New water park?

Sounds like there is going to be a new and huge water park going up on East Okoboji in the future.It will be a year round park with condo’s part of the deal.
There is also a rumor that The Inn on West is going to be building a water park.
The IGL’s area sure is expanding.Alot has changed in this area since I was born in Spirit Lake many moons ago.
Ryan Hale

Yes Ryan the times just keep changing. Every time I go visit the kids, the folks my age tell about when they were kids and like 2 people owned all the land down most of the east side of east lake. now folks sell it by the foot. New water parks should be interesting.

dave

Ry,

Is this at the Ritz East area? I heard this was being negoticiated, but didnt’ know it was finalized. With the new Tiki bar at Okoboji Boats, it may take an hour to get from W to E, vise-versa? I guess we fish from early to 9:00 a.m and then ???????????

See you this Spring. (I’m in Tuscon.)

Rick

Rick,the location is going to be where the timber is at on the South side of East.If your going from Upper Gar to East it would be on the right hand side.It will add to the already terrible boat traffic on West and East.You ever try to go from one lake to the other during July 4th week-end?Fish them early,late or during night.I have had a few great nights on West Okoboji after dark.
Ryan Hale

Sure miss the ”old” Arnolds Park the way it was when I was a kid. Would love to show my kids and grandkids the old park. Had a whole block area just for little guys and girls and the Roof Garden where big name bands played and lots more rides for the bigger kids. The shores sure have built up since then too. Gone are the cottages and cabins and now lots of huge houses and condos.
Thanks, Bill

I can relate to the old “Arnolds Park”. I went swimming on the beach as a youngster, remember seeing the guy with the monkey collecting money, of course the roof garden dances, and the fun house. Both of our kids were able to experience the Fun House before they tore it down. Our daughter was scarred to death of the rug slide, but once she did it, we couldn’t get her to stop. Our son got kicked out of the sugar bowl for standing up in the center. Great Memories

Woops, I think I just dated myself!

Ryan and I are nearly the same age and Im sure he can attest as I will that the Roof Garden was alive and well even in the early 80’s, and for some of us a great place to get that first…well you guys get the jist …lol. I gotta be honest with ya…memorial day to labor day i just keep headin north to spirit unless i have my headlights on, too bad too, i really love west.

And the scrambler, skating rink, wild mouse I think they called it, bumper cars, miniture golf, and a whole big area with little kids rides with a rollar coster and and boats that looked like inboard boats ride around in circles. [gotta love seeinmg tons of fancy inboards on the water back then] And they had a ”jet boat” they called it that threw a roster tail like you never had seen before. Yep, sure was a great fun place to be back then. Sure do miss the old Arnolds Park. Would sure love to be able to show my grandkids the old park.
Thanks, Bill

I hate to see more construction near the water on East or West. The water clarity in West is substantially more stained because of the traffic. The limited amount of vegetation that grows in East is beaten to death by the boaters spinning circles near Parks Marine. I remember when you could see 20+ feet on west… those days are gone. It will be very interesting to see what the future brings.

I did see Muskies on the beds in the dark water on East and West and a few in the deeper edges of their spawning areas on West in the clear water. It surprised me how many really large females were still on the bed. I also noted a few that were beaten silly…

Big sunnies and crappies were also up. Things are progressing quickly their at the moment.

Curt,that clear water on West is still there.It all depends on the time of year and location.Some areas are more clear than others.Usually around late Aprl-early May you get some very clear water.Had a guide trip last May and the water was soo clear on West that my clients could see 20-22′ down.They really enjoyed it.
You take care,nice to see you in the Iowa forums again.
Ryan Hale

Ryan,

I had a chance to get down there last weekend. The water on west was very clear. East was also clear. The chain was stained like usual but that north wind cleared upper gar quite a bit as well. I about froze to death on Saturday hahahah. 29 degrees in the morning… someone told me it was Spring and I actually believed them hahaha. I noted some very large crappie coming up shallow as well as large sunnies in. That cold front shut the fishing some but not as much as I expected it to be. I’m still trying to get the smallies figured out but didn’t get much of a chance to target them. I’m going to give them a whirl this weekend. They’ll probably be using the Walleye boats as cover hahaha.

Good gabbing with you on the board. I normally am pretty active on the boards but I’ve been too busy this winter. Hopefully I’ll be on more. I usually fish Okoboji until the Minnesota season opens. It will be fun to compare notes.

Take Care.