My buddies and I have been going to the Poconos every June for about 5 years now. We rent a vacation house in a development called Big Bass Lake. There's actually three lakes there, Big Bass, Lake Natalie and Larsen Lake. All three are considered 'trophy bass' lakes and are strictly controlled by Pennsylvania Fish and Wildlife. We had always stayed on Big Bass Lake, but this year we needed a bigger house due to more guys, so we made arrangements for a bigger house on Lake Natalie.

So we arrive there last Saturday. We check in and drive to the house, pull in the driveway and walk down to the lake. My jaw drops. The lake is drained !!! There's literally 1' of water. The floating dock is sitting in mud. The rowboat that is part of the package is stranded on the ground. The lily pads are baking in the sun. We walk a few houses down and see heavy equipment next to the dam. This is not good.

The guy that made the arrangements gets on the phone and calls the homeowners in New York and explains the situation. The owner swears he knew nothing of this and offers a 100% refund if we decided to back out that day. After some discussion, the owner arranged for us to have access to the other two lakes in the development and paid for all necessary fees and marina use. He also knocked $300 from our rental. The other two lakes were at full capacity and were within around 1.5 miles from each other. The only thing we lost was the ability to walk out the back door and down to the lake.

So the week was saved. He probably could have said (rightfully so) that he had no control over the lake or situations that caused the need for the lake to be drained and that we were stuck. I thought it was decent for him to out of pocket the fees and such. It could have been worse. I would have gone home as I don't golf anymore and I don't go on vacation to sit in the house and watch TV. The marinas had racks for canoes and kayaks, so I had a place to keep my yak overnight. One guy had trailered in his 17' vee hull and kept it in one of the slips. We caught fish and had a good time overall.

So now we know to ask ahead of time about about the condition of the lakes. Valuable lesson learned...

wow that was nice of him. i don't know what i would have done if i saw the lake drained myself when i arrived!

Although you had no reason to think of it ahead of time, a video of you guys taking that first walk down to the lake upon arrival would have been an Instant Classic !

That was nice of the owner to hook you guys up with all the arrangement and so forth.

Glad it worked out.

A-Jay