Winefred Lake access
 

Yesterday I went out to Winefred lake for the first time. From what I understood, there is a paid boat access at the lodge, and a public access further up the road. We tried the public access, and the road was very dry and rutted... except for one section that was really muddy and wet and impassable. Definitely not a maintained road.
We had driven for 3 hours to fish this lake, and decided to go to the Lodge access... The lodge operator charged $52.50 PER BOAT!!!
So, we sucked it up, paid the launch fee, and went and caught a bunch of nice fish. While we were out, we decided to go have a look at the public launch. It was obviously dug out and destroyed from an excavator!

I'm very curious how a private operator like Winefred Lake Lodge can charge that much money for exclusive access to a public lake!! It seems wrong.

Is there anywhere I can go to file a formal complaint?

The outfitter charges 60 but the road is much better and maintained

that is criminal to charge that much. The only place i can think of to file a complaint would be Alberta Environment and Parks.

I'm sure if you stayed in the lodge for a night you could have launched for free, One needs to realize that Alberta is very limited for lakes, and especially lake access.
I remember seeing a study, this is going back at least 30 years. The number 10,000 seems to stand out. That's how many fisherman there were per fish able body of water. And to boot most of those lakes are also netted by Fisty Nations.

Chestermere lake outside Calgary charges 45.00 for boats and that's 10 minutes from a city center... an extra 12.50 doesn't seem toooooo excessive for a lake with that quality of fishing.

The digging up of the boat launch and probably even the mud hole in the middle of a drought seems VERY greasy!!

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Yeah...that's kinda what I was thinking.

Was it dug out to wreck the access or was it dug out to dig someone out that got stuck when it was wet? I am guessing the latter if it was dug out.

The problem with most accesses like these is that there is always that guy with a bigger truck that goes through when most would turn around and they end up wrecking the access to the point you can no longer access it anymore with regular vehicles. Then eventually people get stuck trying and even more damage gets done... Eventually someone might fix the trail but since it is not a maintained road that is left to the public unless a lodge owner or grader operator is feeling generous.

If you want better access pay to have someone fix the road/launch up or take some equipment in and fix it yourself. You could try complaining to the government and have them start maintaining that trail but good luck with that.

I would rather pay the outfitter to launch then drive that extra distance on those crappy roads anyways...

If the road the lodge owner maintains the road and the road is leased and/or is a party to a reciprocal agreement with the county exists, where he maintains access in exchange for leasing the launch, and thereby charging whatever he/she wants to for launch fees, then that's one thing.

If someone is digging up the public launch in order to funnel all that business to him, that's criminal. I am not saying he is or isn't doing that - I would hate to think someone would be so bold as to do something so obviously unethical.

I'm sure there two sides to the story - but enough people here have expressed concerns that it wouldn't shock me either way.

Winefred Lake Lodge is criminal.

Launch from Paul's ( Outfitter ) better road, and 30 kms shorter than the lodge!!