Ohio River ??

[HURRICANEBOB]

No sweat Bassking, didn't mean to lecture, but was scared to leave anything out. Agreed, didn't have any idea you'd "been there-done that". Regards and best wishes.

[RoadToad]

As someone who hasn't "been there, done that," I thank you for spelling out the different hazards of the river like that. If I do put my 14" runabout (15hp Evinrude) in the Ohio, I think I'll just go in at New Albany and go across to the island to fish from the bank. No barge traffic to worry about there, right? I always kinda thought mine wasn't really enough boat for the Ohio. So I'll just stick to exploring the Kentucky. Poor me

[DavidPT40]

Excellent post Hurricane Bob.

The Ohio River is dangerous because of so many converging factors. You have the massive barges, hydroelectric dams, and strong currents. One other factor is that the river is the deepest and widest near Louisville, being about 180 feet deep (check it on wikipedia).

Its hard to fish if you are dead.

[PL]

Excellent post Hurricane Bob.

The Ohio River is dangerous because of so many converging factors. You have the massive barges, hydroelectric dams, and strong currents. One other factor is that the river is the deepest and widest near Louisville, being about 180 feet deep (check it on wikipedia).

Its hard to fish if you are dead.

I've been from cannelton dam to markland dam on the river including every creek in-between and I've never seen a spot over 70' . Where is it 180' deep?


PL

[Chubminnow]

180' foot deep? Where at?

[riverrat12]

I've been from cannelton dam to markland dam on the river including every creek in-between and I've never seen a spot over 70' . Where is it 180' deep?


PL

I to have fished this area for over 30 years and haven't found a spot over 70ft. I fish out of a 14ft.V bottom and fish now mainly the Mcalpine area, I know of two 40ft holes in that area one at the upper and one at the lower dam. I use a 15 horse johnson which I feel is plenty for my boat because I believe speed is a big factor in accidents. As stated earlier barge waves can be dangerous but the waves created by cabin cruisers are the scarey ones...being aware of everything thats going on around you from one side of the river to the other ,because it will effect you eventually. And most of all allways fear the river...the minute you think you know it, it will jump up and get you..I do run the entire dam area in my boat with little problem but for those that don't know that area I would stick to the shore fishing ,untill someone shows you that area not tell you about that area. I'm down there every week if you see me feel free to come on buy and say high. I'll let you know what I can..Chuck

[Mean Morone]

I've had two close calls on the Ohio River recently. Both times it was the motor cutting out and not starting. The first time it was at night and our boat had drifted out in the middle of the river. I made the comment that it would be bad right now if a barge was coming. About 30 seconds later we saw blinking lights. I said, "at least we have a trolling motor" and my buddy said "The battery is dead". I said, "at least we have an oar", my buddy said he took it out and put it in the other boat. I was looking to see which side was going to be the shortest swim. We had just enough juice in the battery to get out of the way of that thing. The other one was when we were fishing below Meldahl Dam. We moved into position around all the other boats and took the motor out of gear. We started fishing and didn't take just a couple of minutes and we were floating toward the dam. We put the thing in gear and went back down stream and started the process over again. This time as we were drifting at a fast rate toward the dam, the motor cuts out. My buddy looks at me and says "that's not good". Sure enough, the coil is shot again. Theres no starting it. We put the trolling motor down and put it on high. Currents too strong. We look at shore and see a bunch of bank casters and thought we should try to make it to shore. NO WAY! It's too far. My buddy says the only way we are going to make it out is to go toward the dam and then try to sling shot it toward the second gate. Just as we were getting in the white water we made it to the second gate which shot us down stream. Now we are a couple 2 or 3 miles from the boat ramp and it's getting dark. A very nice fellow gave us a tow back to the ramp. I thought for sure we would get tipped or be pinned up against the dam between the gates and have to have the Coast Guard come and recue us. I think a good kicker motor would be nice after the experiences we've had lately.