A couple weekend observations

Yesterday I was in the Afton area for about 45 minutes and watch 8 ‘pleasure boats’ traveling south go on the wrong side of the green buoys. It was a good chuckle watching them slam it into reverse when they got to the shallows.

Note to the guy loading his 20’-something Baja at the Bluffs on Sunday. I bet the 4 or 5 boats waiting to put in would have appreciated it if you would have pulled out of the way instead of pulling out of the water about 2’ and then taking 10 minutes to unload everything from your boat into your SUV, get the kids into their car seats, strap down the boat, and wipe down the entire boat. I guess there are two other spots to put in so everybody should work around you.

Overall I didn’t find it too bad out there, although I was off the water by 2 on Sunday and Monday. I will have to check all the screws in the boat after the trip from Hudson to the bluffs with the wind and big wakes yesterday. I would say there was plenty of nice scenery out there.

Are the green cans out in the Afton narrows?

Yeah, everything is out now. It seemed like those boats were using the white no-wake buoys for navigation.

Had a few of the same on my own this weekend.

Out on Rock Lake had one of those fancy ski boats with the overhead boom and blasting music towing a skiier coming up straight on going to make a pass on my left side… I thought. I was tooling along at 50mph, then they suddenly made a 90 degree turn right in front of me. Should have seen the look on the skiier’s face. Good thing I was paying attention and had my rods strapped down on the deck. They came up to me later in the day and appologized which I was quite impressed by. First day in a new boat for them without enough time behind the wheel. I have never seen a boat turn that sharply.

Was out on Mendota on Sunday, what a zoo with all those 25ft plus cruisers. Had a smaller pleasure boat cut between myself and an anchored boat I was having a conversation with. He saw me and waved, but never saw the 16ft aluminum or the people standing up and waving their arms that was just off my bow. They must have been admiring my Skeeter. I heard something coming from my back, picked up my lure out of the water and there it was. They couldn’t have missed the other boat by more than 10ft. Very close call.

I haven’t seen anything in the last few years on the water like this and had two back to back incidents.

Hope this isn’t a sign of what my summer on the water will be like. Just a holiday weekend, hopefully.

If someone parks at ramp when pulling out and they are in your way ask them to move. I’ve done it twice. I’ll admit my blood pressure was up in both instances merely by the confrontation itself but they both moved when I asked them to move. Dont let some jerkoff take control.

How about the guy who EJECTED 13 people including himself out of his hot rod Donzi by the Red Wing dam??

The news said the occupants flew 50-70 feet through the air.

Sounded like he was flying down the river and decided to turn SHARPLY.

Wow.

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If someone parks at ramp when pulling out and they are in your way ask them to move. I’ve done it twice. I’ll admit my blood pressure was up in both instances merely by the confrontation itself but they both moved when I asked them to move. Dont let some jerkoff take control.

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Yeah, it doesn’t take much to get me red hot and fighting mad at the landing. Boat landing etiquette certification should be a REQUIREMENT when a person registers their boat.

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If someone parks at ramp when pulling out and they are in your way ask them to move. I’ve done it twice. I’ll admit my blood pressure was up in both instances merely by the confrontation itself but they both moved when I asked them to move. Dont let some jerkoff take control.

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Yes, I was a little surprised that no one asked him to move (I was pulling my boat at the same time). I guess the other two lanes were moving fast enough to avoid the confrontation.

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Boat landing etiquette certification should be a REQUIREMENT when a person registers their boat.

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Say I like that idea! A couple of times I’ve had people unloading their coolers and inflatable toys and crap …while sitting on the ramp…..and I’ve sauntered over and asked them when they didn’t do all of that while they were waiting in line? Most of the time you’re met with a blank stare. It never occured to them. Yea, a simple certification, answer somne questions about what to do and what not to do at the ramp, great idea!

In the mean time I’m still going to set my alarm for 3 AM and be at the ramp when the other die-hards are too

Rootski

life is way too short to get all hot and mad at a boat ramp. I used to be the same way and then figured why ruin my day by getting all worked up before you go out to fish and relax.

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life is way too short to get all hot and mad at a boat ramp. I used to be the same way and then figured why ruin my day by getting all worked up before you go out to fish and relax.

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While I agree. I’ve noticed that stupid people don’t know they are stupid unless you point it out to them.

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Are the green cans out in the Afton narrows?

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there were cans out all over on the croix this weekend…

yep.
the thing that absolutely frosts me the most is when (at Hudson lakefront dock) is pleasure boats that tie up in the launch area while someone runs up for more beer or food. there is beach area to the right and left and also on the outside of the piers. nope, they have to tie up right in the launch zone and wait.

Just do like I do and untie them.

JK

Be careful at Catfish Bar…as of Wednesday, the river tenders still had not fixed a misplaced pair of red and green bouys in the catfish channel just south of a hump that is now in less than four feet of water…even though the tender went through a week ago.
Jim at the Windmill Marina told me he has reported this and would do so again. Here’s hoping he also puts up a sign encouraging river users to observe the NO-WAKE there and that he warns customers about the low water hazards. We were almost run over by a foul-mouthed wake-producer in a big red and black bass boat while jigging and working on a fouled prop out there this week.
Incidently, was still waiting to see if they’ll repair the shoreline nav lights at Bayport Point this week.
Navigate Safely…and pls treat others like you want to be treated. Hopefully the four or five jurisdictions patrolling the beautiful root beer river this weekend will make a difference.

Yesterday I saw that they moved the red marker over an attached it to the red marker at the end of Catfish Bar. Again I saw several boats going south go on the wrong side of the green markers. I can see if you are on the Minnesota side and you don’t see the first green marker and head towards the second that you quickly end up in the shallows.

Also enjoyed my experience at the Bluffs launch on Saturday. I made the mistake of using the third ramp (closest to the water). I went to pull out the crossbar on my trailer got stuck . I had to unload my boat and move over to the center ramp. I’m sure it will never happen but it sure would be nice if they would fix that. Such a great boat launch and then to have that problem, but the lot is full every weekend so it must not bother too many boaters. A little rain might help too.

pdl
I had a ninor run in with same foul mouted big red ad black bass boat guy pulling my boat of the water on Sunday about 11AM. Seems like somtimes people’s rudeness is aligned to how many HP they have on the back of their boats.

BCurtis, yep the Bluffs ramp is in bad shape. Seemed like every other trailer was dragging on both the left and the right lanes. Time for some gravel I guess, just can’t stop the guy with 14’ers and roller trailers to stop power loading!

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BCurtis, yep the Bluffs ramp is in bad shape. Seemed like every other trailer was dragging on both the left and the right lanes. Time for some gravel I guess, just can’t stop the guy with 14’ers and roller trailers to stop power loading!

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Yep. Only back in as far as you need to. Middle and right lane seemmed best yesterday.

I dare not take the Lund to Bluffs with our current water levels. I hate hearing the trailer scrape that concrete…

You can find a spot that will work between the lanes.

They should have plans to fill it in fairly soon, I’ll check with them and post.

I just talked to the Bluffs office, no immediate plans to fill the landing, budget concerns, she wasn’t sure if they would do it or not?

Hopefully we will see the Croix come up a little with the rain we had this week. As Suzuki said, you can launch, you just need to pick the right spot. I would also advise to launch very slow. A guy tried backing in WAY to fast last week and bottomed out the trailer and spare tire.