Reminder to Anglers

[Crazy4Outdoors]

Wanted to share this article with all the anglers out there, as a reminder to be careful.  A family of 4 got sucked under in the "under current" at the base of the Dresbach, MN dam this past Saturday.


Published - Tuesday, May 15, 2007

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?A vertical whirlpool' Drownings a reminder to respect the dams

By DAN SIMMONS | La Crosse Tribune

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DRESBACH, Minn. ? Dan Book, longtime conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, had one piece of advice about dams.

?Stay as far away from them as possible,? he said Sunday, ?except in using the locks to get through them.?

The portion of the Mississippi River from St. Paul, Minn. to Guttenberg, Iowa, is a stairs of sorts comprised of 11 ?steps.? Each step is a lock, dam and dike. Locks enable boat traffic to climb or descend these steps.

For many anglers, the choppy, turbulent waters below a dam prove irresistible because of their bountiful harvest of most types of freshwater fish. But Saturday?s accident in which a fishing boat capsized just below Lock and Dam No. 7, likely causing the drownings of its four occupants, served as a reminder of their inherent danger, even when you?re following the posted safety limits.

Water flowing quickly over the dams meets an undercurrent below it to create a ?vertical whirlpool? that can suck boats and people in, then continually churn them over underwater in a vicious circle. It can be nearly impossible to escape ? and the turbulent waters also complicate rescue efforts.

?People don?t always realize the strong amount of pull sucking them into the dam,? said D.J. Moser, lockmaster at Lock and Dam No. 7 since 2003.

All dams on the Mississippi River have posted warning signs and buoys that remind boaters to keep a distance ? at least 600 feet from the top of them and at least 150 feet from the bottom. The ?safe distance? below the dams changed from 300 feet in the late 1990s, Moser said.

The four St. Paul, Minn. anglers were within the legal fishing zone, according to witnesses, but ran into trouble when the boat?s motor wouldn?t start as they were about to return to shore.

The current quickly sucked them toward?s the dam?s gate, and a rescue effort by other boaters may have caused their boat to capsize. It sent them into the dam?s current, known in a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources safety brochure as ?The Drowning Machine.?

Moser said staff at Lock and Dam No. 7 had, in the past week, seen a number of boaters violating the 150-foot safety zone below the dam and cautioned them to move back.

?As much as you enjoy fishing there, it?s just not worth it,? she said.

Dan Simmons can be reached at (608)791-8217 or dsimmons@lacrossetribune.com.

So have fun, but please be careful.


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