MECKLENBURG COUNTY -- Much of the western portion of North Carolina is in drought conditions, which has created problems for lakes and forced the closure of some boat ramps in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties.
Lake Wylie is two feet below target level, so several boat ramps there have been closed for public safety reasons.
Current Lake Wylie Access Area Ramp Status
· South Point : Six ramps open but could be affected with decreasing lake levels
· Nivens Creek: Two of two ramps open and unlikely to be affected in the near-term
· Buster Boyd : Two of four ramps open
· Allison Creek: Two of four ramps open
· Ebenezer: All four ramps closed by York County
· Copperhead: All four ramps closed by Mecklenburg County
The closures didn't stop Rick Robinson from going out on his weekly fishing excursion with his best friend Thursday.
"We had trouble," Robinson said. "We went to Copperhead landing and it was closed, and so we had to come down here to 49 and we found they had them closed except a couple here."
Once they're out on the water, he has to pay a lot closer attention to depth.
"Usually where I'd be 8 feet deep, now I'm 4 feet deep, so I have to watch out for that, watch the depth finder really close," said Robinson.
He's hoping for rain to improve fishing conditions and get us out of the drought.
However, even if we do see rain in the Charlotte area soon, lake levels won't necessarily rise.
"Most of our rain for these particular lakes comes from the mountains, and we know that the mountains are in a much more significant drought than the Piedmont," said Chris Matthews with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department. "We really need water from the mountains."
Mecklenburg County Park and Rec, along with Duke Energy, will continue to monitor the lake levels and open/close boat ramps as needed.