Irondequoit State launch

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

Can somebody tell me the rules about launching at the state park in Irondequoit?  Do they charge?  Can I use a state park pass card to get in?  Can we get into the park at zero dark thirty?  Any info is appreciated.

[ifishy]

they have a kiosk to pay.  yes on the launching early.  with that said this time of year during the day it is a s*** show at times so as long as your willing to be patient at the end of the day your good if your not than i would recommend not launching there.  personally i don't launch there during nice weather in the summer if i can avoid it for just this reason.  

[whaler1]

Lots of better places to launch unless you specifically want to go out of I Bay. 

[rolmops]

I sometimes use it during the week. It has a pay machine that accepts credit cards. The launch is fine and parking is free. If you want to go salmon fishing , you should be prepared to run a few miles to deep water. During the weekend it’s over crowded.

If you launch a few miles farther west, you will be in deep water a lot faster.

I live ten minutes away from Irondequoit launch, but I prefer to drive to Sandy Creek. Braddocks Bay has shallow water issues.

[Matt From Kingston]

 Had the worst launch experience of my life there this past Sunday night. I am actually surprised

no one was stabbed or shot. Coming back in around 830, there were dozens of jetski's all over acting like fools. I finally manage to get tied off and go get the truck. Everyone else is going through the 1 lane where the pay kiosk is, and a consequently stuck in a line like 10 deep. The sign in the parking lot says retrieve turn right toward the road, so me and another guy do that. The "jetski folk" didnt like that, so a lady literally stands right behind my trailer so I cant back up, and she just waives on all her people who went the wrong way. Her man is threatening my buddy at this point, and before he could get out boat pulled up, we just start getting cut off. Guy in the lane behind me is fairing no better. Next thing he is out of his truck and everyone is yelling and screaming vulgar and racial comments. He gets his boat out, I get cut off by like 10 people in a friggin uhaul truck towing their boat trailer. They have to put the trailer on the ramp at an angle because my boat is right there and consequently cant get their boat lined up right. Broken bottles all over the parking lot, weed in the air and the cops finally show up because someone had stuff stolen. F the cops chants and cell phones all pop out instantly and it remains a disaster.  An actual hour later, I finally get the boat on the trailer and we pull all the way up by Bill Grey's to unload the gear and tie it down for the ride back to the hotel. I was surprised there were no shots fired, but back at the hotel find out that was up the street at the park right by 104. This guy is not using any rochester ramps again. The next day we went to sandy creek.  No one there and we had our limit of kings by 10am. 

[whaler1]

Typical day there unfortunately. There are much better local choices. 

[chinook35]

All the boat launches should have a  “harbor master”  , someone to keep things running smoothly . I know it won’t happen , but it would be nice  

Mexico point used to be the same way years ago. I’ve only launched there 5-6 times in the last 2 years and it’s much better. 
when you have many recreation boats , jet skis , kayaks , canoes and a bunch of people that have NO idea what they are doing it’s going to be a cluster  

i guess patience is a virtue   Tight lines 

[Bad Habit]

 Weekends on Irondequoit Bay are always an accident looking for a place to happen. Online license courses are way too easy to just breeze through without learning anything. I'm not big on government regulations but I am for boat operators knowing the rules.

[rolmops]

One of the causes (apart from a-holes) is the location of the entrance kiosk. It is right where the actual launches are situated, so every boat coming out of the entrance is right in the path of the launching boats. If the kiosk would have been at the very beginning of the entrance road with EZ-pass like photographic access and the entrance road would open onto the parking lot,  people would drive through into the parking lot, prepare their boat for launch and then get in line for the launches, it would go a lot faster with less conflict. It still would not be idiot proof ,but less of a mess.

 

On another note. How is the city launch at the Genesee River?  Is it less of a mess or is it more of the same?

Edited July 30 by rolmops

[Pete Collin]

You guys are making me think of how useful it would be for a guy to make a YouTube critique of every public launch along the L.O. coastline!

[rolmops]

18 minutes ago, Pete Collin said:

You guys are making me think of how useful it would be for a guy to make a YouTube critique of every public launch along the L.O. coastline!

