River is too high to safely fish……..

[Red Childress]

and do most anything else you can possibly think of. 19.500 CFS is almost as high as it can ever get (22,500 max). I had to move some trips and reschedule this week since NY schools have a week long Spring Break. There is a chance I might sneak out there tomorrow and try to catch a fish of some type because I like the challenge. It is rarely this high but when it is, every island is full of ‘strainers’ so paying attention and planning ahead become super important. Wearing a life jacket is a NO BRAINER!

This is a scenario when a good AGM or Lithium battery is a necessity unless you only want to fish for a an hour or two. Years ago when I was running tiller engines, I used to leave them running while I/We drifted downriver and used the trolling motor to control the boat while fishing. The little extra forward thrust would help preserve the trolling motor battery and extending my day by a couple of hours. I assumed the high flowing river was so noisy under these conditions that the extra noise from a tiller wouldn’t spook the fish. (Years later with more technology, we now know just how noisy high running rivers/streams can be.) We caught plenty of fish using this technique and we usually made long casts to get our baits away from the noisy boat as well.

Anyway, good luck and safe travels!

[Red Childress]

I decided to stay home and watch the Masters yesterday. The older I get, the smarter I get regarding taking unnecessary risks. When all your equipment is working 100%, the danger is minimal. But, if your main engine fails………

1) Hopefully, you are upstream from the launch
2) Hopefully, you have a trolling motor running on a 24 or 36v system.
3) Hopefully, you have a life jacket and the water temp is above 50.