RAINBOW RES CLOSED!!

They are doing the Big Drain as I type.
Water levels are dropping 6' per hour.
DEP Locked the Gates, and is closed till further notice.

crap!

they actuall locked the gates, im gonna have to do some walking tomorrow so i can see what it looks like

take some pics for future fishing use!!!!

Time to bust out some boots and a gps and take a walk!

You try to walk that and you better bring a rescue rope to pull you out of the muck!

Just wait a little while and you should beable to walk it okay

Yep you can't walk in muck up to your neck, ask the sneakers I have lost to that crap!!!

You should see the shots I got So Far!!

But, Don't worry, I'll have pictures for sale to the right Bidder!!
Just Kidding......................

lets hope most of the livestock in there doesnt go flushing down stream.

Went today, levels have dropped another 10', they dropped 6' more
while I was out there.
I added another stick at the launch to mark my last level check.
If they go all the way down, thos efish are in big Trouble.
Saw a school of at least 30 Monster size carp hanging in what trees are left under water.
What was 30' of water is now 12', what was 15'of water is now 4'!!

You know who they'll blame for all the dead fish -- the anglers.

Here's why tires get popped and axels get broken with low waters
at the ramp!



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That's good to know -- thanks for the photos!

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Yes because draining the resevoir would have had nothing to do with it.

Might be time to take a walk down to where the river comes in

good photos.. those fish are all going to run upsteream into tarriville.
I'd like to go down there and walk around check out potential carp spots ;), maybe even bring a few rods and tackle

Mike
><>

pickles, how soft is the mud on the exposed shore? is it even walkable or is it a sinking mess?

yeah wondering if shorebound anglers are still allowed in? Ive heard something somewhere about carp fishing before, would like to give it a try

It's a sinking stinking Mess, unless there are lots of rocks, but
as the levels go down, the further out is just shoe sucking and your better have ropes muck!!!!!

sooooooooooo snow shows your telling me? lol

eeeeeeeeeeeeee you could try to catch some Monster Carp in there..........they are now trapped below the old dam, they can't get back up river I don't think??? but the 30+ I saw were HUGE!!!
It's not closed to the public...yet.........unless cars start parking on peoples property, then I'm sure they Will stop parking and entering then.

Windsor Residence and Police have Short fuses

But you can go in from Northwest park then.

Rainbow Res is no More, 5' of water left where there was 30' of water.
The place is a total ruins, and when it is refilled, all there will be left is floating dead fish!!!!!!!!!!!



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Lord Have Mercy

Any idea how much water is down at the floating boating barrier?

I don't know Rainbow to well, but I would imagine there's 10+ feet at the dam?
Any of the remaing large fish should be eating pretty well now though.

OMG is that scary looking ! ! Now is the time to walk around with a GPS and a map of it!! I hope the fish will be ok, and can go to " some " kind of water ?

Holy Crap!!!Thats a total shame....hope those fish make it somehow!!!

The fishing was just coming back, that is freakin ridiculous! Can't they just leave the dam alone or is it in real bad shape?

The Ladder is not in operation, thats what they are repairing, in danger of failing completly, so any fish going threw is made into chum, there is 8' of water left by the Main dam (according to the dam worker)and dropping fast.
I got kicked out over there, I didn't even get my camera out
when I was approached.
Tons of Huge crap are trapped down by the dam.

I also walked in from route 189 all the way to the duck blind, but I left my camera on the car seat Very shallow may only a couple of spots had 2' of water, the rest maybe 3" to 12".
The red house with the stone wall you can see the bottom and the rocks.

Paul, I won't need no GPS, the sights I saw will be burned into brian forever.
Plus I have Tons of Pictures.

rox one of those trees in the first pic has one of my lucky buzzbaits stuck in it! did you walk there or how did you get there? i want to see if i can find the darn thing.

I walked all the way down to the old dam, a little hairy in some places.
There no lures anywhere, all the trees have been picked clean from what I see.

scary rox

wow.... i was just buzzing through there in july... was starting to see some nice smallies droppind down from the farmy. Hope they made it back up. OMG- Did you see many dead fish?

