Fishing in a Wheelchair

Carl24 · Post by **Carl24** » Wed Nov 20, 2019 5:08 pm

Hello All,

My name's Carl, I'm brand new to the forum. Been fishing all my life as a hobby but haven't been able to for the last few years as buying a home and work has taken all my time and energy. Long story short...I've been in a wheelchair since I was 12. I was paralyzed waist-down from a Motocross accident. Anytime I would go fishing it was with my dad and he would just lift me out of my chair into the boat and back into my chair. Other times I would sit on the dock and fish if I was alone but those were always small rural type lakes. I'm 31 years old now and just bought a condo in Folsom with my fiance 2 years ago. We both love fishing and would love to get back into it since it's been so long.

My question is, what areas around Folsom lake would be accessible in a wheelchair? I did some research online and found an area at the Nimbus flat rec area that apparently has an ADA platform. If any of you have been there before or know of it, any info you can give me on it would be greatly appreciated. The fishing may not be that great being so close to the dock area but it would still be a blast to go throw our poles in the water and enjoy a nice day out by the water with a picnic. If there are any other areas please let me know. My chair won't go on the beach, it sinks right in. It's a manual chair meaning I have to push it and my shoulders are pretty tore up from old racing injuries and pushing this chair around for the last 20 years.

I would also be interested if there's any sort of special fishing charters available for Folsom lake or the river that could fit a wheelchair. I'm not one of those people that needs everything totally ADA compliant, etc. My family raised me to just adapt and make the best of any situation. It would be cool to once in a while go on a charter for a day to really go after some bigger Salmon or largemouth bass but if nothing else something like that platform or a decent dock area would itch the scratch. There's no chance I could afford my own boat and plus living in a condo I have nowhere to park it and again, storage would cost too much.

Thanks for any input I really appreciate it!

MT · Post by MT » Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:00 pm

I don't know anything about the area you are asking about but your post reminded me of a spot I saw years ago while fly-fishing on the Consumes at PiPi Valley. It's a nice little stream at that elevation and I remember they had a nice deck set up for wheelchair access on a really nice pool. The trail to the deck was very nice also and I'm pretty sure there were areas to picnic at. As far as the fishing goes, it's not world class by any stretch but I I usually managed to catch some wild browns and rainbows. You can only fish during trout season of course. Good luck with your search.

MT · Post by MT » Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:06 pm

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HavocTheBeast · Post by **HavocTheBeast** » Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:22 am

I did some research online and found an area at the Nimbus flat rec area that apparently has an ADA platform. If any of you have been there before or know of it, any info you can give me on it would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, that area is a public swimming area and most likely won't be able to throw any fishing poles in the water.

Your best bet might be towards Granite Bay launch area where they have a few docks right next to the water. I would call them ahead of time to see if it's possible to access the water with a wheelchair. There is also a recreation area, but unfortunately there is a beach area with no dock or pathway to the water.