Please read!!!

Hey guys I had a problem accessing the Ohio River in the Cincinnati area this past weekend as you may know if you read my post in the Ohio River forum. Cincinnati has a problem with river access in my opinion for as big as the city is. I wrote the following to the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, and his reply is also listed. Its ridiculous that they think they have good access to the river when I couldn't launch at any of their ramps


Subject: Boat Ramps



Dear Mr.Garges,

I went to Schmidt Boat Ramp Saturday afternoon and it was closed. Could you tell me why that is and when it will re-open? That's my first question, but I also have a short story and a comment. Saturday we went to Schmidt, it was closed. Then we went to Public Landing, ramp was also closed. So we went to Riverside Park.....same thing, closed. So we drove to Tanner's Creek in Indiana and accessed the river that way. So that's the story, now I would like to make a comment.

Cincinnati is known for it's riverfront. Our city seems to loves to dump a bunch of money into improving the riverfront to draw people to downtown. Also there are many places there to draw in the boaters. The one problem is launching a boat. I know a whole bunch of people who go outside of Cincinnati to launch their boat. First reason is most boaters hate the 10 dollar fee at Schmidt. That fee is ridiculous. Second reason is there are nowhere near enough ramps around the city. I travel to alot of the bigger rivers in the US for fishing and Cincinnati is by far the worst for access. I know most fishermen will NOT use Schmidt because of the fee. Most river fishermen are out on the river 2-3 times a week and won't pay that kind of money to launch their boat. Schmidt should atleast have some sort of affordable season pass for fishermen. 10 dollars everytime out gets expensive. Well, I just hope Cincinnati has some plans to make the river more accessable to the public without it costing us a fortune to get our boats in the water. I know if something is not done soon, I personally will not be on the river in the Cincinnati area. Oh and one more thing. Most serious river fishermen including myself fish all throughout the year, even winter. Their needs to be some ramps for us to use in the winter that have the docks in. I know for a fact if Schmidt was open throughout the whole year and the cost to launch was 5 dollars or less the ramp would get enough business in the winter. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Lee

And here is the response....


Hi Lee,



I'll check with our staff and have them contact you. I believe we have not been able to dredge the areas in front of the ramps due to the high water. I'm not sure about the Public Landing, but we'll get you the answers. We do have some improvements coming to Schmidt and we have improved the park area at Riverside. I believe our fees are fair. I'll do some checking on area boat ramp fees and see if adjustments are necessary.



We three ramps within the city of Cincinnati I feel we are doing pretty well with regard to access to the Ohio River. Thanks for your comments and we'll get back to you with more details.



Thanks,

Jim

What do you guys think???

 

I will send him the link to this post if we can get a bunch more opinions on here. I want the Rec.Commission to hear our voice, so guys speak up on your opinion of the matter. Thanks guys

 

Guys, here is some more updates for those wondering. I wrote this back to Jim after the first response I got from him.


James, thanks for checking, I will look forward to your next message. I would like to also comment to your reply. As far as fee's and ramps are concerned, we are behind many area as far as access. Cincinnati is a big city with a major focus on its river. For example I went to the Cumberland River in Clarksville Tennessee recently, and that is a small town with lots of farm land. They had 5 ramps that I found and all were very well kept. Also Cincinnati is the only town I have ever been in that charges at their ramps. I have been to several areas of the Mississippi River in 3 different states and several areas of the James River, Cumberland River, and several different ramps and have never had a fee charged. I personally don't feel that a fee should be charged at any ramp, but if Cincinnati feels they need to charge it should never go over 3 dollars in my opinion. Like I said before when Schmidt went to 10 dollars I personally know of a bunch of people who have not been back and they know other people that never went back and on and on. Most people I know personally go to Tanners Creek in Indiana. I just ask that you look at this from a point of view of people who use the river alot. Like I said I use it 2-3 times a week and if I go to Schmidt that 20-30 dollars to do some fishing. People buy boats, registration fee's, license fee's, gas for boat, and fishing license's and then they have to pay ten dollars everytime out, that's rough on alot of people money-wise, and in my opinion just plain wrong. I have my own website about fishing the Ohio River and I recently posted on it to tell my visitors about my mishap this past weekend with river access and within 3 hours of posting it I had 9 people e-mail me saying "that's ridiculous". Just to make my final point you said in your reply "We have three ramps within Cincinnati I feel we are doing pretty well with reguard to access to the Ohio River" I don't know how you can say that's true when I couldn't get onto the river this past Saturday at any 3 of them. Jim, I am in no way trying to upset you with my comments, I am just trying to point out some facts and hope they are acted upon. I will keep an eye out for the other you are going to be sending me, and again thanks for taking the time to read this and for your fast response to the last e-mail. Take care.
Lee



His reply was this.....

Hi Lee,

Thanks for the additional information. I still feel that when the ramps are open we have great access to the Ohio River within Cincinnati.

Thanks,

Jim

Then I also received this shortly after.......it is from a staff member...


I'm checking into it. Should have opened for the season on Saturday. Had visited on Friday & know of no reason why they did not open. I'll get back to you when I learn what has happened.

We do have a multi-pass at the rate of ten launches for $75.