I did see a few here and there, but nothing will last if there was, to many birds feeding. tons of raccoon tracks too.
Today I saw three bald Eagles.

Seen in the "Hartford Eagle Eye Newsletter": up at the Rainbow Reservoir the fish be jumping into your mouth. No need to even work for it. They'd rather be eaten than drown. Tell all your bald feathered friends to congregate at the trees closest to what used to be the dam. We'll have a 5-fish tourney at 7am tomorrow. No catch-and-release, just eat all you can fly away with.

Is this normal for the place every few years? What a shame

Time to instal your own structure.... too bad about the place.

This is pretty sad. At my place of work, I have some high level info on the project work scheduling and it currently has October 6th as the end date of the Dam reconstruction. Sounds like it'll be way too late for any of the fish barely surviving. I'll let you know if I notice any date changes related to this project.

Thanks starkc69, lets hope the Oct 6th date is the end date,
but they did start the project 3 weeks later then planned.
With the levels still dropping, I don't see how anything will be left
alive.

I wish I could drop my yak in safely, just to video all the fish that are trapped.

Awful, I imagine it will takes years to recover.

TCASS, the locals are working on it now.


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guys and gals.............dont worry. she will bounce back just fine.
the fish are alittle smarter then we give the credit for. sure you will have some die off but thats to be expected. and besides it will be filled back up in a few weeks and then we have another 6 months for it to get back to normal. im sure these fish have found the deeper channels and pockets. i wouldnt worry about it to much.

Lets hope hoppy, but I know for a fact there are no deep holes left above the old dam.
And if there are, only about 2' deep pools
were found yesterday in my walk from the 187/189 bridge, and they are very small, maybe the plasic kid pool size if that!

And the res is still dropping as I type, I'm going to check every day
until the fill starts again.

Oh I know it will bounce back, lets hope they won't have to do this
type of draining again for a long long time.

in the 90es Hopeville pond dam was rebuilt. The gate was opened and all the pond drained. The fish that got out were trapped in the pool below the dam. The local heroes went there with scoop nets and took out all they could. Because I can't mind my own business I called the DEP and reported it. I was told by the person I talked to "What do you want us to do" Needless to say I flipped. Anyway, I learned several things with that event. First of all there was huge crawfish, that led me to get into jig fishing, at that time I was all hung up on finesse fishing. Next thing I noticed was the large population of ells, that led me to use plastic worms like the culprit worms in black shad and red shad. The most important thing I learned was about the mechanics of fish finders. For the most part I had a good understanding of structure in this pond,however, there was two places that were very complicated and I missed that with my fish finders.I eventual went into walleye articles to get more detailed info on bottom searching with sonar and how to search a area in one direction and then go back over the area in a different direction. This one thing showed me how to find some hidden hiddey spots. As far as fish populations it only took the pond a few years to spring back, of course fish getting out of Pachaugh really sped things up

They need to drain Hopeville again the place sucks it is so weeded up . But anyways Rox as stated above the fish for the mostpart should make a good comeback . Hopeville was back to GOOD fishing within a year and all that was there was a little channel running down the middle

I just went by there but the workmen had left for the day. I will stop in on Monday and get information on the when they will be complete.

not familer with the place but why do they drain that lake and what do they get out of it. .

higganum resivoir was drained for years, and no one thought any fish were in there any more, it literally was just a small stream running through. all the bass (and big ones especially) had moved north to the pools below the water fall. so the place wasnt really hurt to bad at all.

Gate locked again today, I don' know what hours these guys work. They may be waiting for parts ???????

Here are some updated pictures.
I walked in from 187 and snapped whats left of the water levels
down this end.


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I also stopped at the ramp walked down to find them Blocking the launch
so no one trys to launch when they do open the gates again.


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They had no clue when the repairs to the dam may be finished.

OMG I matched my largest smallmouth right in front of the camp at the fork in your first photo. What a shame... By the way it was 4 pounds. I hope it rebounds....

Hey Rox, were those guys working on the launch ramp?

Barn, They are Building blockers so no one try's to launch if they open the gates.
They have no plans on working on the front of the launch.
So the tire poppers axial breakers stay.
I'll check it again today.

