To answer your questions
1: Boat ramp usable? Yes, High Rock is almost full pond. Hwy 8 ramp is good even when H-R is down 15'. A better question might be: Can I get everywhere I want to go given the current water level?
The tressle at Hwy 8 is pretty low to the water, if you have a high console, tee-top, pontoon, ect you may not be able to get under. It shouldn't be a problem though.
2: Safe? Yes, it is a very nice faciility, with lots of activity. Usually the ones you have to worry about are the ramps that get very little use (fewer eyes).
3: 24 Hrs? As far as I know it is. They used to lock the parking lots (seperate from ramp) but I have not seen them locked in a long time.
4: Bait? Use your depth finder and look from the ramp all the way back to the bridge. Usually there will be a few large schools there. Sometimes they are so thick near the bridge, they will "black out" the depth finder.
5: Fish? As for where to fish, I cant really help you on evening fishing this time of year. From that location I would probably head up Abbots Creek. FHS has a decent topo map of the lake. Look for areas that have creek channel close to shallow flats. There is one such area just upstream of the Holloways Church Rd Bridge (about 3-4 miles up Abbots Creek from the Hwy 8 bridge). Also, I have seen lots of flatheads caught drifting the large flat/channel downstream of Holloways Ch Rd. The crappie fishermen tend to catch them trolling jigs (go figure??)
6: Other ramps? From Winston the easiest/quickest ramp may be the ramp at York Hill, which is right at the I-85 crossing of the Yadkin River. Take the Hwy 29 Spencer exit, turn Right just before the bridge, drive to ramp is just ahead on left.
With the current water level, anything shy of a big center console should be ok to launch. Bait could be found right at the boat ramp near the inlet to the bay, just above the boat ramp (you'll see what I mean), or if you go during the week, bait can be caught at the hot water outlet of the Buck Steam Plant, which is about a mile down river. Go slow as the channel meanders. Theres not much danger right now. Most obstacles are sand/mud bars, which tend to be somewhat marked by the large woody debris that washes up on them. Now is actually a good time to go up there. If your boat doesn't draft much (ie, jon boat) you can ride around and get a feel for the lay of the land. If you have a GPS, now is a good time to make waypoints in the middle of the channel.
Any of the flats, points or holes are good places to look. Also, there is a good deep hole at the powerline crossing just below the steam plant.
The main drawback to this area may be in reference to question #2. The ramp isnt used by a whole lot of folks, and many are just there to fish from the bank. I dont know of any problems there, but you never know these days. If it makes you feel better, I would still use this area as long as I could launch my boat.
I personally would rather fish on the upper end of the lake right now. But for just getting out on the lake without having to be worried about parking safety, catching bait, sand bars, ect, your best bet would be Hwy 8. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
Mike