Sahoma Lake gets grant to build new boat ramp

By David Schulte World Staff Writer

1/3/2007

Many Sapulpans reeled in their first fish at Sahoma Lake, and soon they will be able to take their children fishing while launching their boats from a new ramp at the lake.

The Sapulpa Parks and Recreation Department was awarded a matching grant from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to build a concrete boat ramp at the lake, located about a mile west of Oklahoma 97 on 86th Street, said Terrell Lewis, park ranger.

The ramp will be 32 feet long, 28 feet wide and eight inches thick. It will replace the old ramp, which is more than 50 years old and needed constant repair, Lewis said.

The old ramp was also too small for the number of boats launched from it and had become a safety concern for the department, he said.

Despite annual efforts to maintain the old ramp, it had "rapidly deteriorated to the point it had become treacherous" for boaters, according to department reports.

The ramp's deteriorating condition had also caused minor accidents in recent years, with anglers damaging their boats and trailers.

"It was so narrow than when people backed in, they would back off the side of it," Lewis said.

He said the new ramp should be big enough that two boats could back onto it safely. It will cost $13,115, with 75 percent of the funds coming from the state Department of Wildlife Conservation and 25 percent coming from the city of Sapulpa.

The 340-acre lake provides year-round fishing, as crappie, trout, hybrids, and bass can be reeled in there.

Bass tournaments and derbies are frequently held at the lake on Tuesdays during the spring and summer.

"There will be 15 to 21 boats on Tuesday nights," Lewis said.

Charles Betzler, chairman of the Sapulpa Parks and Recreation Department board, said he grew up fishing at Sahoma Lake and remembers watching his neighbor reel in a 35-pound fish there.

"It took up a good section of a '58 Chevy pickup," Betzler recalls.

Sahoma Lake was used heavily this past spring and summer because high gas prices prompted many anglers and vacationers to head to local lakes.

"When fuel prices go up, people have to look for alternative things to do because they can't afford to go a lot of distance," Lewis said. "So, they go to the lake, especially when our trout, bass, crappie and everything is biting."

He hoped construction of the ramp would begin in the spring and be completed by summer.

The department's most recent matching grant from the Department of Wildlife Conservation for major improvements at the lake was for more than $26,000 to restore the fishing dock.