Transcription

1 White Oak Lake Association Newsletter Spring 2016 New WOLA Website consolidates documents, lists, news updates and more. No more mailings via US Postal Service for WOLA! Jon McKee, current WOLA President and past Chairperson of our Fish and Lake Committee, has launched a new OFFICIAL WOLA website where all WOLA updates,communications, lists, member documents and much more will be housed going forward. This website is meant to reduce costs, improve timeliness of announcements, and safely consolidate all the important documents that each WOLA member might need access to at a moment s notice. No more trying to find a current copy of the WOLA Rules or Covenants documents in that old folder (where did I put that???). No more trying to remember who or when to call about that landscaping or architectural project you wanted to begin. Where do you get your boat and car stickers? When is the Annual Meeting this year? Where are the minutes from last year s meeting? It s all here. Check into for all of it. Let us know what you think tell us what is missing or what information you might like (or help us to provide) for all our members. Be helpful in your critique offer positive improvement ideas, and they ll get done. Check it out and send us feedback at our new WOLA communication address (see next article, below). This new website is an ongoing project and will be updated regularly. We don t plan on mailing out any more notices via snail mail. We need every member to go here often to read timely announcements as often as every day or at least every week. This is our NEW source for communication at White Oak Lake. New for Communications for WOLA Members WOLA Members now have a clear communications channel to reach the elected leadership of our association and beyond. us with any concerns, suggestions, etc. regarding our beautiful lake community and we will respond within 48 hours. The address is: wolacommunications@gmail.com Of course, any member can call a member of the WOLA Board of Directors at any time, but we thought this would be yet another avenue to spur communications. Make a note of it!

2 Find us on FACEBOOK! Michelle Dose, newly elected WOLA Board Member, has recently consolidated a couple of Facebook accounts started by WOLA members into ONE official new Facebook page for our WOLA members. Go to White Oak Lake Subdivision for all your FUTURE posts, please! Like Us and post often!!!! Many thanks to those of you who had carried us for so long let s all get behind Michelle as she carries us forward with this new, unified page! 2016 WOLA Board bi-monthly meetings and Annual Meeting Dates Announced In order to continue open communications with all members of the White Oak Lake Association, the Board is inviting any members with questions or concerns to participate in our bi-monthly meetings. The dates for upcoming meetings are: April 28 at 6:30 p.m. June 23 at 6:30 p.m. August 18 at 6:30 p.m. October 6 (WOLA Annual Meeting -- time and location to be announced soon). Please call Jon McKee at if you d like to attend the member portion of an upcoming monthly meeting. The locations for the meetings are rotated so please call to confirm. All members are encouraged to attend the Annual Meeting in October for voting purposes on major association decisions. Lake Treatments for 2016 Marine Biochemists, based in McLean County, has been retained again this year to help us control the weeds and algae in our lake. Four years ago we switched to an every-other week treatment schedule and it has served us well. The following is the treatment schedule for 2016, with all treatment dates falling on a Monday. Rain Dates are used if weather on the regular Monday date does not permit treatment to occur. Please do NOT water your yard from the lake Monday through Thursday of each treatment week. There are, however, no swimming or fishing restrictions during these periods. If you live on the lake, please cut and place the schedule (below) on your fridge or make a note of 2016 treatment dates (also available in poster format on the website):

