COEUR d'ALENE - Anglers trolling for chinook on Lake Coeur d'Alene off Silver Beach have been snagging their lines on dozens of underwater arches made of nylon rope.

The Lake Coeur d'Alene Angler's Association complained about the ropes, which remain from this past summer's Diamond Cup hydroplane races.

"It isn't anything we haven't been trying to get resolved," Doug Miller, a Diamond Cup organizer, said Monday. "We don't want fishermen to be tied up in the lines."

He said the ropes held buoys for the race course, and they will be removed this week, along with the 500-pound concrete railroad ties that anchored the buoys. Some were removed Monday.

Following the races, the buoys were cut from the ropes and 10-pound weights were tied to the ends. Once those weights pulled the ropes down, they formed loops that arch up from the lakebed.

Ropes from the log boom for spectators' boats are expected to be removed next week, Miller said.

The temporary permit issued by the Idaho Department of Lands allowed for the anchors, ropes and buoys. It also allowed for the log boom.

The permit is set to expire on Dec. 2. Miller said organizers will be applying for a permit for future races this week.

Tom Fleer, area manager for the Department of Lands in Coeur d'Alene, said the agency hears the fishermen's complaints loud and clear.

"We're working on it," Fleer said Monday. "I understand their frustration. We'll have the problem solved one way or another by Dec. 2."

Sinking the ropes with 10-pound weights was just a temporary solution to get the ropes off the surface of the lake, he said.

Miller said there were 40 ropes holding race course marker buoys. Fleer said it was approximately 150.

However many there are, they'll all have to be reset for any future races.

Miller said there are another 60 to 70 ropes for the spectators' log boom. Race organizers have an engineered plan to drag all those lines down to about 10 feet off the lakebed. The water is approximately 130 feet deep there.

When race organizers received a temporary permit for this year's race, they agreed to apply for a long-term permit by Dec. 2.

If they apply for a long-term permit, the Department of Lands will provide for a public comment period, Fleer said. That will give the public a say in what goes into the lake, what stays in the lake, and how it stays there, he added.