Trimmer boat launch grants good fishing access of Reopening
One of the central San Joaquin Valley's most popular fisheries just got a lot more accessible.
Following a two-year closure, the boat launch at Trimmer Recreation Area reopened earlier this month, bringing anglers closer to some of Pine Flat Lake's best fishing spots.
"I was real disappointed when they closed this ramp," said trout angler Jim Hawkins of Hanford after docking his boat at Trimmer on Monday.
"The last two years, it's been an 8-mile boat ride just to where we want to fish."
Located 30 miles northeast of Fresno, Pine Flat Lake stores 1 million acre-feet of water from the Kings River when at capacity. The lake is currently 66% full and rising daily.
Pine Flat has three other boat-launch facilities, but all are located on its main body. Trimmer sits on an upper arm and closer to major creek inlets that hold bass and catfish, plus a few good trout trolling areas.
"I'm really happy they reopened this ramp," said angler Jerry Loheide of Fresno. "I just wonder why it took so long."
Trimmer Recreation Area was formerly operated by a private concessionaire. But the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the federally controlled reservoir, shut down Trimmer Marina in June 2008 citing safety concerns with docks and other infrastructure, and forced boat owners to remove their vessels that December.
The site has since been cleaned up as work crews demolished the dry-rotted docks and dilapidated buildings, and removed dozens of dumpster bins worth of old boats, tires and other garbage.
"They cleaned up a lot of debris, even along the road," said Carl Brockman, whose family owns the Pine Flat Marina. "There were old boats and all kinds of stuff scattered around there."
Other site improvements include new handicapped-accessible restrooms using funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
New restrooms are located at each of Pine Flat's boat ramps, replacing portable toilets. They cost $40,000 each but are expected to save the park about $30,000 in annual maintenance costs, according to senior ranger Tom Ehrke.
"We've put a lot of time and effort bringing our facilities to a higher standard," Ehrke said. "There have been a lot of positive comments."
The next project at Trimmer will be to rehabilitate the 10-site campground located just above the boat ramp. Ehrke hopes it will be ready by the summer.
There are no plans to re-establish a marina at Trimmer, Ehrke said. Docks at this location need to be continuously moved as lake levels rise and fall due to irrigation demands.
Instead, plans call for a 200-slip marina to be placed at the Lakeview Area, which would supplement the 500-slip Pine Flat Marina located at Deer Creek.
The new marina at Lakeview is coming from Lake Success, which is undergoing dam repairs. It will be open sometime this year, Brockman said.
In addition to the four new restrooms, federal stimulus funds were used last year to construct an entrance station and 20 campgrounds with RV hookups at Island Park as well as to re-roof and add 70 solar panels to the park's headquarters, Ehrke said.
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