Scouting river bottom by boat during high water

[hunter_mike]

I was thinking of scouting some river bottom this spring. One thing that crossed my mind is scouting by boat just to figure out the lay of the land. There is a lot of flood plain land that i am thinking probably goes underwater often.

I am a river newbie and to be honest, the river intimidates me quite a bit. Would it be a foolish idea to go out in the high water event and do this? I have access to a 14ftx48" (i think) jon boat and also a 16 ft flat back canoe. I am thinking that if i stay in the back water areas with low current i will be safe?

Was wondering if anyone has experience with this.

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[ihookem]

Glad to see a newbie intimidated by high water. Keeps you from trouble. If it is the Wisconsin river I would be careful. That is a fast and tricky river. I can't tell ya how many times my boat starts shifting all over the place around Portage. I have a Alumacraft V16 25 horse. Never tipped it but in this water temp and high flow rate it can be dangerous. Go slow and careful . Dont use the canoe. I use a small Jon boat and canoe all the time but winter with ice chunks scare me.

[SRWbowhunter]

^^^Good advice
I am big into bowfishing and spend a lot of time on my boat (1436 Jon boat) each year and have became very comfortable handling it in most conditions. Last spring we decided to hit the Wisconsin river over by muscoda and the water was very high and fast moving. Made me a little nervous at times out in the main current with all the swirling water around the many sand bars. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on a smaller boat out there. If you stay in the backwater I think you'll be fine but I would stay away from the canoe like ihookem said to be safe.

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[hunter_mike]

Thanks very much for the input.

[kurt]

It's a tricky scout. If I have Time while things are really froze over I do that. This year doesn't seem promising. I've done later like June scouting too if things are underwater which does happen and bugs suck.

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