wfo1

You can skip this lock. Just wait until the water is up, and buzz right over the chain of rocks. I've done it in a jon boat so I know it can be done.

caseyh

have to watch the dredges in the lower Mississippi also. they start about baton rouge south. the baton rouge boat club did a baton rouge up to natchez and back. Had a fuel truck meet them and it was a mess.

I have ran from new Orleans out to the gulf. have to watch all the time. logs, ships, barges, huge waves, currents, dredges and all the floating pipe with it.

C5000R

I think this is great advice, I did the trip from Muskegon to Tampa, and as mentioned above the tenn-tom is the preferred route for pleasure traffic. Depending on the size of the boat will depend on how much trouble you cause blasting by the barges ( we were in a 53 carver, so I always pulled back and ask permission to over take, and did so at the skipper of the tow boats orders, these guys can make life easy or hell by calling ahead on the radio or giving you a heads up on big debris) even if the barge is a mile head, try not to follow directly behind, the prop wash will unlodge logs from the bottom ( the 20 foot long 3 feet around kind that a different barge drove into the muddy bottom) learn the one whistle and two whistle lingo ( again depending on boat size ( a performance boat under 40 feet won't make enough wake to loosen there lines or cables so they don't really care about you) the fuel stop mentioned in southern Missouri is cape girardo, it's a call ahead dock. I reccomend the stop at green turtle bay, great marina, and killer pork Chopin you catch the golf cart into town and go to patties 1881 establishment.... If you down load the navionics app on your phone or tablet I would be happy to send you the route we took, has all the fuel stops, locks, mile markers etc.

Safe travels
Shane Sherman

ar300johnson

I regularly boat on the lower Mississippi from mile 650 and 500. In late summer (July and August) the river is usually pretty clean. Barge traffic (especially upstream bound) can get the water pretty choppy, but it is not a problem for your size boats unless you foolishly challenge the wakes directly behind the tow boats. It is a different boating experience. You will not see many pleasure crafts during the week, but there are quite a few locals that party on the big sand bars on the weekends. Fuel is available at Memphis and Greenville Ms and with planning a four boat flotilla is big enough to make arrangements for fuel at the other major towns along the way. You also have a 4 MPH current helping you get downstream.

I did this trip from Vicksburg Ms to New Orleans in the early 1970's and it is a real interesting and unique trip. The river is still as wild as in Huck Finn's days and the peace and tranquility out there is unlike any other boating experience I have ever had.

It's a lot of fun and the river is not the rampaging monster that it is at food stage in the spring. Go for it!,

blaquebaja

What is wickets?

hogie roll

They can basically lower the wall that makes up the dam to lower than the water level. Then you can drive right over where the dam would normally be.

My butthole still puckered the first few times even though the lock master assured me I could drive over!

PigNaPoke

Good post, I'll be doing the pattis arrangement in the morning.

Wasted Income

Glad i'm not the only one.

Knot 4 Me

I have a pic on a CD at home of the wickets as they were being installed at the Peoria lock. Pretty wild looking things. If you cross over the wickets at Peoria and run along the Western shoreline your depth gauge will read around 75 feet in a small section where the water normally runs over the wickets when they are up. Pretty amazing since the normal channel depth is around 12 - 14 feet.

hogie roll

Were you on the river this weekend? A sunny pulled into ivy club sunday night to up a guy.