When it comes to Big Bear lakefront living, although the views of the lake are often spectacular, having a private boat dock just steps away for one's home is perhaps the biggest perk. Along with questions about the size, length and condition of a dock, another common inquiry is about where a lakefront home owner can put their dock along the shoreline.

When it comes to the placing of a dock in the water, there are a few guidelines set by the lake's governing body, the Big Bear Municipal Water District. In general, if you imagine your property lines extending out onto the lake bed and into the water, the area between those lines is where you dock should be placed. 

This seems simple, but imagine you're in a small cove and your imaginary property lines intersect out over the lake forming a pie shape.  As the lake level recedes and you and your neighbors move your docks out further to meet the waterline, eventually some docks are going to get squeezed out.

Here is a picture of a cove on Big Bear Lake where Big Bear lakefront homes experience this issue when the lake's water levels are low.

Big Bear Boat Dock Hopscotch

You can see in this picture an example of how a receding lake leaves far less shoreline on which to place one's dock in this cove. In fact, you can see how one lakefront homeowner's dock is fully beached.

So what happens when a lakefront's dock is "squeezed out"?

Ultimately, it comes down to the decision of the Big Bear Municipal Water District.

Currently, in certain places the BBMWD will allow lakefront homeowners to "hopscotch" their docks, by letting them skip over the neighboring docks down the shoreline until there was enough elbow room for placement of their dock in the water. This lakefront homeowner would then have to walk some distance along the lake bed to access their dock which would be located in front of another lakerfront property.

In other years, they would not allow hopscotching. In this case, if you were not proactive in moving your dock out to meet the waterline, you were more likely to end up with a beached dock. The reasoning behind not allowing hopscotching is that Big Bear lakefront homeowners who purchased properties with more shoreline and in locations that were not likely to have dock placement issues paid more for these homes to avoid such problems. It was then considered unfair to have other lakefront homeowners occupying the shoreline in front of their properties.

As you can see, this can be a touchy subject and many people have expressed their feelings to the BBMWD on both sides of the argument. But either way you look at it, the key to keeping your dock in the water in compromised locations is to make sure you move your dock out first whenever you see the water receding. Although the BBMWD will have the ultimate decision when room disappears, it stands to reason that if your dock has a strong position in the water, it will be more likely that it will be allowed to remain in that spot. If you don't make the move to stay competitive for dock space, once you're "squeezed out", the chances of getting your dock back in the water diminish greatly.