OK, thanks Rox. Too bad they won't fix those tire-popping rebarbs!

Barn it looks like these blockers will stay in place after the refill
to help prevent trailers for going off the edge of the ramp.

I don't know if it will help, or make launching more of a nightmare then it already is?????

If they intend to leave those wood "blocker" in place, they most certainly will get ripped right off with the first trailer that gets hooked on them! Along with damaging that first trailer I would guess.

Gate locked again today unless they lock it when they go in.

Gadget...............don't you read these post........
THE GATES WILL BE LOCKED UNTIL THE RES IS REFILLED!!!
Not until after Oct 6th or later.

I went down today, and it's dropped another 2'.
I made a rescue while I was there, saw this little critter struggling to get ashore, sooooooooooooo I got wet and muddy.
I will care for him/her till spring.

Meet Mack...

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He still has the egg sack mark on his belly.

You are a pure treasure to this site Ms. Rox. Thanks for taking the time and posting!!!

Thanks Mark

Rox did you name him snapper ?

What is that you gave him/her for food?

Bill, I named him Bernie Mack Cause he black bumpy and funny looking!

He didn't like the fish after his first bites.

Now Bernie Mack is eating algee chips for fish.

I'm Going to pick up some turtle food and a tank and a light so he's more comfy. (I'm just a Big Kid at heart)

He had a little fungus start above one eye, I cleaned it up, put a little ointment on and Bernie Mack is doing fine.

That place will be just fine. ITS FED BY A BIG RIVER! Cool pics anyways.

Looks like they are filling her back up.
It's been up since the 5th, yesterday I walked down and it's at its highest.
Wonder when they are going to open the gate back up?

Take note guys and gals where those 4x4's are, they are bolted down.


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Great....keep us posted on when/if its open and launchable.Thanks!

Oh, man ! ! I'd stack some of those rocks in a couple of piles If I were there!! Look at that juicy cover ! !

A home owner on Rainbow res. has a bull dozer in the
cove and is deepening the Cove.

Is this legal?

He's moving the state owned lakes bottom, and maybe even damaging habitat that some speices need to survive.

Wouldn't he need a Permit at least?

let me guess the cove to the south of the ramp? if so i think that guy owns the a&s baot dealership or something. def. would need a permit. thats a really good spawning cove from the amount of beds i saw in there and the cut channels.

Bingo Cobra............
No more spawning beds left, he's moving and making it deeper!!!!!!!!!
Told me to get off his property when I tried to ask him WTF was he doing!!


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I dunno looks like something I would want to do though

I think permits are public information. Shouldn't be too hard to find out if he has one. Town hall should have that intel.

Thanks for the update. I'm beginning to wonder if those wood blocks were put there to prevent people from backing their trailers over the lip and being damaged, as apposed to trying to keep people from launching at all.

its so cheap for the state to fix a bunch of the state launches but they just dont care. unreal.

I agree with Eric on this one With all the money that he pays in Taxes he probably just wants a better swimming hole . And Rox SORRY to say if it was me there and you had asked what I was doing you would have been blasted too

I wasn't even on his property Bill, I was standing in what is Rainbow
Res bottom, so I didn't touch his land.
And I disagree, no one should be moving State protected waters bottom,
Or any waters unless its smack dab in the Middle of your Land.
We haulted the Housy Dregging when It was happening!!
Why should this be any different?
This guy thinks he owns this place any way.

So if you guys want to dig up the Farmy at the Bone yard or behind the wood shop to make the waters deeper its Okay?????????

I think I can get around that crap with my rig !!! what do you think Rox ??? LOL

Take plenty of pictures Rox. If he is breaking the law and the DEP knows about it and has proof, the state will force him to return the area back to it's original condition at HIS expense.

Now to take his side. His property deed probably states he owns up to waters edge so probably he does own it until it fills back in.

Cobra Bait, that is NOT the house that the owner of A & S Boats owns. His is light brown. I bought my Triumph from him, and I do not think he would screw up the fishing by ruining the spawning beds, he's a fisherman too. He always looks out for what's best for Rainbow Rez from what I've seen.

