Re: big river tips
What part of the river you want to venture on?<br /><br />I grew up on the Upper-Mississippi river, LaCrosse/Onalaska, WI, and I think the river is the greatest adventure imaginable. As a teenager, we ran all over the river with a 16-foot Jon boat with an 18-horse motor, duck-hunting, fishing and just messin' around. Your boat will be great. As far as current goes, I wouldn't worry about it for boating, I'd stick to the right side of the channel whenever possible, WITHIN the channel buoys. Current is more of a concern when you park the boat on a sand-bar and start to go swimming or beachcombing. First off, the buoys usually mark wingdams (piles of rocks) that were placed in the river to keep the channel deep before the Locks & Dams went in,but things can move on the river. If you see from funny looking current, the safest bet is to avoid it. If you want to go to shore to a sand-bar, etc. just go in perpendicular to the channel, slowly, and do not go between buoys and shore. You might see some boaters doing this, and not hitting anything, but if the water-level is down, you will wreck a prop or worse, lose your lower-unit or even punch a hole in your hull. I've seen all of this happen, so don't do it. If you're going ashore to play in the water, avoid the down-river side of sand-bars for swimming or wading. The drop-offs (and the fish) are there. Many times there are strong undertows in this area too. The safest bet is to wear a life-jacket when wading and swimming. Most people who drown on the river get sucked in by an undertow, and try to fight it. If you don't panic, chances are that it will "spit" you up down-river. When wading, the safest bet is to walk up-river. And remember, when you are swimming the current is going to move you down-river, so you can get "swept-away" if you are not paying attention. My kids are all grown up now, but I had them out on the river when they were babies, with no problems. Just don't leave them out of your sight, or out of your grasp for a moment, and they will have the time of their lives. For the most part, the only thing you have to worry about with barges is getting in front of one, dead-in-the-water, and the wake.<br /><br />As somebody said, you have got to get to know the buoys. The easy way to keep it straight is "Red-Right-Returning." If you're going up-river, i.e., returning, red buoys should be on the right, green on the left. Vice-versa for going down-river, obviously. You can download charts for free from the Corps of Engineers website:
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/NavCharts/UMRNavCharts.asp <br /><br />these charts cover everything from St. Paul, MN to Cairo, IL.<br /><br />Going through the locks is easy and free, even if you are the only boat. You will definitely want to take your family through the locks, but just beware that if barges are going through, you might wait a long time to back back through. Here are directions for locking through:<br /><br />
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/PA_brochure3651/PA3651_01.htm <br /><br />There are lots of backwaters to the Mississippi that are fun to explore too, but you can get lost, and or run into multiple obstacles if you are not familiar with where you are going. If you're going to duck hunt or fish these areas, I would highly recommend charts, a GPS, depth-finder, a compass, and a cell phone. If it's in your budget, a VHF radio would be nice.<br /><br />If you have anymore questions, let me know.