Kathy


So basically I am getting nowhere as far as convincing them that there are not enough ramps and the fact that so many people won't pay the 10 dollars. 10 launches for $75, I'd use that in a month. Way to high. I think we need to all need to stick together on this one a get some good access without it costing a fortune. I will be e-mailing the link to this page to Jim and maybe we can get something accomplished. I know there are many others on this site that agree the fee's are ridiculous, please speak up, because I am hoping Jim will look at the link I send him. I think $50 a year is a good price, but I think they need to leave the ramp accessable throughout the winter also.

 

Thanks Rick, I hope to atleast get them to reduce the fee's to 3-5 bucks, or a $50 season pass. Times are tough for alot of people right now, can't we enjoy the river without it costing a fortune too. Heck, if I paid $10 for everytime I hit the river in a year, I could have my boat sitting in one of those private places like 4 seasons or Rivertown for the same money or less. Its unreal.
I plan on setting something up on my website about this as well, if we can get a bunch of support on this issue I will press it until something is done!!! I am stubborn... It's the principal of the issue at this point, something needs done about it. I live 10 minutes away from the river yet I have to drive further to get to an open ramp or to get away from fee's. Plus when I winter fish you can't get on this river in Cincy area at all.

 

You right David, the launch situation here is horrible, I can't understand how Mr.Garges can say the ramp situation is good??? Compared to what??? No ramps!!! We basicall have no ramps here the way I see it. With a the free ramps everywhere else, why go to a Cincy ramp. We can't even get on the river in the winter around here. I guess the people in charge dont realize that winter time is some of the best fishing on a river. I think when they decide things the fishermen are the last though in their minds. Its all about pleasure boaters. I know people who will throw a extra 5-10 gallons of gas on their boats and launch at new richmond and go through cincy just because they refuse to pay the $10. Granted they are probably losing money that way, but like I said its the principal behind it I think. Thanks for the support guys, I e-mailed the link to Jim.

 

Ok, gentlemen, here is another reply. I do want everyone to know that the rec.commission is responding very quickly and they are answering some questions even though I don't like most of the answers. Here is the reply, again this one is from another staff member.


To the best of my knowledge the Public Landing was open all day on Saturday, May 1st.
It was closed on Sunday morning due to the street closures for the Flying Pig Marathon.
However, the Landing was open by 2:00pm that afternoon.
The river has been up and down a lot this year and when the water level reaches the fire lane the

Public Landing is closed due to safety considerations. Currently, the Ohio River is at approximately 31 feet and the boat ramps are still underwater.


And I just wrote this back......


I don't know if any of you there at that office launch at the river, but the river can be launched in safely all the way up to 38 feet. The best fishing conditions in the river exist when it is at 28-33 feet. I am not sure what you mean by the boat ramps are still underwater, the reason I say that is because I have launched at Schmidt several times when the river was 33 feet and sometimes higher. I do not usually use public landing because it is a disaster to launch at, because if you back up too much your trailer will go right over some drop-off and you have to wade out there and literally lift the trailer back up over the drop-off. I originally contacted your office because I feel the access to the river in Cincinnati is lacking, and the fee's are too high, but if you say that the ramps are underwater at 31 feet then that is another issue the rec.commission needs to address. 31 feet in nothing, the river needs to be able to accessed when it is at that level, 26.5 is summer pool and 31 is not much higher. I do appreciate your responses, they are very quick responses which are greatly appreciated. Also again I want to make clear I am just trying to point some concerns of mine and many others to you and hope they are addressed seriously and acted upon. I sent a link to Mr.Garges so everyone in the office can see alittle more of what I am talking about. I appreciate your time. Just out of curiousity what would it take for me to convince the rec.commission that there needs to be more ramps and a much lesser fee if any? Would a petition help? If so, how many signatures would you like and what kind of info do I need to get you from each signer? Thanks again.
Lee


So, thats, that fellas. Please keep reading this post for updates, and I need anyone who has an opinion on this matter to please post as soon as possible because I am hoping the members of the rec.commission will be checking out this post tomorrow. So throw out your thoughts. Again I want to mention that I will probably be adding something on this topic on my website as soon as I figure out how I want to do it. My goal is atleast to get the fee's to 3 dollars, or a season pass for $50. Also I have the link on my site to the on-line catfish petition where we are trying to stop the wrongful taking of big fish from the Ohio River, so stop by and sign it if you have not. Thanks guys.
Lee

 

Here's a reply I just got a few minutes after the last one...........


I'm not familiar with either Schmidt or Riverside. I am referring to the Public Landing which has cement ramps.
The Public Landing is open.

 

Well guys, the Cincinnati Rec. Commission basically laughed at me when I sent them the link to this page. They didn't feel the support was there. I asked several times for replies from people on here stating their viewpoint on the subject, and I didn't get much feedback. For those of you who did respond, I really appreciate your help. Now I know there are alot more of you out there that fish the river alot, and do not use the ramps mentioned before because of the fee's. I know this because you've said it before. People always get upset at these types of things (fee's and lack of access) but noone ever wants to do anything about it. I tried and people can't take 5 minutes to post a reply either to agree or disagree with me so the rec. commission could read it. Again those of you who did, thank you so much for your replies. I was willing to take this issue all the way, but due to lack of support from the people who use the river all the time I guess I will just drop it too.