Stuck on a sandbar for 3 hours because I skipped the depth finder check

Ran my dredge into a hidden sandbar last Tuesday over near the Yazoo River cutoff. Thought I knew that stretch like the back of my hand but the bottom had shifted after the last rain. Took me and my deckhand almost 3 hours to winch her off and get the intake cleared out. Should have checked the depth finder before we started but I got lazy. Any of you guys ever get caught out by a change in the bottom you didn't expect?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseywalker14d ago

... and honestly I used to be one of those guys who thought depth finders were just for show, figured if you knew the river you didn't need it. But then last spring I got hung up on a mud bank that wasn't there the week before after a big storm, and it took a tow boat to pull me free. Cost me a full day's work and a pretty penny too. Now I check that thing before every trip, even on stretches I could navigate blindfolded. The bottom changes more than people give it credit for, especially after rain.

keith16413d ago

You're never gonna convince me that staring at a screen makes you a better river man than reading the water and knowing your ground. Half the time those depth finders lie to you anyway or you get too busy watching them and miss the real signs the river gives you.