OMG - I would call the town wetlands offical AND the DEP - earth moving of that scale absolutley requires a permit. The owner may have one or may not - but if there is no permit - it should get stopped today or tomorrow.

I see where your coming from OMG but I think the dam does more harm then this guy with how low they drained it. it might take years for it to return to the way it was.

not agreeing with the guy at all. he is 100% wrong and I am sure DEP has seen this post and like BA said take many many pics

Yeah, call the wetlands or land use officer for the town. If they have one (some towns give wetlands enforcement to a town employee as an "additional" duty), they'll send him/her over. This is definitely something that would require a permit.

And, just cause you own the property doesn't mean you can do what you want it. Generally towns have a law that requires a permit within so many feet of a wetland. The distance varies by town. But it would definitely include doing something within the wetland. Having a bulldozer actually in the wetland clearly qualifies.

Guys...I'm out of the office until Saturday. I would suggest calling the town inland/wetland commission, the town zoning dept and the DEP Water Bureau. (I don't know if DEP has authority in this or not....this is not something we get involved in with the EnCon Police)

Contact information:

Aquifer Protection Area Program
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse
Planning and Standards Division
79 Elm Street
Hartford, CT 06106-5127

Email: dep.aquiferprotection@ct.gov

Phone: (860) 424-3020

Fax: (860) 424-4055

Web: http://www.ct.gov/dep/aquiferprotection

Bass Ackwards probably has it right, I know the fence line is right at the edge of of the parking lot, and runs right to the waters edge in the cove. From looking at these pictures, that would mean that when the water is out he definetly was on his land, and possible, so was OHmyGod. That fence line goes right thru the center of the cove, I know because I have fished it often. Another fly in the ointment of your arguement is that Rainbow rez is a man made body of water, (hence the Reservoir name), and falls under many different rules than does a natural lake. My understanding is that the "pond" as it's called by the operators of the Rainbow Power plant, is actually owned by The Farmington River Power Company, and they donated the land for the boat ramp out of the goodness of their hearts. I think that is why they can regularly screw up our fishing there, by draining "the pond", without any apparent retribution from the DEP. That does FAR more to screw up our fishing, than some guy fixing up his beach a little. I have noticed that each time they have done this, (about 8 times in the last six years, the fishing there sucks for the next year!

OMG - Call the Dock permitting section of the DEP - it is listed on the first page of DEP web site. There will be one or more permtting officers responsible for that district who will be very interested in this . Get the officers name plus email address, email your pictures, property address, GPS location if you can.
If the guy does not have a permit he could get a massive fine and have to pay for remidiation.

The DEP dock permitting dept will act on this right away.

They won't make him repair it they didn't do anything but slap the guy on the wrist that pulled this in the back of Sail harbor on candlewood He actually dug a channel through the swamp and dug out a swimming hole and put in a boat dock.

I just don't see the big concern. It looks all dried up what ever was there couldn't be alive anymore And it couldn't have been very deep when there was water in it. It looks like a improvement to me.

It's only an improvement if you're thinking about its use as a swimming hole or place to dock your boat. But areas such as this (shallow boundary areas) are important to good aquatic systems -- fish spawn in them, young of year find cover and important food sources live in these areas.

I think this guy could have avoided a lot of this speculation if he had just taken a minute to tell OMG what he was doing. I know he is not obligated, but his response and the manner in which he gave it only leads one to think he may be doing something he is not supposed to. In short, sometimes being a jerk, just because you have the ability to be one, isn't worth it. I can appreciate his desire for privacy, but when you're behavior is open to public observation, people ask questions. Have some patience.

You are a very wise man bogey jr., very wise.

Inspector gaget has forwarded the info, Thanks again Wayne.

Roz - I applaud your willingness to question what you thought might be illegal behavior. I hope you have some success in getting answers, even though by the time someone in authority does something, (assuming this fellow IS doing something illegal), it will be too late. We need more folks like you and fewer of those who just choose to "look the other way"! Tight Lines!

