Yes its true. I was stopped by Hillsburough police today and told I can't park/launch there any more and soon they are going to put bars in. That is a REAL BUMMER. I love that place. The park opens at 8am till 6pm. I called the park to inquire about early access like they do at Honeymoon. I will let u guys know as soon as I find out anything. Personally I think they kayak launch is a real pia with my Hobie. Getting out is easy but in is difficult. This really sucks!

They said they are going to start towing vehicles so I wanted to give u all a heads up.

We can thank all the idiots that leave their trash all over for this.. :angry-cry:

Chris

say it aint so chris...that sucks bad... :angry-cry: :angry-rain: Thanks again for the great day on the water on sunday. I had a great time and hope to do it again sometime, next time I will know what to do and hope to pull through on the slam.

That's the worst news I've heard in a while....

Means no more early starts and having to deal with the "park" people...geez, what an annoyance.
Have to look for somewhere north of Tampa Rd to launch....

Oh, it will get worse. If the people regulating us for the past three years do it for four more????

Overdover.

:(

just launched from there yesterday at 7:30am....not good news :angry-rain:

Well I called the Hillsburough county sherrifs office and the officer I talked to gave me the number of the county commisioner. It is 813 272 five four 70. He suggested I call and talk to them. He said its all about votes. In the meanwhile I'm scouting other areas for access so I won't have to paddle soo far. This REALLY BLOWS..

I understand the homeowners concern. I can only imagine the yay-hoos that go thru there leaving their beer cans and trash all over. Hell I pick the crap up! I don't like seeing the stuff in the water. I gotta look in to this further.

Hi all. I haven't fished DB in over a month. That is real bummer. There is that dead end street where i see a lot of boaters and yakers launching from near the bridge on Tampa rd which I have been using to launch from as well. Hopefully they are not shutting that little access down, but I think it's public but the community that lives around it might be complaining of the mess some people are making. It was the only place where you can launch earlier than 8 and end after 6 pm. Parking can be tough if you get there late. Way too many yahoos out there that don't understand the meaning of picking up after yourselves which I can see why the community that live there may request that launch to be shut down as well. I would hate to have to launch my kayak at the Courtney and having a longer trip inside DB. Thanks for the heads up.

I've never been to where you guys are talking about and I don't live in Hillsborough Co. - but.. it seems to me that if the county commissioner received a couple hundred calls within 2-3 days of closing this apparently popular launching spot - maybe they would re-think. This action was likely initiated by a handful of upset nearby residents - completely closing access is a knee-jerk reaction to a problem a few are complaining about. If they get 10 times as many calls saying they need to find a real solution - not just close it - then they are likely to consider other possibilities. The "bars" haven't gone up yet. The # is just above. Tell them you live in Hillsborough Co - you fish from the place they are shutting down without any referendum - and you vote.

pickgrin wrote:
Yes this is an excellent idea. Hopefully we can spread the word and all our fellow fishermen will do it. This really stinks.

I'm going to call today to see if I can find out what's going on. Maybe they will tell us what the complaints are and see if we can come to a resolution to the problem so everyone is happy. We will see.

Thanks a good idea. I'll follow suit and call as well to see if if can request to come to some resolution.

Anyone know the status of launch site? Officially open or closed?

Tesilential wrote:
I have been going to the Upper Tampa Bay Park launch the last few days and I have seen a few cars down there but I'm not going to risk getting towed. I'm gonna keep an eye on it for a few weeks and see what happens on the weekends when there is a lot of traffic back there.

Yeah Chris, I've been there every day this week checking and have not seen anyone trying to stop people. There have been trucks/trailers every day. There are no signs posted anywhere on State St. re-parking, but when I spoke w/ the county, they kept referring to existing regulations regarding parking on dead end streets and cul de sacs(?)

Don't know what to do, but I agree staying away is safest for now.

I spoke with the county who had parks and rec call me directly. They did some research, and although I didn't quite catch all of the details the person I spoke with stated he would do more research about the launch. His name is Kevin and at 813-987-6278. What he did tell me is that he was not certain about the information about it being shut down. He believes it might be public land, but stated the land to the left and right of the launch is private and across the launch. If I'm reiterating correctly he states the road maybe unincorporated Hillsborough property and knows its' been around for a while and it even has posts out there about fishing, bird,etc ( which is the sign that is out there posted for information which parks and rec would have placed there, correct? ). Sorry the details are sketchy as I was at work and it was loud around me and I couldn't speak to him at length. I'm going to call him again to get better details and find out whom I can speak with to be certain of it is truly being closed. I'm wondering...if it is a private road then the owners would be paying for those bars, but if it's public then the tax payers would be paying, and it would have to be approved by the county to have those bars put up and I would think a notice would be posted before any towing could take place but that is only if it is public land, correct? Well.. If anyone would like to find out more I think calling him would be a good idea in case any of you had to deal with the county as such as I'm fairly new to all this. Bottom line is we have to find out if the road is owned by Hillsborough county or if it is private.

Not sure where this spot you mentioned is, but it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach to think of MY little fishing launch on the side of the road getting shut down some day. I suppose it could happen too because there is often a lot of trash lying around there from dumb people. I always bring a plastic bag with me and always police the area before I drive away because I don't want it getting shut down. After all, I usually only fish from a kayak and wouldn't want to have to associate with people and their stink-boats at the public ramps!! HAHA Just kidding.
Seriously, though, I saw a yakker cleaning up one day a while back and my gut reaction was that he shouldn't have to do that. Then I tried cleaning up the next day and it felt great to do it! The little launch looked tidy and I felt righteous for the effort.
Hope that spot you mentioned stays open!