marsh lake rescue

N

nathan luft

Active member
today i went on a hunt to marsh lake in minnesota.
we got there at 4:45 becouse you cant be on the lake untill 5am.
we had winds of 50 mph gusting up to 60 but the boat we where in could handle it.
when we got to the nw side of the lake there was about 2 or 3 feet of water.
we got the deeks out and sat back and made some b-fast.
after about 20min one of my friends brent asked if the decoys where siting on there side.
i told him we was crazy and it was just the wind.
when it got daylite we had a problem none of us thought we would ever have, the water was gone.
the bay we where in was 200 yards across and all the water was gone, all of it, the boat was on the ground.
at first we thought that maybe becouse the lake is part of the minnesota river that they opend the dam in graint falls.
after awile the water came back in and we where in good shape.
after about two hours of great shooting the water went out again this time it went about 3 to 4 hundred yard out, and this time it didnt come back.
we sat there till about 2:30 and called the area DNR and asked them what was going on.
thay said it was becouse of the wind it was strong that day that it blew the water to the south side of the lake.
after a twenty min talk with the dnr we decided that we would wait untill 4pm and see if the water would come back .
the dnr said it was to windy for them to come out with the boats they had and if the wind didnt go down we would have to be air lifted out.
at 4pm the dnr called back and it was decided that we would walk about 400 yards to a small island and that is where they would get us.
the dnr got an air boat to come get us, so after picking up all4 dozen deek in two feet of mud and making sure the boat was not going any where when the water came back we where picked up at 5:15pm and on are way home.

about two years ago a man got stranded on that lake over night in the same condishens we where in, and spent 3 days in the hospital.
but he didnt have the right gear, he was in a 14ft boat with no phone, no wind block, and no heat.
this goes out to all you guys that dont go fully prepaired when you hunt.
now when we left kandiyohi we thought we where ready for anything, here was are gear list

20 foot flat botom v-hull with 50hp merc and a permanit bling that was skined with allumanum to block wind
two big buddy heaters
flair gun
food
3 cell phones
all had 1000gram waters
good clouthes made for cold weather
food and a stove to cook
and outher normal duck hunting gear

we thought we could handel anything but when the unexpected happend [like running out of water] we where still ok becouse we where prepared.
 
Nathan
That story is unreal--how do you prepare for something like that?? Glad you got out.
wis boz
 
I hunt the some areas on the Michigan (Western) shore of Lake Erie. Due to the largely East/West orientation of the lake and the shallowness of a lot of the bays and marsh areas in the western basin, some of my huning areas are very affected by the wind.

South wind and north winds generally don't affect my water levels too much. An east wind will push water into the areas and make access easy. A west wind over 10 or 15 get iffy and any more than that or a steady west wind all day long could leave me high and dry. It seems like once a year i either push the limit or the weather changes on me making for a tough mud flat drag to get back to the water. Fortunately, I could leave my gear and walk out of most of these areas if I got really stuck.

I always look at the marine forecast and a couple of the NOAA water gauges before heading out.

We had very strong westerly winds both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend - gale warnings on Lake Erie with winds to 35-40 knots and waves 3-5. Below is a shot of the water levels at a gauge I watch showing over a 20" swing in water level for the 2 days.

A normal water level on this guage is between 10 and 20 inches above LWD. Less than 10" or 12" and a lot of the marshes are mud flats. A weekend like this past weekend and a lot of the boat launches are unusable due to no water.


waterlevelplot.png

I'm sure something similar coud happen on any big, shallow lake. Best to watch the forecast and be prepared for the worst.
 
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Nathan,

Never thought about the water getting blown like that in hunting season. When I was a kid we had a big storm on Lake Puckaway in WI that blew all the water to the other side of the lake and peoples boats that were tied up off shore were high and dry. We could walk about 100-150 yards out on the lake bed while the water was gone.
 
That's a pretty amazing story. Good thing you were prepared. Out here, the most important thing you need this time of year is mosquito repellant. It was 87 degrees on Saturday.
 
that it was that warm? Louie and I were up in the Okanogan and it was in the high 50's....a friend of Louie's was at Desert Aire and got blown off the River by the 60 knot winds and the temps were no where near even 60 and thats less than 50 miles from you....

Somebody turn the heater switch on at Hanford last weekend.

Steve
 
Steve,
Maybe that wind was why the east side of The River was a foot and a half high. With that wind and 2 foot rollers coming in and the high level I just turned around and headed back to the house and more sack time. But the guys I was to meet had made it out to the X spot and had two limits in 20 minutes.
 
The guys that launched at Sunland turned around and got their butts back to the ramp rather than risking the river up there.....not sure of the wind direction up that way but I got the impression that there was no lee to be had.....the day before I was on the river north of Wanapum and saw HUGE numbers of Wigeon up high.....I'll assume migrators since they wanted nothing to do with the part of the river I was on.....

I love a big wind on the river....

But I gotta ask again...was it really that hot?

Steve
 
that it was that warm? Louie and I were up in the Okanogan and it was in the high 50's....a friend of Louie's was at Desert Aire and got blown off the River by the 60 knot winds and the temps were no where near even 60 and thats less than 50 miles from you....

Somebody turn the heater switch on at Hanford last weekend.

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve, you better check mapquest again. Last time I looked, Sanger and Los Banos were not any where near Okanowhevertheheckthatis. I'm guessing that you got me mixed up with Kevin Weir who posted in between us. It's going to be 84 today but down to 65 by Sat.
 
Happens on Green Bay a lot. There is about a 6-12" "tide" if you will that seems to hit around 8-9 am every day. Most of the shore line is rather shallow and depending on how far in you push you can be stranded. Then, counter that with ANY south winds or WEST winds you will push water up and out of the bay, drying you up. About 4 years ago we had a strong south wind for 4-5 days, darn near the entire southern part of the bay was dry all the way out to Long Tail point which is like 3 miles from the mouth of the Fox river. Shipping channel was all that had water.

Minute the wind died, water returned.

I learned years ago to place a stick in the water that has a mark that I need to "float the boat" and watch it. When it hit the mark, time to either move the boat to deeper water or leave. I have tugged more than one boat over a sand bar before learning the lesson the hard way.

glad you were safe.
 


Glad you guys made out Ok......as for my coward arse :
"we had winds of 50 mph gusting up to 60 but the boat we where in could handle it."
that would be more than enough to have me spend the morning cleaning my guns.
 
Tom,
I'm with you on this. That's just too much wind to be out on the water. Ya just never know when a REAL gust will come in and send you ass over tea kettle.
That happened to a friend a few years ago on theColumbia. Sustained 20 mph no big deal. His lab was out chasing a cripple, 2-300 yards out when he just "disappeared". Next thing you know my friend is flying backwards in the air, then two 6 foot waves come over him with his entire decoy spread on top and in the brush behind him.
A massive down draft or maybe what would be called a inversion hit the middle of the river and fanned out from there. My friend was beat to hell but the lab brought that redhead back in like it was nothing.
 
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