I had a tuesday night tourney and found fish on pool 13 because pool 14 was a flooded mess….one thing stands in my way…A barge in the lock!
The rollers were up and i coulda blown right them them but a conversation I had with a guy earlier in the day pretty much stopped me from doing so!
I coulda caught a limit pretty easy if I woulda done it but I couldn’t pull the trigger…..what would you do????
Not sure how bass tournies are worded but on the walleye side, if you a break any law during a tournament day, you’re auto-DQ’d if someone turns you in. Running those rollers will get you arrested if you get caught… saw it happen several times back in 2001 when the water levels were VERY high on pool 4. So I guess my thinking is, in a competitive environment where it is not unheard of to have fellow participants bring piddly rules violations to the attention of tournament officials, what’s the point of running the rollers to catch some fish knowing there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be dq’d at the end of the day anyway?
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it… Did it really make a sound?
No, but if that “tree” is on the bank with binoculars or in a boat with binoculars the only crashing sound heard would be in the wallet. Or worse, the reputation. 
One question i have is that do you think the lock guys really care if you run the rollers???
The folks manning the locks tend to take this a wee bit seriously… lol They did a banner job of making sure that every fishing boat, pleasure boat and jet skit that ran the rollers on pool 4 back in 2001 had a nice chat with water patrol. Dustin and I watched one group come back in handcuffs with their boat in tow.
Will bass tournies allow a participant to sign a weigh slip from the back seat of a squad car?… lol Would TS forward your winnings on to your new digs in cell block D? 
Meant in good fun folks. I guess people are going to do what they’re inclinded to do. From what I’ve seen you’re likely to be caught. Too much to risk in my opinion… 
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sign a weigh slip from the back seat of a squad car?… lol Would TS forward your winnings on to your new digs in cell block D?
Meant in good fun folks. I guess people are going to do what they’re inclinded to do. From what I’ve seen you’re likely to be caught. Too much to risk in my opinion…
That’s why I chose not to do it! Now If i was in somebodys elses boat 
My biggest concren on the water is safety. Why is it illegal to run the rollers? How unsafe is it? Last year at a BFL as we locked up stream and the lock started to close a boat snuck in and the lockmaster went beserk 
. He wrote down the tags and I’m sure a huge fine was handed out.
back in the days of great fishing all over the river where there was tournoments on every pool some times 2 or three alot of boats would run the rollers but if there was 1 or 2 rollers open in the morning alot of times they would be shut in the afternoon and mister lock master wouldnt lock boats back threw kinda like a little redemption
we in one tournoment skipped the locks totally by running the spillways down river they said we couldnt run the rollers so we gotr creative
Gee Great guys, ruin all my fun.
Actually I would rather be late than in the hospital so running the rollers is not really an option… Inless the water is over the stinking rollers. Will this rain ever stop. The water is about 2 feet from going over the road and then my house if free game to the river.
jc
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Will this rain ever stop. The water is about 2 feet from going over the road and then my house if free game to the river.
Whine, Whine, Whine. I keep telling you to move north. 
Toooo Scarrrry to be running through those rollers. A number of years ago when we had an extended period of high water the guys in the lock told us when to run the rollers at 13. I haven’t been told anything but don’t do it for a long time. By the way, I saw it took about 17lbs to win on Tues. Did these guys go up or find fish in 14?
Its a very good way to not only get DQed but also ”blackballed” [not allowed to fish any] from tournaments as tournament fisherman and tournament directors hate cheaters and breaking the law in a tournament is cheating in a tournament. Also the DNR/Sheriffs like to take boats away if they can. NOT worth it. You made a very wise choice by NOT doing it. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Thanks, Bill
Hey Pitbull,
Now you have another excuse not to catch em! I could have easily won the tournament…..if only the barge wasn’t there or if I had run the rollers!
But hey…..any excuse is better than no excuse!
There’s a story on fishfactory.com about a problem some of the pros had with a lockmaster. Things like running the rollers probably only contribute to problems like that.
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Toooo Scarrrry to be running through those rollers. A number of years ago when we had an extended period of high water the guys in the lock told us when to run the rollers at 13. I haven’t been told anything but don’t do it for a long time. By the way, I saw it took about 17lbs to win on Tues. Did these guys go up or find fish in 14?
4.8lbs won it this tuesday!
Sorry – I got the results of the previous tournament.
I remember a Iowa state tourny down at Muscatine (1993)where everyone ran the rollers and some went over the spillway dike. My partner ran the rollers close to the dike, right when we cleared the dam a skeeter crossed in front of us coming from running over the dike and we ate the prop wash of 200 hp from about 20 ft. Great fun. 
Everyone did it that tourny, didn’t think it was a good idea then, don’t now. I was the passenger so what do you say. Sure ain’t worth getting DQ’d or blackballed over.
This is kinda a sore subject with me and the Iowa Federation. The director Tom Boler sticks his head in the sand and says if no one complains it never happened. Most of the field ran the rollers one year on 19 heading up river. Not me.
Isnt there a sign that says boats have to stay (guessing here) 100 yrds from the rollers!! <– on pool 4
Sounds like a no brainer! that is if you can read! 
There are signs in place AND if you read the regs you’ll find there’s a minimum distance that must be maintained above AND below a dam.
So unless you teleport you just broke the law. No doubts. Not even a defenseable action.
Sorry, newbie coming through (hopefully without the pro-wash. What’s a roller? A sentence or two will complete the picture in my head. Somethin to do with the waves just below a damn? Sorry, ‘nother question… how do you run it? That is, get up and over? My only damn experience is Coon Rapids. The more I think on it, it’s prolly a very low damn, but in higher water, a crazy cracker could fly over it?
Roller are the gates that control the water level. During times of very high water these rollers are raised up and out of the water to allow the river to run freely. To run the rollers is to drive your boat through the dam, between the the massive concrete pillar supports, and right under the raised rollers.
Cool. I appreciate the response. Different than what I had in my mind, but so is my house, my hair line, and my beer belly.
In a tourny situation, if one guy goes and all the rest follow, does this make any more wrong or right (not including the laws)?
Two wrongs never make a right. If ALL but one boat runs the rollers and all that ran the rollers catch alot of fish and the guy who didn’t run the rollers catches only one fish legally he wins the tournament with one fish as the others should be all DQed. Its the rules and the law and only fair.
Thanks, Bill
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