Paul Strombeck
Active member
All the MN WPA's have always been closed to AB's. The Indian Slough section south of the dike road was and I believe still open to open to air boats. I normally came in from the south during freeze up to hunt the open spots just off of Catfish Slough. Recent floods silted in the entrance of the hole cutting off the water flow from the main channel so it now freezes up - then the spot was moved into the refuge when they closed Big Lake. Siltation has become big issue the spots I used to hunt. The once permanent lakes in Tiffany Bottoms are now hay fields. Once the running sloughs got blocked by sandbars the interior lakes dried up.
.......
The UMFWR has closed areas further south - Shingle Creek just off the Black River and Reno Bottoms. I know a couple guys out of New Amsterdam used to joy ride in the Shingle Creek area which led to the closure. Reno was very good but they wanted that to be low impact area like the Nelson Bottoms hence no AB's.
.......
BTW even the DNR commented on how quiet my boat was with stainless steel mufflers and a composite prop it was quieter than the DNR boats some of which were made by the same guy who built mine.
.......
With the advent of the shallow drive mud motors you really don't need an air boat on the upper river. But if I lived in Canada or AK I would want on.
.......
BTW - I agree with Capt Jeff. Small is good. We used to run that little 14 footer through virtual tunnels down the little running sloughs. A lot of the deadfalls were trimmed back years ago years ago by the trappers. Ideally you left the stuff that stuck above the water line that blocked the boats but you could crawl over with the AB. We trimmed the overhead limbs that would strike the cage.
View attachment AB_Reduced.jpg
Thanksgiving Mallards - won't find any Swamp Sweeties in this weather.
........
Good Luck
.......
The UMFWR has closed areas further south - Shingle Creek just off the Black River and Reno Bottoms. I know a couple guys out of New Amsterdam used to joy ride in the Shingle Creek area which led to the closure. Reno was very good but they wanted that to be low impact area like the Nelson Bottoms hence no AB's.
.......
BTW even the DNR commented on how quiet my boat was with stainless steel mufflers and a composite prop it was quieter than the DNR boats some of which were made by the same guy who built mine.
.......
With the advent of the shallow drive mud motors you really don't need an air boat on the upper river. But if I lived in Canada or AK I would want on.
.......
BTW - I agree with Capt Jeff. Small is good. We used to run that little 14 footer through virtual tunnels down the little running sloughs. A lot of the deadfalls were trimmed back years ago years ago by the trappers. Ideally you left the stuff that stuck above the water line that blocked the boats but you could crawl over with the AB. We trimmed the overhead limbs that would strike the cage.
View attachment AB_Reduced.jpg
Thanksgiving Mallards - won't find any Swamp Sweeties in this weather.
........
Good Luck