Fox Chain O Lakes boating

[Stonehauler]

Hey all,

I have a Cobalt 242 and plan on hauling it out to the Chain this year to take my nephews for their first boating adventure. Now, this boat has a slightly deeper draft than the old Raven my father had when I lived out there, so does anyone have any recommendations on channels or lakes I should avoid?

At full load (2,000 lbs), the draft is a half meter with the lower unit up, and a meter with it down. I only plan on carrying about 1000 lbs of people and gear, so I should be be slightly shallower than that.

I was hoping to get them some tubing time on either Bluff Lake or Petite Lake as they are calmer and I have family that will let me do a shore launch, but they don't boat anymore so they don't know the current problem areas.

Any recommendations for a good ramp? My boat sits high on my trailer so I need a good long ramp to get it in the water.

And yes, I plan on avoiding the weekends, Grass Lake on Thursdays, and I already have my sticker.

My trailer has been recently inspected, all bearings re-packed, and I have a spare hub/brake assembly, I have electric over hydraulic brakes, and brakes on all 4 wheels, and my tow vehicle is a SRW F350 with a diesel, so I should be good to tow through the mountains of PA

[kbloom72]

I have a 262 and have never had any issues on the chain. Follow the buoys and stay in the middle of the channels if possible.

Here is a great map that was put together by someone else, but I have used a lot.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 71858&z=11

As far as ramps, Ben Watt's in Fox Lake is always a good, wide open ramp. Watertower Marina in McHenry just had a brand new ramp put in.

[Stonehauler]

Thanks a bunch! Very much appreciated. I lived in Antioch/Lake Villa for 30 years, but the past 17 years I've been out east in Delaware due to that darn moving cheese. My final decision on bringing the boat will be just before I leave to be sure the water level won't be too high like the last time I thought about it.

[kbloom72]

You bet! There are a few other guys on here that boat there as well and may have better advice. As of now, I wouldn't worry about the water being too high. With the lack of rain we've had the chain and upper Fox river are kept at a nice summer pool. The lower river where I boat is very low to the dam being kept shut. There is Gordy's in Fox Lake also. I think they may rent Cobalts out of that location.

[Stonehauler]

I will probably stick to the upper chain. My godparents used to live on the Fox down in Algonquin, so my parents would occasionally take their first boat (a wooden 50s Trojan sea queen I think) down there to visit, but after an engine mishap (they either hit something or age failure) and their old 40hp motor snapped the crankshaft, we never went down the Fox again. Because of that, I am not familiar enough even in my memory to try and navigate it. I also plan on keeping to the main part of the Chain so I don't have to worry about my Bimini needing to come down. (Fox, Grass, Pistakee, Marie, Bluff, Spring, and Petite). IIRC, a boat my size won't fit under the bridge going to Channel Lake.

I've called Ben Watt's and the Sandbar Marina (MUCH closer, about 2-3 miles from my mother's house) and both of those places have said their ramps can handle my boat easily. I will probably just put it in once, then rent a slip from them for the rest of the week. (my wife hates to put the boat in and out). I still need to call Steitz's as I think Bluff Lake would be a better place to keep it in the water compared to Marie, Fox, or Pistakee as those three have a bit more chop to them.

[NWChiAggie]

A few thoughts as I was on the chain last year. The water was a little lower than normal last year. In general the weekends are crowded. If you can get out during the week or early on the weekends it is much less stressful to do water sports and the lake is wide open. We did water sports in the mornings and anchors and swam in afternoons.

1. Many areas are pretty shallow. Good chance the skeg will be in the muck when you take off in many areas.
2. Tubing on Petite is not advised unless early and late in the day. That lake is where everyone is wide open from channel to channel.
3. Bluff is deep but small.
4. We tubed in Stanton Bay on Fox Lake (shallow but protected), East side of Lake Marie (little bay on the Southeast side), some in Pistakee Bay during the week and Mineola Bay on Fox Lake during the week.
5. Be careful around the channel in Pistakee going to the Route 12 bridge. If you get out of the channel follow the other boats. It is a bit chaotic there on the weekends. Most people cut in and out of the channel. They dredged alot last year but it is shallow south of the channel.
6. We anchored and swam in Pistakee Bay (25ft), Petite near the sand bar inside the no wake buoys (10ft), Bluff Lake by the no wake buoys (18ft) and on the East shore of Marie by the apartments (sand and rock bottom along the bank makes it a good stop to get out and stand up).
7. Several good places to dock and get lunch.
8. I never went to Channel Lake or Catherine. I understand there is much less traffic as the bridge is low and to get under is hard for large boats.
9. Ben Watt's should be easy to get in and out. Sandbar is deep enough but there is a ton of wave action coming out of the channel and depending on the wind direction could be a pain. Was having lunch there last year and a Baja was having hell getting on the trailer. If you do go to Sandbar and dock for lunch be careful as your boat will get beat up due to the waves.
10. Overall my opinion is the chain is a great place to boat and ok for watersports.

