Canoe on Monroe or Lemon

[waloidian]

Has anyone put a 14-17' canoe on Monroe or Lemon? or even a 12' which Im more apprehensive in putting on the bigger lakes. I have no problem with this on Griffy, but im a bit worried about the waves from the motor boats on the bigger lakes. Anyone have experience with this? I just like to paddle out to my spots and relax or fish, but dont want to get blown away by the waves or find paddling in the bigger lake to be like molasses

[Arm America]

On Lemon, I can't speak of.
On Monroe, you have several options.
The East of the causeway is idle only, ( which is roughly 50% of Lake Monroe)
most wave action would be from the wind and not boats.
Most of the West side would concern me unless your in cove.
There is a very large cove just West the Paintown ramp with good fishing,
(provided Paintown is open due to State Budget controversy)
Allens Creek is another point you could get your canoe in without getting into
the main body.
Allens Creek is also known as Party Cove.
Good chance you or any little ones might see a Lot of skin.
(Thats where I plan on being, always looking at the boat bumpers)



This weekend especially.

[westfork]

i second what arm says.

my favorite put-ins (we use a 17 foot canoe or 2 10' kayaks) are cutright or crooked creek (off of 46 when you are headed to nashville). both are on the idle side of the lake and i've never had problems with wakes or waves, even when cutting straight across the lake.

crooked creek can be tricky to find your way back to when the water is up. not impossible, just be mindful of where you came from if you take that route when the lake is high. there are lots of good places to camp out that way as well, though a section of the lake is closed to boats during migratory bird season due to a waterfowl resting area. that is not an issue during the summer.

[waloidian]

thanks folks, rep'd!

btw, are the camping areas just whereever you please or are they the pay sites?

[Arm America]

Hardin Ridge is a Federal Campground area.
Sites are going quickly starting @ $ 17.00 a night. (primitive)

Paintown is a State Campground. I suspect it is full,
the glitch about Paintown is because its State owned,
It may be closed down at midnight tonight because of the failure to
get the state budget signed.

Years back, DNR looked the other way if all campsights were full and I camped along the shoreline. Don't know if thats still the case or not.
Hope this helps and don't forget the Deet repellent and sunscreen.

[coletrane811]

If you can drop into the no wake side of Monroe, you'll be fine. I see people out there all the time canoeing with no problems at all!

[westfork]

check out the deam wilderness area for camping if you are into primitive create your own adventure type camping. the two put-ins that i mentioned above (crooked creek and cutright) are both right in that area. a good map of the area will do you a lot of good. i don't have the link handy at the moment but a quick google should bring it up through the usfs site. the rules are all laid out on their site as well. planning to camp in the areas included within the boundaries of the deam or national forest frees you from the fees and sign-ins and whatnot associated with the state recreation areas.

we like to paddle out to 'the peninsula' and camp somewhere around that area. when you look at maps of the deam you'll find the grubb ridge trailhead and from there the peninsula trail; there are lots of nice spots around there and the further you venture away from where that trail hits the beach the more secluded you'll find yourself. one side of the peninsula is within eyeshot of cutright and the 446 causeway, while the other side is not and is actually part of the waterfowl resting area mentioned previously.

once or twice we have put in at crooked creek and just meandered out to the southern shoreline and just followed it along until we found a good spot. never too difficult to come up with something out that way. have fun and be safe!

ETA: Here's a link to a .pdf map of lake monroe i just found courtesy of the indiana audubon society.

[pinhead56]

Originally Posted by westfork

check out the deam wilderness area for camping if you are into primitive create your own adventure type camping......

ETA: Here's a link to a .pdf map of lake monroe i just found courtesy of the indiana audubon society.

I 2nd that on Deam, in fact I plan to do exactly that, put in at Cutright Rec Area and paddle around to the Deam peninsula area to camp. Kind of a "poor-mans" Boundary Waters trip at home. The best time would to be through the week. Weekends the lake is *very* busy, but if you go M-Th on the east end, traffic is usually way down.

Also thanks westfork for the awesome pdf map!

[VERT]

Been years since I have visited Lake Monroe. Used to love fishing there. Loading the boat and camping along the shore sounds like fun and something I have to check into.

Now, I have read that we can not carry pistols on Corp of Engineers property. I take this to mean that our LTCH are no good when on Lake Monroe?

[Ashkelon]

I have put my 15'4" square stern on Monroe plenty of times. Heck, I mount a 6hp two stroke to the back and get up and down the ohio river and fish with no worries. Just pay attention and fish the shorelines and you will be fine. Just make sure you have all your required gear for DNR. WHen they see a canoe on a big body of water they cant help but stop you. Everyone seems to forget the Phoenicians.