3 Lake Treatments for White Oak Lake for 2016* Treatment Date Rain Date May 16 May 17 May 31 June 1 June 13 June 14 June 27 June 28 July 11 July 12 July 25 July 26 August 8 August 9 August 22 August 23 September 6 September 7 * Any questions about our lake treatment, please call Mark Melody at Boat and vehicle stickers If you own and operate a boat on White Oak Lake you must have two, current WOLA stickers for each boat one displayed on each side. If you have a new boat this year, please contact Mark Melody at , to register your boat and obtain stickers. Stickers must be on your boats, float boats (even inflatable boats) and swim docks BEFORE you place them in the lake. Stickers are good for two seasons as indicated on each sticker. 2015/2016stickers are Blue. Also, only WOLA member s owned boats/floats with WOLA stickers are permitted on the lake visitors are not permitted to use their own boats or kayaks. This policy allows us to control unauthorized use of our lake and has helped in the return of lost/untethered crafts. Ultimately, this helps protect our lake, limits your liability exposure, and protects our resources for our current association members. As a reminder: Boats may not exceed 18 feet in length. Gasoline motors are never allowed on the lake, even if they are disconnected or unused. In addition, if you park a vehicle at the beach to go swimming, boating or even to enjoy the view, your vehicle must have a WOLA sticker. These are also available from Mark Melody at These stickers are for the protection of our members to distinguish who has rights to use our property. As mentioned, we monitor both the parking area and the lake closely to protect the integrity of our association.

4 Fishing Activities The WOLAFish andlake Committee have put together a number of fun fishing events for young and old this spring and summer. Mark Melody, new Fish and Lake Committee Chairperson, is in charge of most of these activities. He can be reached at or at catchintoads@yahoo.com. APRIL Big Bass Tournament (Month-long, members only) Begins first day that this newsletter is received by members -- and runs through April 30. Biggest WOL Bass caught during that timeframe will receive a Big Bass WOLA plaque. Must be caught by a member of WOLA. Winner will be determined by weight of fish, with lbs. and oz submitted. Only bass weighed on a digital scale are eligible to be fair to all. Digital scales are available at most sporting goods stores for as little as $19. Photos of the fish will help judges with final award, as well, and will be used in newsletter updates. Honor system for all anglers! Report your catch, with photo, to: Mark Melody, Chairperson, Fish/Lake Committee at: catchintoads@yahoo.com. If you would like to receive leaderboard updates via , please opt-in by sending Mark an to this address with Send me the WOLA Leaderboard in the subject line. MAY Big Bass Tournament (Member/Guest) Wednesday, May 11, 5:30 8:30 p.m. All ages welcome. No registration required. This year our three mid-season big bass tourneys (May, July and August) are being run in a member/guest (or 2-person) format. Each participating WOLA member may fish by themselves, with another WOLA member or with a guest in this format. The participant weighing in the biggest bass for the event takes home the WOLA plaque. Participants can begin fishing anytime after the start of the event. Each participant can weigh only ONE big bass that he or she caught at the end of the event time at the dam. Fish must be alive. Anglers must be at dam at official time/horn blast at end of event to qualify. Also: Participants may not fish the day of the event prior to the start of the event. Cast and retrieve only no trolling. No live bait or multi-rigs. June team tournament is also member/guest format, but different rules (see June). Call Mark Melody at for information. JUNE Big Bass Tournament (Member/Guest) Wednesday, June 15, 5:30 8:30 p.m. (See May tournament description for more information) JULY Big Bass Tournament(Member/Guest) Wednesday, July 6, 5:30 8:30 p.m. (See May tournament description for more information) AUGUST Big Bass Tournament(Member/Guest) Wednesday, August 17, 5:30 8:30 p.m. (See May tournament description for more information) SEPTEMBER