[AsLan7]

A few thoughts as I was on the chain last year. The water was a little lower than normal last year. In general the weekends are crowded. If you can get out during the week or early on the weekends it is much less stressful to do water sports and the lake is wide open. We did water sports in the mornings and anchors and swam in afternoons.

1. Many areas are pretty shallow. Good chance the skeg will be in the muck when you take off in many areas.
2. Tubing on Petite is not advised unless early and late in the day. That lake is where everyone is wide open from channel to channel.
3. Bluff is deep but small.
4. We tubed in Stanton Bay on Fox Lake (shallow but protected), East side of Lake Marie (little bay on the Southeast side), some in Pistakee Bay during the week and Mineola Bay on Fox Lake during the week.
5. Be careful around the channel in Pistakee going to the Route 12 bridge. If you get out of the channel follow the other boats. It is a bit chaotic there on the weekends. Most people cut in and out of the channel. They dredged alot last year but it is shallow south of the channel.
6. We anchored and swam in Pistakee Bay (25ft), Petite near the sand bar inside the no wake buoys (10ft), Bluff Lake by the no wake buoys (18ft) and on the East shore of Marie by the apartments (sand and rock bottom along the bank makes it a good stop to get out and stand up).
7. Several good places to dock and get lunch.
8. I never went to Channel Lake or Catherine. I understand there is much less traffic as the bridge is low and to get under is hard for large boats.
9. Ben Watt's should be easy to get in and out. Sandbar is deep enough but there is a ton of wave action coming out of the channel and depending on the wind direction could be a pain. Was having lunch there last year and a Baja was having hell getting on the trailer. If you do go to Sandbar and dock for lunch be careful as your boat will get beat up due to the waves.
10. Overall my opinion is the chain is a great place to boat and ok for watersports.

.
Hey that's great info NWCA. Thanks for contributing that. Are you a Cobalt owner? Any pics?

Welcome aboard mate!

.

[Stonehauler]

Sounds like the lakes have changed a bit in the past 15 years.

Background info, I lived in Antioch and Lake Villa for 30 years and we used to go in off of either Sandbar or Chain-O-Lake state park in my father's boat. (21 ft Raven). My grandmother used to live on of Petite and my mom still owns land there, an uncle lives on Bluff, and the Steitz's are (2nd or 3rd) cousins.

Yep, I had a feeling that weekends would be a "heck no" proposition based on past experience. While I am sure it's better these days, too many people used to go out on the water and get all beered up. You know the kind...the ones that think that because they brought a 12 pack, they need to drink the 12 pack... Then there are just the sheer number of boats on the water too. Also, I know to avoid Grass Lake on Thursdays. While my oldest nephew would love Blarney Island and my brother would too, especially during fantasy fest, no one else would, including our wives. If the admirals say no, we don't go.

We used to find Marie a bit too choppy for water sports and Fox/Nippersink/Pistakee were the same. Maybe you have a few coves where the chop is less? Just looking for knee boarding and maybe some tubing. I was thinking Petite because we can do a shore takeoff for the first few times they try kneeboarding using my mom's property

[Marco4Ever]

You can't boat the chain without visiting the famous or infamous Blarney Island. "Caribbean-themed party bar & music venue a mile offshore serving adult boaters (or shuttle riders)". A while back, Thursday evenings pre-covid days, drag boat racing. Florida-Key's type vibe, depending upon time, definitely PG-13 rated. When I did not have grey hair, took some visitors, the bartenders graciously provided scissors to some female patrons to cut the ties off of the visitors to tack up and also a couple of the females were encouraged to follow the Mardi Gras traditions for a free pitcher of beer. All done in good fun, all done with everyone's permission, blah blah blah. Google will provide plenty of pictures, stories etc. I do not work for them, I have no financial interest, just passing along some experience advise.