I went and visited Rainbow on Saturday morn. The water had come up quite a bit since I was last there, though they seemed to be dropping it for the pending storm on Sunday. I decided to see what all the hullabaloo was about and having been there many times before when they have dropped the water, as stated before, I am very familiar with the cove. It did not seem very different, other than his beach seemed a little bigger than I remembered it. Going by the pictures, that's where the bulldozer was, so it makes sense. It sure isn't different enough that I think it deserves all of this outrage by some of us. I still have not heard Roz state what side of the fence she was on. If she had to walk up to where the bulldozer was, she was definetly on his property, as he owns right up to the fence, and along it to the edge of the parking lot. I know this because he told one of my buddies to stop parking on his land when he used to park at the end of the fence near the boat launch access road. He has now put piles of dirt there so you can't park on his land. Yeah, the guy seems a little arrogant, but maybe he's tired of people trespassing on his land. I think it would be tough being right next to the launch ramp, with some of the yahoo's that show up there!
Not that I think he should be able to do whatever he wants with his waterfront, I do think that by Roz not answering as to where she confronted him, and by the way she says she asked WTF are you doing, AND if she walked on his land to get to him, she may have gotten an appropriate response IMHO. Is this a case of waterfront envy Roz? We all would love to have a place like his, wouldn't we? I know I would. Wonder if I really would fish everyday............;-)

To those thinking no impactm what happens if this dozer blows and oil or hydraulic line? Perhaps a diesel spill? There is a reason for pulling permits. He is driving around on a lake bed, man made or not, that can impact the lake when refilled.

A little money changing hands with the town and a piece of paper won't prevent a bulldozer from leaking oil.

Your right, but as an inland wetland commission member for my town for many years, most permits for activities of this type would have requirements for errosion control and might have provisions for spill containment.

It might not stop the leak - but it might very well contain it.

Still curious as to weather this was permitted or not.

Sounds like it will be brushed under the table, and forgotten about.

Mario

She did say where she was:

"I wasn't even on his property Bill, I was standing in what is Rainbow
Res bottom, so I didn't touch his land."


You should re-read her post(s).....

I spoke with Mark (owner of A&S Boats) today about something else and he did indeed confirm this. That is not his house.

This act has been reported to the Windsor wetlands agent as well as the enviromental planner. The issue has been reported to the DEP and there is no permit from the town or DEP. The wetlands agent has been to the site and this is not only a resivor but also an inland water course that has been violated. DEP and the town are looking into the matter and the owners first name is Mark.

Oh boy someones gonna be in trouble

Thank You Inspector Gadget, now we now why he didn't want me near there.

And Mario, I did not go on his property, and I didn't say WTF,
If I recall, my exact words, were
"Excuse me Sir" which he then Just started yelling Get Off My property,

Sweet!

I'm not looking for a fight here, I just don't see the big deal after looking at it, so being a Rainbow Rez fan, I'm wondering what the motive is?

Skunkconn, I have reread what Roz wrote, and she never addresses what side of the fence she was on, she just claims to be on state owned lake bottom, which it's not from what I'm told , it's owned by the Farmington River Power Company.

Roz, you wrote, quote, unquote,

"Bingo Cobra............
No more spawning beds left, he's moving and making it deeper!!!!!!!!!
Told me to get off his property when I tried to ask him WTF was he doing!!"

So if I took you at your word, sorry about that for believing what you wrote.

Just trying to protect our waters, thats the only motive.

Well, bottom line he didn't have a permit and he shouldn't have be moving earth in the Res cove.

Lastly both I and MitchP have clearly stated this is NOT Mark from A & S Boats house or property, yet Inspector Gadget continues the claim started by Cobrabait that it is. When he delivered me my Triumph on Rainbow, Mark allowed me to use the bathroom in his house. I did NOT enter the house in the pictures, I entered a tanish brown house with a stained deck that is to the right of the house shown. His house does not even have a beach, just an old rock wall!

mario, he didnt say it was mark from a&s.. he just said the dep and town is looking into it and the owners name is mark.

i've got 23 house's on my street and 6 of them have the first name mark, so it could be a neighbor.

anyway roxy great job, there are rules for a reason and they should all be followed.

Three Cheers ! ! !

For a guy with 5 posts, all of them in this thread... I kinda wonder what your motive is.