5 Big Bass Tournament(Month-long, members only) Begins September 1 and ends September 30. (See April tournament description for more information) SUMMER-LONG TOURNAMENTS (April 15 September 30) Sometimes the big ones bite on days NOT included in other contests now you can WIN with that catch! It s simple: biggest fish of that particular species, caught by a WOLA member in White Oak Lake and reported during the course of the summer (April 15 September 30) wins a nice WOLA framed plaque and bragging rights! Here s how to enter: Take a photo of your catch. Weigh your catch with a digital scale and have any other member or witness verify that weight. Send photo and details to: Mark Melody at catchintoads@yahoo.com. A leaderboard update will be sent to anyone requesting it via , weekly. Just put Send me the WOLA Leaderboard in the subject line to the same address. Big Walleye Summer-long Tournament (April 15 September 30) (Members only) Big Catfish Summer-long Tournament (April 15 September 30) (Members only) Big Bass Summer-long Tournament (April 15 September 30) (Members only) To all WOLA Members: We all take pride in our association lake resources and want to assure that members and their accompanied guests have a good experience when using their member resources. Consequently, we are very strict with asking members to register their owned personal watercrafts, swim platforms and vehicles used at the lake. Our lake volunteer monitors and paid beach monitors will be helping to check to make sure that all members are in compliance with these association rules. Thank you in advance for helping us protect and monitor the usage of our WOLA properties. Fish Stocking The Fish and Lake Committee, stocked 500 eight-to-ten inch channel catfish in the lake during the 2015 season as well as 400 Arkansas strain largemouth bass and bait fish. We have also placed more smaller grass carp in the lake to help with weed control. New fishing regulations and lake catch limits are attached to this newsletter. Please observe these limits, especially as we restore our Largemouth Bass and bluegill, crappie and walleye populations to a trophy lake representation. Any questions? Want to help with the Fish and Lake Committee? Give Mark Melody a call at Structures The Fish and Lake Committee has already placed about 15 submerged fish structures along the dam in feet of water to attract baitfish and other fish, and to provide a safe get-away from bigger fish. This management technique will allow our investments of other fish this year and recently in the past couple of years to pay off with bigger size and more plentiful species. More are planned for 2016 and are being placed in areas that would not affect swimming or diving safety.

6 Goose and varmint patrol update We have obtained a permit again this year from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to help control the goose population on White Oak Lake. The IDNR recommends that residential development lake communities closely monitor and control their geese population, because of the potential for their feces to create unhealthy environments. Please do not feed geese or encourage them to make our lake their home. We have about 30 resident geese right now that live here most of the year -- every year -- and we want to keep that limit, or reduce it. Some muskrats are being removed again this year. The Fish and Lake Committee have a service company (Critter Control) with which it contracts to remove these varmints legally. Please do not set traps on your property if you observe them, rather, call Mark Melody at and the Fish and Lake Committee will direct the removal. We have not observed any beaver living in the lake but here s a tip to prevent damage from them: If you have trees or bushes near the lake and want to protect them from damage, simply wrap chicken wire fence around the base of the plant or tree, up to about 30 inches from the ground. It is barely visible and definitely works. Please deposit grass clippings properly Please pick up or aim your grass clipping into your yard, NOT into the street and NEVER into the lake. These are unsightly, clog our WOLA drains causing flooding, and also get into our lake and upset the Ph balance of the lake, encouraging weed and algae growth. That costs each of us more for treatments. Thank you for your cooperation in helping keep your lake and neighborhood beautiful and healthy. Guest Rules reminders Members are reminded of a few simple rules that will allow all members to enjoy our lake. 1. Each member household is limited to eight guests at one time at the beach/dam 2. Guests must be accompanied at all times by a member. WOLA members cannot grant permission for guests to use the lake/dam in their absence. 3. No guest boats or watercraft (including kayaks, long boards, belly boats, etc.) may be used on the lake every boat/craft must display current WOLA stickers on both sides. No exceptions, please. These rules protect our association in many ways. Members violating these rules are subject to fines and restrictions from using the lake as covenants allow. Lake Clean-up Days Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22 anytime during these days, please get out your small fishing boats, kayaks, row boats, canoes, etc. and paddle around the lake with a trash bag, looking for floating trash, submerged bottles, fishing line, and more and get it out of our lake! We all take pride in this beautiful resource, so let s dedicate one day to showing that pride -- so that our lake can look perfect for the Memorial Day weekend and the rest of the summer. It will be a great honor to see all of us out there that day, giving back to our lake! Thank you in advance for your help.