I think that the Irondequoit launch is in a class all by itself.

[Pete Collin]

Reading Matt's post was sobering. I definitely lucked out Saturday. 

[Crestliner]

Everything is acrap show in Rochester .Just look at the party in control. Now you know why DC is so fed up!!!

[Matt From Kingston]

I have used that launch twice before with much less ruckus, but it was during the week. I live about 4 hours away and just went there because it was familiar to me and close to our hotel. 

Edited July 31 by Matt From Kingston

[Crestliner]

Best Entertainment in Town a case of beer a lawn chair and a camera!!!!!

[Crestliner]

I Go to marina and pay. Nice quiet and peaceful. Plus I do their electrical work and get a deal. Note not responsible for bad dock wiring . Its gonna be a lot of money to redo. They are saving up. Alison and her 90 something yr old father ( if he still alive) are great people just trying to survive!!!!

[rolmops]

14 minutes ago, Crestliner said:

Everything is acrap show in Rochester .Just look at the party in control. Now you know why DC is so fed up!!!

Thank you very much for your well thought out contribution to this thread. It shows how positive your thinking is and how deeply intelligent you obviously are.

As for Allison and Bill, yes they are good  people. I have been a friend of Bill for 25 years

 

Edited July 31 by rolmops

[Crestliner]

Great people with hearts of gold!!!!

[Crestliner]

Actually  I"m just a dumb ass with a fishing habit

[Shakemsam]

So I will be the first to tell you that Yes, you can use your NY State Park Pass. There is a place on the kiosk to scan your card. as far as a crap show using the launch, it can be. The Jet skiers are a PITA and generally don't care and don't follow the in and out rules.  But then, most don't! If you're in early before 7 and out by noon, it's a pretty easy time. Afternoon and evenings, plain and simply...Suck!

[ifishy]

10 hours ago, Crestliner said:

I Go to marina and pay. Nice quiet and peaceful. Plus I do their electrical work and get a deal. Note not responsible for bad dock wiring . Its gonna be a lot of money to redo. They are saving up. Alison and her 90 something yr old father ( if he still alive) are great people just trying to survive!!!!

i tried that once or twice in the past and there seems to be no trailer parking over there.  what am i missing because i will pay for the convience of not a lot of recreational and new boaters.

 

 

[ifishy]

on the bright side in the early spring and late fall its mostly fisherman and things flow much better mid summer go east or west to the next launch.  

 

I had the first time experience of going to oneida shores late this spring and that place was a total clown show in the afternoon.  lines of cars lines of boats people cutting each other off and guys sitting in there truck with the boat backed into the water and no one doing anything for over an hour on 2 of the lanes.  thankfully i did not have any urgent time line and was able slide into a spot when no one was paying attention run to the car get the boat on the trailer and to the parking just before  people started the yelling match over the one lane.  one going in one going out so we will not do that launch again in warm weather.

[muskiedreams]

I was there just with car last weekend and noticed that in the trailer parking area more than half the parking spots were filled by cars with only one or two empty spots. The town of Irondequoit is supposed to enforce the rules there, including ticketing cars parked in the trailer parking area. But I think they could have designed it with more area for cars to park. It is a waste of space for one car to park in a long trailer space. So I think they need to enforce parking and redesign to provide more car spaces.

 

 Another thing that is a PITA there is that cars keep cutting through the launching area behind rigs that are trying to launch.

[rolmops]

10 hours ago, ifishy said:

i tried that once or twice in the past and there seems to be no trailer parking over there.  what am i missing because i will pay for the convience of not a lot of recreational and new boaters.

 

 

Mayers Marina owns a series of properties along the road and during the summer Bill used to direct the trailer owners to available spaces along the road. He just does not have the energy he once had and he no longer does that, but there usually are spaces open .

[Crestliner]

They got a great young man that works for Allison .Very helpful Dude.. Now lets shut the hell up and keep this a secret among us Eh. Dont want the jet ski a-hole finding out. they got little itty bitty trailers ya know!!!