Water Sports, Fishing, Boating, and Simply Relaxing
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| Tubing on Adams Lake is a very common water sport. |
There are a number of entertaining activities to do on Adams Lake, particularly if you have your own boat or have access to one you can borrow from a friend or family member, perhaps. There is a public access site on the west end of the lake near the Adams Lake Pub, a local well-known restaurant and bar that is located right on the edge of the lake. Popular things to do on the lake are boating, skiing, tubing, wakeboarding, kayaking and canoeing, fishing, and stunts with many others and their personal watercrafts are commonly seen.
For those that enjoy swimming or relaxing on a boat, there is a rather large sandbar on the northeast side of Adams Lake. During the summer, especially on weekends, this sandbar is a very popular hangout for many lake-goers. The sandbar provides an excellent location for those with children to go swimming a safe distance away from the deeper water where water sports and boating is done. Also a great location for those who enjoy to party, people can go out on a pontoon or even tie a few boats together for larger parties, people will commonly spend a large portion of the day floating on the sandbar and drinking beer or margaritas, provided they have a designated driver for the boat. ;)
During the evenings, you can hang out with friends and family around a bonfire or sit out under the stars on a patio or deck talking with each other. During my sophomore year of high school and the following summer afterwards, I was really interested in astronomy. I bought my own telescope and I would look at planets and the moon with everyone. Adams Lake was an ideal location to go stargazing because of its distant proximity to large towns or cities that would give off light pollution, which makes stargazing rather difficult.
Boating with My Pops
Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding is another very common water sport on Adams Lake. Introduced to it by some friends of his on Adams Lake, my brother Joel gained much interest along with the skill needed to practice and perform wakeboarding and its tricks. Wakeboarding is a quickly growing and exciting water sport that was introduced to me a little too late... I already enjoyed water skiing and tubing as my favorite water sports at the lake, so I never gained an interest in wakeboarding. In fact, I only tried it a few times and the last time I tried it resulted in me throwing my back out. The pictures below are some that I took of my brother using a wakeboarding slider that he constructed himself, along with the help of his friends.
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| Joel and a few other Adams Lake Posse members getting ready to go wakeboarding using a slider my brother made himself. |
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| Joel's Sea-Doo with friends Katie and Daniel piloting the watercraft passing near the slider so Joel can wakeboard over it. |
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| Joel going onto the slider. |
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| Joel finishing up a successful pass of the wakeboard slider. |
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| Joel on a wakeboard slider pass that ended with a splash of failure... |
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| Joel after his "splash of failure". |
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| Joel about to land back onto the water after a successful wakeboard slider pass. |
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| The slider that Joel built by hand, with the help of the Adams Lake Posse. |
Canoeing and Kayaking
The first time I ever went kayaking it was on Adams Lake. At first, I felt very awkward and wobbly paddling in the kayak but after a few minutes of practice, I got the hang of it and really began to enjoy it. During my high school years, I would go to a summer camp for a week at Webster Lake in northern Indiana, and kayaking was always an activity that I signed up for. If kayaking had already been filled up, I go with my second choice of canoeing. To me, canoes are less stable and more challenging to control, but they can still be very enjoyable. Also, a benefit of a canoe is that they can hold more than one person, whereas kayaks generally only hold one person, although two person kayaks are available.
Fishing
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| A friend of mine fishing on the lake. |
Fishing was something I did frequently when I was much younger up at Adams Lake. As I grew older and began to ski and go tubing more, I went fishing less and less. I also don't exactly have the kind of patience that fishing requires, but when I was younger I enjoyed it more. Many of my friends fish quite often, especially around here at Fort Riley, Kansas, as there really isn't too much else to do. The picture is of one of my good friends from back home fishing at Steinbarger Lake in northern Indiana, about 6 miles southwest of Adams Lake. This picture was taken about a week after I graduated from basic training in early May of 2012.
As far as Adams Lake is concerned, it is an excellent lake for fishing. Bass, perch, and bluegill fishing are common on Adams Lake, generally with the best fishing being within the series of channels and shallow areas that are rather abundant. Adams Lake is a very clean lake as well, making fishing an overall better experience. I remember when I was young, my brother, father and I would go fishing, and after we had a sizeable enough catch, we would clean them in the fishing shack, then have them for dinner. Bluegill always seemed to make the best "eating fish" caught in the lake, especially the way my mother would pan fry the fish. In the 90's, our neighbors on the lake would often go out on their pontoon and fish all day and come back at the end of the day with a rather large catch. After cleaning all of the fish, they would usually have a fish fry and invite neighbors and friends around the lake. Luckily for me, my wife now fills this void by pan frying store-bought tilapia for me and it is some of the best fish I've ever eaten, if not the best. However, for that natural caught and home-cooked fish, northern Indiana has some of the best fishing around, and Adams Lake is definitely no exception.
Relaxing on Adams Lake
Bonfires, Sandbars, and Dining
Relaxing on Adams Lake is a favorite pastime of every lake-goer on the lake. Fortunately, Adams Lake is also one of the most ideal locations to do such a thing. Very often after a day of being out on the boat all day doing water sports and swimming, my friends and I would gather together and make a bonfire. We would sit around it for hours talking, making s'mores, and in the later years, drinking beer, sometimes until the hours of the early morning. This was some of the most peaceful relaxation I ever had and everyone always looked forward to the late night bonfires.
As I mentioned earlier, Adams Lake has a large main sandbar that is a common hangout for lake-goers to simply go to and relax. Whether they're swimming, having a party, or just drifting and laying out in the Sun, the sandbars are a great place to do so. In addition to the main sandbar, there are also a few smaller sandbars that can be found at other parts of the lake, one which was right out in from of our cottage.
The Adams Lake Pub
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| Image credits: AdamsLakePub.com |
For those who enjoy going out at night, Adams Lake has a restaurant built right on the egde of the lake, the Adams Lake Pub. Ever since the new management has taken over, this restaurant has been a local favorite and is regarded highly by reviewers. Complete with both a sizeable family dining area and also a bar for evening parties and hanging out, the Adams Lake Pub is one of the newer and most renowned features on the lake. Visit the official website for the Adams Lake Pub by clicking on the images above for more information on this local eatery.
Stargazing at Night
One of My Own Most Relaxing Pastimes at Adams Lake
On clear nights at Adams Lake, which were fairly common in the summer, I would take out my telescope, set it up on our deck, and look at the moon or planets in our solar system. I remember being able to see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and even Uranus, which only appeared as a somewhat dim-looking larger star. Venus is very bright, and could normally be seen in the mornings, Mars appears as a rust colored dim star to the naked eye, but with my telescope I was able to make out the frozen north and south poles of the planet. Probably my favorite planet to look at, Jupiter, was visible almost always with its four moons and Great Red Spot all being visible with my telescope. Saturn was also a favorite because of its rings which were clearly visible with my telescope, and Uranus, which only appeared as a dim-looking large star in the telescope. However, the moon was very interesting to look at because it's so close and you could really see a lot of detail, especially when the moon isn't full. On the terminator, much detail and topography would be visible and on an object of its size, it would fill my entire view angle of the telescope. I also remember looking at the Sun when it was almost set and dim enough to look at with the telescope. I could see more detail and even sunspots and movement on the Sun's surface that wasn't visible with the naked eye.
