Beach/Surf fishing

I'm also very disappointed that there is no more vehicle parking by that access point. It's traditionally been one of my starting points for surf fishing for several years. How is this beneficial to the people who use these STATE OWNED resources? It doesn't just belong to a few. There wasn't a reason people couldn't park bicycles there before the change.

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Originally Posted by fordguy

I'm also very disappointed that there is no more vehicle parking by that access point. It's traditionally been one of my starting points for surf fishing for several years. How is this beneficial to the people who use these STATE OWNED resources? It doesn't just belong to a few. There wasn't a reason people couldn't park bicycles there before the change.

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There is a possibility that the EPA was forcing the State Park to purchase a NPDES permit for the parking lot. I can see where bicycles would cause very little, if any pollution and cost savings could be the reason. Space certainly isn't since the area around it is just a basic sand pile. A few hundred yards of crushed stone and this parking area could be vastly expanded. Parking could be on a fee basis with a payment system similar to the one at Little Lagoon Pass.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2531...!3m1!1e3?hl=en

I asked at the office about whether their were any plans to replace the vehicle parking at that access and they said no. The person said that the area was never intended for vehicle parking, although I honestly can't remember when it wasn't there.

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Originally Posted by chillinfish

There is a possibility that the EPA was forcing the State Park to purchase a NPDES permit for the parking lot.

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Nope. This does not require an NPDES stormwater permit. I doubt the entire park has an NPDES permit, other than the temporary construction one for the new Lodge.
And EPA does not have direct NPDES regulatory authority in AL, the ADEM does.

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Originally Posted by craigt

I asked at the office about whether their were any plans to replace the vehicle parking at that access and they said no. The person said that the area was never intended for vehicle parking, although I honestly can't remember when it wasn't there.

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Free public beach access is getting scarce. That is a great place to surf fish. You can usually find pompano (weather and water permitting) within a few hundred yards either direction. I usually stay in a condo and just fish in front of it or move down the beach a little. I stay in a hotel on my bachelor trips and gave up on the surf and just hit the pier and the passes. Last time I was down there was still an acess point at West 13th in Gulf Shores with free parking. There weren't any palm trees in the middle of the road either but things change.

As a professional cartographer that map could use some major help! I wonder if they just show fishing at the pier to better highlight the fact that it's there. I don't even see fishing marked at the cabins/cottages which have actual fishing piers! They could be not listing fishing on the beach to indirectly get less people to fish there as well.. or it could be more bad map design.