River levels and discharge rate and safe boating

[ASHQUACK]

So, being a river fisherman and duck hunter I'm going to add a few things. High water is a prop boaters friend, that said make sure you have enough power for the high water. I've seen guys hunting in smallish underpowered boats struggling against currents. Since we live in what used to be logging country every rain event changes the rivers, some small changes and some can be quite significant. LEARN to read water flows and current patterns, this can save your life literally.  Because of logging, bank erosion etc there's always something floating down the rivers some can be large and mostly underwater some can be just under the surface. I've hit them, it isn't fun. I hate running in the dark period, but I hate the guys with these super bright light bars even more. Most think that they can see so they go like hell and blind the crap out of everyone else on the water. Besides that most of them are illegal. My only other thing I'd say is that in "fast water" boats with a v bottom exaggerate small motion so keep that in mind.
Use decent common sense, go as fast as you need to to get to where you're going. Wear a life jacket, and keep your cell phone in a zip lock bag. 

[Pnwrider]

Stein pretty much covered it. I too have tried it all. I run with my nav lights on only and hope for some good moon light. Fog sucks both to hunt in and drive a boat in. I try to avoid it, but if I can’t, I go slow and know it’s gonna take 3 times longer to drive in.

[anthropisces]

I went down to the Stillaguamish with the boat today and ended up just dipping the transom in so I could run the motor for a bit. It poured last night and the river was just a few feet from cresting the banks. The current was running so hard that it was making suction sounds around the snags sticking out of the water and whirlpools were forming, breaking loose and spinning down river for a while before fizzling out.

I very nearly went out it in, just to get the hang of running in those conditions.

The graphic below is the discharge rate for today, from the nearest USGS station on the river. Do you folks use this sort of data to determine whether you'll head out?

[Stein]

Head up to Haller Park, you can jump on the Centennial Trail and get on the bridge over the Stilly.  The North and South Fork converge right there, it's pretty crazy to see the currents sometimes and can give you an idea if you want to run in those conditions or not.

Flow can give you some idea of what to expect if you have been out in that level but as others have stated, rivers change every day.  The flood levels can absolutely give you a ton of info on where will flood if you are looking for staying on land.

If it were me, I would let it settle a bit, we're going to get a bunch of rain tomorrow and it will be ripping for sure.  Check out the bridge, it's cool to see the force of a small river when it's up.  The Stilly goes from nothing to flood at the drop of a hat, I usually see it almost daily and am still amazed at how quickly it can become a different river.

I moved to WA from MT in 98, ran all kinds of rivers back home in every sort of craft including a cooler once without thinking about it.  I was never at the mouth though obviously.  Way, way different story out here with the tides and all the upstream land pouring water and debris in.  We never had logs or flash flood like conditions.

My #1 lesson was you pick your time and day and don't be afraid to stay home or turn around.  Luckily I had small cheap boats when I learned most of my lessons.

You might want to try to find some people that have more experience to tag along with, I don't run the river this time of year or I would, I'm only on it fishing but someone might take you out a few times if you look around.  I've been lucky to have people on this forum teach me more in a day than I would have learned in a season by myself.

[metlhead]

I read the USGS data almost every day, mostly for the fishing. It is very helpful. Although a high river looks intimidating, it is usually flattened out with an even current. The debris is biggest obstacle. Run it, smartly.

[anthropisces]

I've never had two motors on a boat and that goes for this little 18' Gregor. The (1984 suzuki DT40) motor on the boat seems reliable but I've only had it for six months and used it a handful of times. Two motors can be a  backup plan, towing a kayak can be a backup plan.

When I see a river doing what the Stilly looked like a few days ago, the idea of what I'd do in the event of an engine failure occurs to me.

There was a pretty impressive safety net in Florida where I boated for many years. In general you could have a tow boat on the scene within an hour and sometimes faster. We all carried towing insurance for $150 a year and I used it several times including getting towed in from the backcountry in the Florida keys. I had an electrical fire on the engine that day.

The coast guard was also a backup in Florida.  Marine radios were on just about every boat and if you hailed on channel 16 a lot of folks were going to hear you. I guess there aren't enough people on the water in these backwaters for it to be profitable to maintain the fleet of hovercrafts that would be required to cover all the possibilities here.

Out in these back bays there's nothing like that so far as I know.

[storyteller]

When I think of snohomish -skagit border, I am thinking north of smokey point, if you are duck hunting with that big of a boat, you are limited to where you can go but my mind is thinking that you are launching from mill slough for south bay, milltown for north bay or headquarters or blakes resort for north bay, haller park is many miles away.    A good backup plan is oars, if the boat is too large for oars, you will have a tough time in the mud flats, but the oars would help to navigate a little, not sure if you have been to the bayfronts as you have not said or I missed it, I have not seen waves so big in 40mph wind that I could not make it back in, stay near the channels and stumps.  Hope this helps a little bit.

[KP-Skagit]

Has anyone here ever hit a large, free-floating log in a river?

As said. Free floating debris has more give and can be more visible than fixed debris. I have hit most everything you can in the river. My outboard isn't locked down so it can kick up freely. I have had friends run aground on full step, one broke his hip. My dad gored his leg on a cleat. None of this was high water related, just being to bold on an unfamiliar river.

High river isn't a huge deal if you know the river. I would go out at low tide and lower flow and scout it out. Best bet is to fish a bunch next summer. I can run the south fork of the Skagit with my eyes closed thanks to my little friend the cutthroat trout.

[anthropisces]

I hit a submerged log or stump or something today. I saw the water swirling right before I hit it. I was in the process of violating the cardinal sin of boating, which was that I was not looking in front of me. Instead I took my eyes off the water for ten seconds to look at some tidal data on my phone.

But I wasn't going fast and the motor has a skeg/prop protector so it just kicked up and went over it. It was no big deal.

Here's a photo of a small log floating past the transom a few minutes later, when I had beached the boat.

[Special T]

I use a macs skeg protector  best $ spent.  Lots of guys eat props on the river including ke before i started using rhe skeg protector.  Lots of learni g needed to run the river. Especially low tide low light.

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