Campagna reached under the foredeck of the boat and pulled out a long plastic tube. Bought it the second week I fished, when I ran aground. I never used to carry one, because I knew the lake so well, but now I do. It's like you went to Florida for the winter, and when you came back they had changed all the streets you've been driving since you were a kid. Everything has changed.
Similar reports come from across the state.
I had said that no boat that draws more than six feet was to be allowed up to the dock, but somebody didn't get the word and they brought one in. The wind had blown water into the marina for a couple of days and raised the level, so when the wind shifted to blowing out again, the water went away and this guy was sitting with a six-foot keel in five feet of water. The way it is now, six inches can make the difference between whether a boat can get in or not. At Manistee on Lake Michigan, municipal marina manager Martie Batzer said people are having a hard time climbing to and from their boats and the dock. That's a real problem, especially for the smaller boats that are low to the water.