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Raleigh Area Lakes. Jordan, Harris, Falls.

suke

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Water is fairly clear and about 92 degrees on the surface, but there is cool water about 5ft below the surface.
Lake Gaston, which is fed by Kerr, was nice and cool. Was impressed just how refreshing it was, compared to Jordan/Harris. My buddy was telling me how warm it has been this year. Of course he didn't have any of the triangle lakes as a base of comparison. I was like dude, no way, this feels amazing.
 

919Cummins

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For the folks that keep your boats at Jordan or Falls, can you PM me? I have a few questions.
I can't keep up with who keeps what where lol.
 

Shookie

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Curious to know status of lakes after all the rain...??? Looks like Jordan is only up a foot so my guess is there’s not a ton of debris.

I’m kicking around Kerr or Gaston this weekend. Think I finally convinced my wife to give another lake a try....
 

suke

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Yeah looks like we dodged a bullet. They're letting water downstream now too, so I imagine by the weekend it won't be up by much at all. Planning Jordan this weekend, likely Sunday. Taking out the neighbors it sounds.
 

mraz72

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My family is thinking of moving to the Raleigh area at some point, I'm currently in upstate NY. 2 questions for the lakes in that area
1. do you have to worry about snakes/fish/things in the lake? Up here in NY, there is NOTHING in the lakes that are going to hurt you
2. What is the water temp mid summer? Here the lakes get to about 80.
 

Maccam26

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My family is thinking of moving to the Raleigh area at some point, I'm currently in upstate NY. 2 questions for the lakes in that area
1. do you have to worry about snakes/fish/things in the lake? Up here in NY, there is NOTHING in the lakes that are going to hurt you
2. What is the water temp mid summer? Here the lakes get to about 80.
I boat all over NC and I'm not really worried about snakes mostly because we like to anchor in 25-35ft of water not super close to shoreline. Water right now in our lakes are anywhere from 88 to 97 depending on time of day and location.
 

IvanRZB

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I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having a bad encounter with wildlife in our lakes. If you're hanging out closer to the shore and maybe in marshier areas you're more likely to run into a snake, but not out in the open.

Water in our lake (Jordan) is pretty warm, depth is probably 20-30ft.

The natural soil in this area is red clay, so our lakes tend to be high in silt.
 

Julian

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My family is thinking of moving to the Raleigh area at some point, I'm currently in upstate NY. 2 questions for the lakes in that area
1. do you have to worry about snakes/fish/things in the lake? Up here in NY, there is NOTHING in the lakes that are going to hurt you
2. What is the water temp mid summer? Here the lakes get to about 80.
We saw a snake once at the Marina.....was sitting on a rock on the sea wall sunning itself. Haven't seen one since...but I'm sure they are around.

You will run into snakes in NC at your house more than on the water!

The lakes in Raleigh (Falls and Jordan) both get WARM in the late summer! If you go to the end the wind is blowing towards it can be 5-10 degrees warmer than the other end. Highest recorded on my display was 101!!! When we hit that, we pulled anchor and went to a deeper spot!
 

bronze_10

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Curious to know status of lakes after all the rain...??? Looks like Jordan is only up a foot so my guess is there’s not a ton of debris.

I’m kicking around Kerr or Gaston this weekend. Think I finally convinced my wife to give another lake a try....
Kerr is our fav... and it is large! My wife and i were talking about finally doing Gaston on Sat. I think I am gonna call the marina and ask how much to put in at their place.
 

Shookie

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Kerr is our fav... and it is large! My wife and i were talking about finally doing Gaston on Sat. I think I am gonna call the marina and ask how much to put in at their place.
I assume Gaston is more crowded on weekends. Might head up there if you’re going. why put in at the marina? I assume there are plenty of public ramps....??
 

Shookie

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My family is thinking of moving to the Raleigh area at some point, I'm currently in upstate NY. 2 questions for the lakes in that area
1. do you have to worry about snakes/fish/things in the lake? Up here in NY, there is NOTHING in the lakes that are going to hurt you
2. What is the water temp mid summer? Here the lakes get to about 80.
I’ve never seen a snake in a lake down here. I’ve seen 97 degrees this summer... that was in about 6 feet of water.

See you’re from Rochester. Used to travel there a fair amount.... don’t miss being up there during the winter!
 

bronze_10

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I assume Gaston is more crowded on weekends. Might head up there if you’re going. why put in at the marina? I assume there are plenty of public ramps....??
Fro. What I gathered by Google there is one public ramp. Its gravel and no facilities. The marina, if its not expensive, has facilities there and an on water resturant we may eat at. Just seems easier. I'll call today and see what the charge is.
 

suke

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Fro. What I gathered by Google there is one public ramp. Its gravel and no facilities. The marina, if its not expensive, has facilities there and an on water resturant we may eat at. Just seems easier. I'll call today and see what the charge is.
The pointe is a decent restaurant. There's others on the water, though. If you're doing Gaston you gotta do that, nothing better than taking your boat to eat. Watersview is right across from The Pointe via water, but it's more "fancy/expensive". Latitudes is new, and we didn't get a chance to eat there, but it's a short ride from the marina. Shady shack is a decent ride from the marina, but it's a nice ride, so I like going there. There's a couple ramps, also have to remember it's in both VA and NC, so you need to look for public ramps on the VA site too. There's 2 NC ones that I have used and neither are very big. Gaston is not really a "travel" lake per se. Most everyone there has a house there, so ramps are generally used just for putting in and getting to your house. It is a nut house on the weekend(s) right now, though. The main lake will in fact be a washing machine, guaranteed.
 

PBear

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My family is thinking of moving to the Raleigh area at some point, I'm currently in upstate NY. 2 questions for the lakes in that area
1. do you have to worry about snakes/fish/things in the lake? Up here in NY, there is NOTHING in the lakes that are going to hurt you
2. What is the water temp mid summer? Here the lakes get to about 80.
@Michael Rasmussen. I grew up in the Rochester area (Webster then Canadaigua for my high school years), lived in MA for 30 years, and relocated to Raleigh two years ago.

We bought our boat this spring (just before Covid hit) and have been boating on three lakes here -- Harris, Jordan, and Kerr. Kerr reminds me the most of Canadaigua Lake, and is my favorite of the three. However, we've been to Harris the most due to the convenience factor (boat is stored near there). The water temps definitely get warmer here -- all the comments about temps are what we've experienced as well. It's like getting into bath water in the summer.

You can't beat the weather in Raleigh compared to Rochester! You'll be amazed at how much you see the sun :)
 

Shannon

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The hand off to the new owner today. @D3Racing .. I just don't know if his Ford will handle the little AR. To the Coast she goes. Was an awesome Yamaha and served us well! Going to miss the lakes for sure!IMG_0525.JPGIMG_0529.jpg
 

Shookie

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Just made it off Jordan in time today. Crazy waves and wind.... after I was on the trailer 😁
B1B328B2-CD70-4A0C-B379-DFF0538CEBC6.jpeg
 

waterbandit

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Was out on Jordan lake this past weekend for our first outing in the our New to us 2008 AR230. Saw a 240 series and a 190 series out there/at the ramp. We typically launch from Seaforth when we go to Jordan. On Friday afternoons I go to Harris with my friends for water sports. This is much better lake for water sports than Jordan as it is calmer and less traffic. Who else visits these lakes?
Congrats on your Yamaha! So far we love ours-only been out twice. We were out at Jordan this weekend and launched at New Hope with our AR190.
 

Austin-BR

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Weather didn’t look great but we tried our luck today and was awesome! Great weather from 9 to 2 and empty lake! Tomorrow it should be the same and hope the weather helps again.
 
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