My Best Advice is to stay off the River in such a small boat. Why risk your life. There are other lakes that are much safer to fish than the Ohio River. The River is very unforgiving.
Take it from one of the guys that had to recover the bodies of drowning victims and boating accidents on the Ohio River. I am as serious as a heart attack when it comes to Water Safety.
And for god sake if you don't listen to my good advice at least wear a life jacket and take an extra set of warm cloths, blanket and something to warm you up if you get wet and survive the river. That water is cold at this time of the year. Normal body temperature is 98.6 and if your core temperature drops below 96 deg F you are going to be hypothermia and could die.
Just wanted to add some information as to why I say what I said above:
My boat is a 15' 11" John boat by Fishermarine. I've been out on the Ohio River when it's calm and this boat works great. But when that river gets up or a barge comes by it's taking a chance in a boat that small. The winds can kick up on the Ohio River or a tow boat will come by you and throw out 4 ft high rollers. From Crest to Trough the waves are at less 4ft.
Just recently we lost one young man to drowning when his small john boat began sinking while he was fishing a 90 acre strip pit lake in Warrick County, IN. He was fishing out of a small john boat that could not have been much longer than 12ft. One man was able to swim back to shore when the boat sunk but the other lost his life and it took the police and rescue workers hours to locate and recover his body.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE FELLOWS!
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