For you guys that travel the lake a lot - how well do you think the hazards are marked? I had heard the bouys are maintained by volunteers? Is that true? It sounds like an enormous undertaking for a lake that size. I ran across an unmarked reef last year. No damage - was just trolling, saw the graph coming up hard, brought the motor up and drifted over it. The reef must have been about 18" under the water at its shallowest point and was probably 60 yards from shore. It was not in a high traffic area. After seeing all the marker bouys a guy gets a little too complacent thinking all the hazards are marked. Was wondering how many more surprizes might be lurking out there.

The markers are put out by the Vermilion Sportsmans Club and are very accurate. There are plenty of spots close to shore that are not marked though! Always be careful close to shore especially during low water periods such as now!
Cliff

The hazards are pretty well marked from my point of view. However there might be a few unmarked back in remoter areas that might have gotten missed. Also close to shore as Cliff noted.

Also, the placement of the markers relative to the hazard is different every year, and in some cases can be away from the actual hazard by perhaps as much as 20 feet by my estimation. So give them a good clearance at speed.

I believe the Sherrifs department is responsible for the buoys. One thing is that sometimes they break loose and it may be a day or two before they are replaced. Like others said stuff close to shore or back in bays may not be marked. Sometimes they may be a tide bottle or something but most times not. I believe the contract for the buoys says they have to removed by Oct 10 but can be as early as Oct 1. Last year they pulled them starting Oct 1 or close to it.

Sorry Cliff, but Silver is correct in that the Sheriffs Department contracts with indiviuals to maintain and place the markers. Mark Ayres from Cook has had the contract for a number of years. I believe that Mark checks the markers weekly for blow offs, tow offs and the like.

That contract is open for bidders this year, if my memory is correct.

The Sportsman's Club maintain the navigation lights on the lake. So we can give Cliff some credit here.

As far as accuracy, they are pretty good. The main thing that I tell everyone, "stay at least 100 yards away from any marker" If you are off the main travel route of the lake, you are on your own. There are lots of unmarked rocks out there that will ruin anyone's day if you give them 1/2 a chance. Most of these are off the beaten path but they are still there just waiting to eat some aluminum.

Shamrock7,
Thanks for getting the correct info out there! I knew that the Sportsman Club helped out somewhere as far as marking the lake. They also help maintain the campsites and day-use picnic areas if my failing memory serves me right! ?? :~)

Just yesterday I was running with GPS w/lakemaster and sonar running, through charted territory and low and behold, out of 18ft of water poped up a reef that came up to 6 ft.....there are reefs like this ALL over the lake that are not marked on the contour chips/maps/markers. 6 ft of water is not considered hazardous for most boats, but could be with the right rig.

did u catch any fish off that reef?

No I did not fish it sled but I did mark fish around it. I am going to save it for ice fishing.