mississippi river/ skunk river.

[whitetail_freak]

anyone ever duck hunt on either one oof these?? i usually hunt lakes and ponds, and just wondering where to start on a river.. thanks!

[top dog]

I hunt the mississippi south of the cities around hastings and winona. If you get in the main channel, a bigger boat is sort of nice however there are fewer landings that can handle a 16' fishing boat. I almost hit a parked barge one morning, basically there are a tad more hazards on the river. Use the same skills you would on a lake in picking your spots and setup. River has a significant current so push polls are nice to have but a solid little motor is a must...mine is a 35hp to get me to and from a bit quicker.

Backwater is usually good however there are not many ducks around hastings...imho. Seemed to be more in south central on opening weekend.

I have not hunted the river up by St. Cloud

[strait-meat]

Usually rivers are better when everything has frozen up.

[mudslinger]

The Mississippi down on pools 2 and 3 can be a little crazy at times. I wont hunt it anymore on weekends cause there are too many people stacked on top of each other. There are some backwaters in those areas that can be good. Be careful when you get further south cause there are refuges that are protected from hunting. Just do your homework and scout during the day so you arent surprised by river obsticles.

[top dog]

I would agree with your take on the hunters on the weekend, lots of boats/hunters. I have went on the weekends however. I have had people too close to me for sure. I usually go a lot farther from the access on the weekends to get to some less traveled spots on the weekend. Works sometimes. I tend not to get to worked up about other hunters poor decisions as I think most of them are younger hunters with not much wisdom to draw from.

I saw a group setup in the closed area once, just clueless until the sun came up--I would have loved to hear that conversation..."what does that sign mean...it says no hunting waterfowl????"