Be safe on the Croix…

I know there’s a bunch of Sturgeon lovers heading to the Croix this weekend for the opener. More this year than ever before.

Some of you have experience first hand the hazards on this beautiful river…others may not have and I sure don’t want to sound like chicken little….

However, please remember this is a very busy water way and some big and little boat operators might not have fishing on their mind this holiday weekend….If you know what I mean.

Keep your navigation and anchor lights on (at night) and have a spot light at the ready for the one guy that is heading your way…or the way of another anchored boat.

“Watching out for the other guy” has never been more true as it is on the Croix.

Think about how you can drop your anchor fast and start moving. Not only for a boating hazard but also for a big fish.

Catch some fish…and be safe!

PS I’m not picking on just pleasure craft…I don’t discriminate, I’m talking about the commercial cruisers, the pleasure craft and other anglers.

Great post, Brian. I wish everyone good luck and be safe! Nice weather out there this weekend, and I think a lot of people will be out for ‘one last’ run for the season.

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Think about how you can drop your anchor fast and start moving. Not only for a boating hazard but also for a big fish.

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I have an extra buoy I’ll tie to my anchor rope so I can just let the rope out and be free of the anchor right away. (I think I read that idea here on IDA).

Jon

Good reminder Jon.

So…what was traffic like on the Croix at 1:45??

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So…what was traffic like on the Croix at 1:45??

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nonexistent. Not one fishing boat where I was all night
Nothing like the Croix all to your self

I seen a couple other people fishing lst night…

And a few of those crazy people. We did have one boat intentionally blast by us at about 3:00 in the morning at freeway speeds+, and a couple other maniacs out there around 4:30 a.m. showing thier high speed intoxicated driving skills.

The fishing was good, I will try to make a report today sometime.

Heard through the grapevine that someone forgot to read this topic.

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Keep your navigation and anchor lights on

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Just a reminder:

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Visibility Rules: White lights must be visible for two miles on a dark, clear night. Combination or side lights must be visible for one mile.

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Hmm, must be talking about the same boat I saw on the Minni. We were cruising along when they decided to pop their lights on before we got near them.

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Keep your navigation and anchor lights on

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Just a reminder:

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Visibility Rules: White lights must be visible for two miles on a dark, clear night. Combination or side lights must be visible for one mile.

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apparently the Coast Guard/Sherrif, didn’t think there was an issue with the light as he drove by us after said incident.

The light had to have been at a bad angle or something, because it lit up the whole boat to us.

I appoligize for my captain, if our light was not adequate.

I’m not blaming anyone, I’ve come to expect cruisers to be coming through that area at full plane, not fellow fisherman.

I’ve said it a gazillion times……Why do boats travel on the inside there in the first place????? The whole middle/outside is wide open yet, everyone wants to hug the inside and go through the boats to save a couple of minutes. I guess it’s fine at a slower speed…..

I’m not going to let it ruin a great time I had again last night, the bite was late, but we hammered them for about an hour, we were skunked up till 10 and left at 11:30 with 10-15 fish and a nice one at 49″ being boated, not too mention some sushi.

It’s a non-incident, so let’s just drop it.

Just watch out out there, everyone, and make sure your boat’s equipment is up to snuff.

I’m thinking the one boat may have had a battery issue because we couldn’t see the stern light very well at any angle from our boat.

I think it was all due to a poor non-glare type light design. As the occupants of the boat said, it was hard to believe because it shed great light inside of the boat.

I’ll be the 1st to say, if my light is lighting up the interior of my boat well, I would have now reason to suspect it wasnt greatly visable from a distance. I know the operator had no idea the visability was poor fom a distance.

I will vouch for everyone that observed the situation… In ALL HONESTY, I was looking for the boat I knew was there not far from me… and I located the boat 1st in the darkness and I had to stare to see the stern light was on.

I am just a neutral party saying nobody knowingly did anything wrong, those fishing, and those heading home from fishing. Where the *invisable boat* was located, was in direct route to get out of there, and well wide of the rest of the fishing boats.. it was the same route I would have taken… or any of us trying to steer clear of the boats fishing.

All is well, nothing bad happened… but I think a $20 bill should be donated to WallyWorld for a new stern light with obnoxious visability especially for the st croix river.

One could have a lit christmas tree in the boat and still get run over out there by cruisers.

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…not too mention some sushi.

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Didn’t find it on the steps this morning.