennessee River where fish abound. Marshall County has a park from which ramps extend into the lake.

In our way of thinking, this would be a wonderful time to construct piers into Lake Cumberland while the water is being held 40 feet below pool stage to facilitate repairs at Wolf Creek Dam. It seems to us it would be less expensive and much easier to construct ramps now before the water returns to its normal level in three years.

We’re not engineers and certainly don’t know the lay of the land and water, but from a layman’s standpoint, Waitsboro looks like a great place for a fishing pier.

How about Pulaski County Park? County government seemingly could build a couple of piers while the lake is dry in this area. When the water comes back, these places would be as popular as the talked-about amphitheater.

Then, of course, there are great fishing spots in the area behind the former Lakeview Restaurant. A pier extending into this deep water would be a fisherman’s dream.

If you don’t think Lake Cumberland is full of fish, you should talk to those who fish in the lake. Talk about the “Catch of the Day!” If you can get to ‘em you can catch ‘em!

Somebody suggested that land-based fishing places around Lake Cumberland would be taken over by vandals, the same kind of folks who have destroyed several other nice parks in Pulaski County.

This problem can be solved with a little more attention by law-enforcement personnel. There is no vandalism –– not even graffiti –– at fishing spots around Kentucky and Barkley lakes. The areas are used 24 hours a day by fishermen, and folks who fish, by nature, are really good people.