Lake Spokane / Long Lake clarification

[Gisteppo]

In the Spokane county lake directory for reports, you show both long and lake spokane as the same body.

Can we clear that up to be a single body of water so that all reports can be consolidated to the right piece of water from here on out?

Thanks!

E

[Mike Carey]

Hey G, I'll send this on to Aaron.

[Anonymous]

I read it... but I don't think there's much to be done. What would you have me do, remove Long Lake from the lake listings?

[Lotech Joe]

That's a thought! Maybe combine the reports into one for a Spokane/Long Lake link.

[Anglinarcher]

I have wondered about that myself. Most people know the lake as Long Lake, but I have seen maps that show it as Spokane Lake.

I don't think we would want to delete one or the other, but can you have a report for one name also also show up on the other name?

I have wondered about Sprague as well. Sprague is shown in two different counties, but to get a full history, you need to look at both counties. Can both be combined to reflect in either?

Wow, I am glad I don't run the web site.

[Nik]

i would say make Long Lake the primary location for reports, and make it so when someone clicks on Lake Spokane to leave a report, a little message pops up that politely asks them to use Long Lake for reports.

[Gisteppo]

Aaron, thanks for having a look at it.

Best option I see is to task it this way:

County: Spokane
Lake: Lake Spokane/Long Lake

County: Stevens
Lake: Lake Spokane/Long Lake

To have both names attached makes sense. The other option if you are bound by box size and word count is to eliminate Long Lake entirely and post it as Lake Spokane (Long) or show it in the Lake Spokane reports page with bold lettering, and let it resolve itself.

There is another Long Lake in the area, and it might isolate some confusion. As for the archived reports, just dump both sets into the same folder and have it pull everything as Lake Spokane.

Thanks!

E

[Aaron]

Good suggestions Gisteppo.

I'm still in a quandry though. To me, it IS Lake Spokane. All of it. While there is a dam called Long Lake Dam, maps show the body of water as Lake Spokane or Spokane River. However, anyone that frequents the area calls it Long Lake. They either have no idea that the official name is Lake Spokane, or they don't care. Either way, they will look for Long Lake, not Lake Spokane. Do I purposefully perpetuate the mistaken identity of the lake, or set the record straight and post it as it should be?

Concatenating the names is bad. As a rule, the grids we use on the site for listing lake information don't work well with long names. There is one lake in Walla Walla county called Bennington that used to have another name. It used to be Mill Creek Reservoir. Just recently I changed the name and dropped the old one. We used to have it listed as "Bennington (Mill Creek Reservoir)" and it just messed things up for me. I like everything in nice clean columns without the need for an ellipses "..." to show that the text was cutoff.

I think because the names are short enough I'll put that aside and try concatenating them.

Spokane: Spokane(Long)
Stevens: Long(Spokane)

Does that work for everyone?

[Nik]

That works for me at least. Of note also is that all of the tournaments there list it as Long Lake which adds to the confusion. Also the DNR resort out past Tum Tum is called "Long Lake Campground", but in their description they say its located at the north end of Lake Spokane. Pretty stupid. My guess is Long/Spokane Lake will always have 2 names. For me, when someone asks where I'm going fishing, it's easier and less confusing to say "Long" than "Spokane", so I use Long.

[Anglinarcher]

Good suggestions Gisteppo.

I'm still in a quandry though. To me, it IS Lake Spokane. All of it. While there is a dam called Long Lake Dam, maps show the body of water as Lake Spokane or Spokane River. However, anyone that frequents the area calls it Long Lake. They either have no idea that the official name is Lake Spokane, or they don't care. Either way, they will look for Long Lake, not Lake Spokane. Do I purposefully perpetuate the mistaken identity of the lake, or set the record straight and post it as it should be?

Concatenating the names is bad. As a rule, the grids we use on the site for listing lake information don't work well with long names. There is one lake in Walla Walla county called Bennington that used to have another name. It used to be Mill Creek Reservoir. Just recently I changed the name and dropped the old one. We used to have it listed as "Bennington (Mill Creek Reservoir)" and it just messed things up for me. I like everything in nice clean columns without the need for an ellipses "..." to show that the text was cutoff.

I think because the names are short enough I'll put that aside and try concatenating them.

Spokane: Spokane(Long)
Stevens: Long(Spokane)

Does that work for everyone?

:thumright :thumright :thumleft: :thumleft:

[Anglinarcher]

That works for me at least. Of note also is that all of the tournaments there list it as Long Lake which adds to the confusion. Also the DNR resort out past Tum Tum is called "Long Lake Campground", but in their description they say its located at the north end of Lake Spokane. Pretty stupid. My guess is Long/Spokane Lake will always have 2 names. For me, when someone asks where I'm going fishing, it's easier and less confusing to say "Long" than "Spokane", so I use Long.

I have another aproach, one I will only mention once. If I am going to fish Long Lake, or Spokane Lake, and someone ask me, I tell them I am going to fish Medical Lake, or Sprague, or Newmen or ........................................

I kind of like to keep Long a secret.

