Flat water kayaking

[Dirty Steve]

Wanted to get the kayaks out bad this weekend but due to other obligations could not go far from home. We decided Sunday to make a run down to Lake Monroe. I was really dreading it the whole way think that over Memorial Day weekend this is going to be a zoo. We put in at the Crooked Creek Ramp at 8:30 AM and much to my surprise had the entire east end of the lake to ourselves. We saw a grand total of 3 other yakers and 2 fishermen. That was from the ramp all of the way west to the point where you can see the causeway. Having that much water virtually to ourselves was fantastic. We had such a good paddle, we went back on Monday as well. Same song,...no one there. Idle only must really turn folks off, which is just fine with me. Got in 15.6 miles in two days. It was almost like being in Canada. No boaters, no other folks. Gotta love that.

Wife even managed to catch a carp,....when it jumped into her yak. Now, forget that I said that it was not crowded. It was a zoo, no one who enjoys paddling in solitude should go there. I'll just deal with the crowds myself.

Dirty Steve

 

[seedubs1]

There's a portion of Lake Monroe on the East side of the lake that's no-wake. It's excellent for kayaking, canoeing, fishing, etc... if you want to stay away from the yahoos with their powerboats.

Some really nice creeks/rivers in Southern IN as well. I solo-canoe a lot. My favorite is floating downstream and just doing a point A to point B float while fishing for small mouth. I sometimes make it a 2 day trip and camp on an island or somewhere off the beaten path on the river. Good times.

 

[Dirty Steve]

There area you describe on Monroe is where we were at (Crooked Creek ramp). I was shocked that even on Memorial Day weekend it was devoid of almost all human life.

We did the canoe thing for years. We paddled almost all of the canoe-able streams and rivers in Indiana, paddled several in KY and TN doing overnight trips. We also rafted several rivers in TN, VA, and CO. We really had the bug bad. That was per-marriage and pre-kids. We slowly got out of canoeing once we had kids for some unknown reason but recently got into kayaking now that our kids are basically grown. We really enjoyed canoeing, but have found that we enjoy kayaking much, much more. Our youngest son enjoys kayaking with us and hopefully will stick with it.

Dirty Steve

 

[The Bubba Effect]

Lake monroe is fine from Pine grove up (or from crooked creek down to pine grove since you're coming from the top of the lake). Pretty much all you run into is people fishing, and not always much of them. I have kayak'd a bit the other way from pine grove to the causeway and there are several fast boats in that area, even though it is supposed to be idle zone.

 

[Nazgul]

Was at Deam Lake with my daughter and her fiancé in the kayaks. Had a great time.

Not crowded at all.

Don