DryDocked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Churning the river

This is the barge pusher trying to get the barge unstuck.   It seems that they’ve decided that they can move the 70 plus foot wide barge that drafts 6 feet of water,   down the 5o foot wide channel, (they’re digging 6 ft deep).   As they swing around the slight corner in front of my dock,  the current forces the barge over within inches of my dock,  and into the undredged part of the river.    Note:  The river is 150 feet wide,  and they are dredging the channel 50 ft wide,  but not in the center of the river.   In front of our dock,  the channel is fully on the other side of river,  to the point that the boats parked against their seawalls,  are pretty much in the channel. 

As it turns out,  I’m getting zero benefit from the dredging,  plus,  I can’t use my boat all summer.  (that is,  unless I want to launch and load the 12 thousand pound thing everytime I want to use it).   That’s about a 2 hour process,  so I’m guessing it won’t happen a lot.

Speaking of fishing,  (lost fishing that is),   I’ve been hearing that those who can get out,  are hammering Walleye out northeast of Charity Island.     And as for the river report,   that’s a bust.    I’d be shocked to see an edible fish pulled from this muddy mess.     The only bright thing about the mess is,   as it leaves the mouth of the river it quickly turns north and fills up the little bay formed by the river mouth and Point Lookout,    leaving most of the mud, logs, sticks and such,  out of the main Bay.   Not good for those living along the (south looking) Point Lookout shoreline,  but better for the Bay in general.

And another messed up thing about this whole mess.   They’re supposedly dredging the river,  to get access to the State of Michigan Port of Refuge harbor, uptown in AuGres.  Supposedly boat’s out on the Bay that get in trouble,  can come up the river to the Port of Refuge,    for either repairs,  stock up,  or weather a storm.   Problem is,  they’re not dredging the slips!    The newly dredged channel will allow them to get near the docking slips,   but any large boat or sail boat that try’s to dock  will likely get stuck in the mud when they pull into their slip.  (Average depth,  2 to 3 ft)   Perfect example of Government planning at work!