[Gisteppo]

Hah, Lake Spokane isn't a secret. Everyone wants to drive over 30 minutes to the lake. Lake Spokane is too close, so they skip it!

When Avista does anything, they refer to it as Lake Spokane, and even in the hydro report start with "Lake Spokane, also known as Long Lake"

Bit of history, it was known as Long Lake when the dam was put in place back in the teens. The name changed in the 60's to Lake Spokane, to reflect the name of the source and to prevent confusion with the other 7 Long Lakes in Washington. Since then, it has always been referred to as Long, while being mapped as Lake Spokane. It did have a stint being known as poop lake as well.

I like just using the tag: Spokane (Long)

Use it for both counties to add continuity and reduce confusion when programming. As we all know, you screw it up once in a big mess of code, you will never find it....

Thanks for the consideration on this, and hopefully it consolidates some reports and minimizes workload for you programmers.

E

[Anonymous]

yes, the programing department definately needs to have it's work minimized. They work too hard as it is. :chef:

...after March 1st. :-)

[Aaron]

Thinking about this more, I think I'm just going to place it in the county where it belongs... which is Spokane County. I cannot put it in two counties and have the reports consolidated, which is what is needed. It will now live in Spokane County as Spokane(Long).

[Gisteppo]

Perfect, thanks guys...

BTW, of the 3 public launches, 2 are in SpoCo.

E

[Nik]

I just noticed Gisteppo is located in "Long Lake"! that should settle it once and for all. also when you say "public launches" when talking about Long, i think both "public" and "launches" should be in quotation marks, so people don't make the huge mistake of thinking they can just go there and launch a boat like at a normal, well operated lake.

[Rich McVey]

Ive had similar concerns with other bodies of water. The White/Stuck/Puyallup River comes to mind.

[Gisteppo]

Nik, Im confused.

The Spokane House launch is public, open year-round, well maintained, and has generous parking.

The BLM launch is open much of the year (closes in winter), nice camping areas, well maintained, great parking.

The Nine Mile Resort is a state-run, Avista-owned resort property which is open to the public in the peak months from memorial weekend to just after labor day. Well known, and a good ramp.

Finally there are a plethora of private and association launches throughout the lake.

Im also a bit stumped as to what "a normal, well operated lake" might be. CdA? Hagadone has a stranglehold on that place. Liberty? Try getting on there any saturday with sun. Each body of water is a public space, with its own quirks for access.

E

[Nik]

Obviously I'm a lot more cynical than you, and I'm sure it has to do a lot with the times of the day and year that I want to fish, and you possibly having your own private launch on the lake (which is sweet beyond words), but I would say:

The Nine Mile launch (Spokane house) is public yes, and is open year round too, except for the fact that the lake is drawn down all winter and the launch is about 300 feet from water for several months. there is no way you could launch there right now unless you felt like carrying your boat to the water. Also in the spring when the lake floods launching there is a lot like trying to launch at Niagra Falls. Not really anyone's fault mind you, I'm just saying. Last spring there were several entire trees crushed into the dock there making launching impossible and they were there for at least 2 weeks. Also there was a huge dead beaver stuck half under the dock. The sign at the entrance says open 6:30-dusk which is way too late for early morning bass fishing, but the launch is always open so you can launch earlier if you want to chance a $120 ticket. also despite zero improvements the price of this launch went from $5 to $7 last year.

Nine Mile resort is the best launch on the lake probably. Too bad it's only open for 4 out of the 12 months that the lake is open, and it opens at 6:30 am, which again screws me for early morning bass fishing. also since the state took over this launch you can no longer camp there in a tent, and sites are $30 a night, up from $15 2 years ago, which to me is outrageous. the price of this launch also went up from $5 to $7 last year.

The DNR or BLM launch is at the very far of the lake where no one lives, which is fine, but it's also only open for a few months, and they actually lock the gate at 10 pm and open it back up after 6 am, so you can kiss night fishing and that early morning bite goodbye. camping is free here though and the boat launch is free with your permit.

And actually i would say that CDA is better managed, mostly because you can launch there year round in several spots on the lake with no problems. also of note is the presence of "trophy bass lakes" in the CDA watershed that are catch and release only. at Long they recently removed the restrictions for keeping bass during the spawning season. I guess what is most frustrating for me is that even though both are excellent bass lakes, perhaps 2 of the best in their respective states, one is treated as such and one is definitely not. if i was a trout troller and went fishing 3 times a year for 5 hours (and i'm not saying you or anyone else is), i would probably have zero issues with Long.

This is totally my opinion of course but for a bass fisherman that wants to fish at unconventional times of the day and year, it feels like the WDFW or whoever is pretty much doing their best to keep me off Long at all costs. Maybe you are right though because when I do actually get on the lake, there is very little boat traffic, which is obviously a plus. Maybe if it was easy and convenient to get a boat on Long i would be complaining about all the fishing pressure and boat traffic. Like i said, i'm cynical.

Lastly sorry for jacking this thread.

[Aaron]

Name change complete.