Am I about to screw up on the MS river??

[Meeka]

maybe you ought to learn what you can about the river while it is warm and sunny. It's kinda low now, but some "time on the water" will splain a lot about the river. You can experience what the swirles actually feel like as you run through them and they grab hold of you and shake. Take another boat and a friend and go several times. Then go ceveral more at dif water levels, then try it when it is up about 10 more feet. If you get comfortable with current and never forget that to lose respect for the river, even for a moment, can kill you, you will be fine.

The cold water is what scares me the most. Lots of people go in johnboats, and I have done that, but I was scared to death. I have scouted in the winter in my 21' bay boat and was very comfortable. Sooner or later, I will go in it, put out dekes, then hide the boat. Screw the landowners. There are a lot of oxbows and chutes and cutoffs, etc that you can use the johnboat in without worry; stay out of the channel though. For example, I hunted "the river" in a belly boat during "the freeze" this past season. It made me think about using a boat cause I could see where a whole gaggle of them pesky ducks was going. I'm not sure that shows good sense or not, but it was in a cutoff with no current. I had a partner there who would have been able to do one of two things in an emergency: (1)come in after me and drown also or (2) tell them where to drag for me.

[Anatidae]

LabLuvR, I'm glad you asked the question. I am going to be hunting Ole Muddy, this Fall, when the fields freeze over (Ha....if they freeze), and it's good to get as much advice as you can.

I'm use to 'river hunting', but when you talkin' about the Mississippi, it puts 'river hunting' in a different category.

My plan is to fish and explore starting in Sept, to familiarize myself with landmarks, and water depth, etc. Of course, conditions can change drastically, in the blink of an eye, but I won't be hittin' her, COLD. The area I'll be checking-out has a lot of pockets and 'old runs', so we probably won't be gettin' out in the barge lanes.

Goosebruce is right-on in warning about the South winds....we have hit 4' swells on the Tenn-Tom and wasn't relaxing, at all. If the river is up, the current is stronger. Combine that with 25MPH surface winds and you've got a severe 'negative roll' which causes the swells. We rode about 1/2 mile (into the wind), waves crashing the forward deck. When we finally got to the turn-off, I noticed my feet were under water. I had the bilge switch on 'manual' instead of auto. [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

That pump ran for a good 10 minutes...probably about 60 gallons worth. I hope I never have that switch on manual in those circumstances, again. [img]images/smiles/icon_sad.gif[/img]

I think it's smart to run two boats, together....and that's how we'll hunt, this Fall. I've got a Mod-'V' 1542 w/40 tiller, but that ain't no match for 'Old Muddy'. I may have to get another boat, if we hunt there, often enough....like a 1860 w/ 90HP or something.

Good Luck, and Everybody be careful! [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[LabLuvR]

I think it would be ideal for me to scout out the river first. Problem is I live about 10 hours away which you can tell ain't real convenient. I may have to go to plan B which is not to hunt the river, but then if I do that I'm passin up something that I have been dying to do for quite some time. Thats the bitch of the situation.

Regardless though it ain't worth dying over and I'm sure I'll come up with something. Just ain't got that quite figured out yet. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

I do appreciate all ya'lls advice and rest assured I'm not a bullheaded rubberhead thats gonna ignore it. I appreciate the fact that ya'll have been very good at keeping me from getting into a jam that I would surely regret!

[chance]

I have hunted and fished the Mississppi all of my life. My father used to love to jug fish the river when the water level got to 5 feet or less on the Memphis gauge. We duck hunted on the river every time the water outside of the levee froze.Your best duck hunting on the river will be when everything else is frozen.
I will share some cautions with you. A lot of the time when everything is frozen you will encounter chunks of ice floating in the river. These are gifts from our dear friends up north.On a fast rising river you will encounter floating debris such as whole trees. When passing some of the incoming streams like the White River you will encounter some extremely fast moving water.
Now the fully loaded tows are a real treat. The wake from some of those boys look like three tidal waves in a row.
I am trying to make you be REAL careful about running the Mississippi River. Lotsa folks do it and have some great times on it. I have even stripped and went skinny-dipping in the river. Right now would be a good time to travel it while it is low and on a fall.
Be careful of the tows and the dikes. Watch for rippling water over the sandbars.
I also think that 16 foot is the smallest legal boat you can use on the Mississippi. Get a map showing the channel bouys. You can use them to travel with. We used them in the dark to get to our duck holes.

[Unkljohn]

The BIG River is not the place to screw up!!! If you do you could pay for your mistake w/your life!!! That thing can get really scary mighty quickly!!!
JT

[BPT]

I dont think you are right about the 16 foot boat thing. They shouldnt be able to say what size boat you have to use. I hope your wrong because everytime ive been on the river iv been in a 14 foot. Since my uncle was a captian on a barge for 35 years or so he knows all the rules and weve always gone in a 14 foot boat.

[goosebruce]

Thats the scariest thing I heard yet... Chance skinny dipping! bwhahahahah! travis

[DUCKAHOLIC]

There is no law in the state of Mississippi that states what size a boat has to be on the Ms river.

[Blackduck]

Just make sure you watch you booty. Just because there aren't white caps doesn't mean she isn't strong.

[CaptnT]

A 16 ft boat is the "minimum" length to carry paying customers on the river. You can brave it with whatever length "floats your boat" [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Alot of good advise given here. My additional info would be never go without two motors, even if the second is as little as a 2hp. Anything could happen to your primary engine, and a trolling motor doesn't cut it, not even a 24 volt.

I made the mistake of going fishing with a dipsh*t years ago (before I knew better) that RAN OUT OF GAS just up from the Memphis bridge. We drifted towards the pilings of the bridge and wondered if we would t-bone it, and how fast we would sink. "Put your trolling motor down!", I said, but he turned to me and said blankly "it doesn't work". [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] I jumped in and steered us away from the pilings. After we were clear of them, I got in and n*gger-rigged the trolling motor and steered us toward the bank. [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] As some of you know, there is a reverse current there, and we made good progress back up stream, until we tried to cross an underwater pipe. Those things kick up a nasty swirl, and we couldn't get past it. I sat in the boat cat fishing and waited on this dumbass for FOUR HOURS to walk to the truck, go and buy gas and walk back. I learned a valuable lesson that day, and caught some good fish right below the bridge.

[chance]

GooseBrce1----10,000 commedians in the world out of a job and YOUare trying to be funny?
I was under the impression that the 16 foot rule came from the COE and not the State of Mississippi. My dad and I used his 14 foot PolarCraft and the eddies made it shimmer like a bowl of Jello.
That discharge pipe above Memphis is one bad dude. Nasty looking stuff comes out the end.
At ten foot on the Memphis gauge, there is some really good duck hunting between Tunica and the Helena bridge.
Run the river till you jump some ducks. A lot of the time you will find them behind groups of willows. Hunt there till they come back.

[Swamp Rat]

I am new here and somewhat reluctant to post given all of the feedback that has been sent on this topic. I to have hunted on the Big Muddy off an on for thirty years. It can kill you. I stress all of the previous warnings and also this one. Be very carefull where you get out of the boat. I have seen a sand bar a 100 yds long and 50 yards wide and close to the actual bank sink as the wake of our rig went by. I have had 10-15 feet of bank cave off while we were on and island hunting.Hypotherma will be your worst enemy should any of your party get wet
since help is usually not readily available.
Be careful cautious and show her respect.

[dos gris]

Swamp-

Where in SW MS are you located?

[Swamp Rat]

The Swamp Rat is from Natchez and loves to duck and goose hunt