Thanks for watching our back Rox!

Nice job Rox! (NOT ROZ!)

I was starting to wonder the same thing Blaine...so what's the connection Mario...Do you know the owner or a resident of the house in question? Do you have knowledge of the events at hand, prior to Rox' post? Spill the beans...you are in CTF court now my friend and the jury would like to hear your case

Rox, you are the ma..... ooops girl! Great job.

Stark, are you new to this thread? Have you read my posts? OK court, here's the big spill! Yes, I heard about the posts from a friend who's on this site a lot, and also fishes Rainbow, a lot, like me. I wanted to see what it was all about, so I joined to be able to read it. Then I saw the inaccuracies, and I didn't think it was right to accuse the wrong person. I might not have posted otherwise. I have said since my first post that I DO know who's house in the picture, it ISN'T! For the dude who talks about 23 houses on his street, there are only two houses in the cove next to the ramp, and what are the chances they both have the same first name. It took me all of five minutes on the Windsor town website to find out the property Roz is referring to owner's first name, and no, it's not the same name. Reread my posts, it's clear what my points are. Seems simple to me. So far, this is what interested me on this web site. Nothing else seemed to require comment, though I thought I might post some pics soon of our catches. I have some great ones of my son's. Now I kinda gotta wonder. Mario

Can help but notice that mario cant find the x key when referring to ROX. sorry just find it funny.

Don't forget, A Big Thank Inspector Gadget, he played a very big part in getting this info to the right people.
And Thank You EConn, for pointing out where to send and call things in to.

Again, thank you for doing the right thing Roz. Tight Lines!

regretfully when a comment is heard not only do we have to hear what is said, We also have to know WHO is saying it and their agenda. As far as this particular incident is concerned I have no personal interest, don't know where this res is, never talked anyone who has fished it. So it could be said it's none of my business. My concern is that the rules regulations concerning this type of activity are followed. If a concerned citizen notices some activity and then pursues the matter to resolution I have respect for that person.

So you only joined to try and discredit me???
Makes me wonder what your motive is too.

That said, I don't bother no one, I used to live over there,
three minutes from the launch.
I pick up trash, line, beer cans, and am very friendly with home owners all along Rainbow.
I don't even fish in that cove ever, I felt like I would be invading on their privacy, so I never fish it.
Stopped vandals at the camp up by the Dam on that owners property.
Never bicth at boaters or jet skis, don't mind wakes at all.
I've Lived on water front property in Enfield on Wheeler Drive,
sold it because its just to busy for me.
Next waterfront property will be in the boonies, so no envy Here!

If you came for a fight, fine, but no fight here.
Maybe I'll meet you some day at the launch or on the water, and maybe I already have.
You can't miss me, green or yellow wave walk yak.

I met Roz at Rainbow Rez one day and she was extremely rude to me.
She told me a bunch of areas that she thought would hold fish and everytime i casted to those areas I caught a fish.

Catching all those fish damn near ruined some of my lures! How rude of her!

Go Girl!!!! Thanks on behalf of all sportsman.

Mario, You really need to quit while you are ahead. It has been repeated here that the owner is not who you originally posted here to defend. You continually calling Rox Roz is also disrepectful and on the surface looks to be done just to goad her. To close my post, you did join to discredit her. I mean for crying out loud you admit you know the person who owns the house and are now trying to justify the work being done without a permit. Regardless of the guys name, for all we know it is you, the work is being done in wetlands without a permit. The resevoir was lowered for dam repairs, not for a homeowner to drop a bulldozer in and reshape the lake bed to meet his desires. You can't tell us there is no significant change. If there isn't than what was the bulldozer for? Joy rides? A bulldozer is far from a low impact piece of equipment and tears things up just driving on them.

agreed 100%.

mario are you the homeowner in question?

I live on a Lake in East Hampton and on the Board for the association I live in. You most definitely need a permit to do anything CLOSE to the water and my town inpects the machine for any leaks. We needed to rebuild our seawall and had to do all sorts of things to get the permit. It is a possible $10K fine caught and leaking any fuilds in the water.

So whatever happened? did the owner get forced to stop or put back? what's the gig?