River riding

Does anyone have any tips and pointers for riding on rivers. I usually stick to lakes but will not be able to make it this weekend so I wanted to ride the river for a bit back in my home town and do some wakeboarding. The rivers a pretty nice and clean river, especially by the beach area. Any tips other than the obvious of driving the area a few times looking for debris?

Depth & sand-bars?

Really not any different than any other body of water. Have someone who is familiar with it show you around. Keep an eye out for obstacles and keep checking your depth gauge. If your perfect pass uses GPS, you'll need to adjust speed when going down river vs up, since some modules might not account for current.

Generally, the outside of any curve is going to be the deeper side of the river.

get inavx and hotmaps loaded, see the shallows before you're in the shallows. careful riding after rain, debris. current can move your line under the boat when picking riders up depending on river speed.

Be real careful of downstream ends of islands as they will tend to have sediment built up from the current. Here is the Columbia River at my Dad's house: http://binged.it/14eKZA3 The current runs top to bottom. Look at the upstream part of the bottom island versus the downstream part of the upper island. When navigating through this part you want to be closer to the upper island. Although note that the upper island has a small sandbar on the downstream part.

If you notice the depth getting really shallow don't get off the gas as that will lower the boat's depth in the water but try to turn towards deeper water. Typically the river bottom will change gradually so watch trends on your depth finder.

Make sure you have a anchor in your boat in case your have mechanical problems.

Be careful with other boats because while everyone only drives in 2 directions you are typically closer to each other then on a lake. If your not sure what to do you can always just stop. Keep your rider safe.

Having a local tell you where it is safe and where it isn't can save you a prop repair or worse. A family friend showed me this part of the river and I have a 10 mile stretch where I know where to go and I don't go beyond that.

If your river has commercial traffic they have right of way if their draft/equipment restricts where they can go.

In general I like river riding better then lakes because the current will smooth out the water after a boat/rider comes through in a minute or so.

are you talking about riding on the red lake river in Thief River Falls?

Yes I am. Ive been on the river a lot with pontoons and such but not in the last 3 years. We use to kneeboarding that stretch of river running by the beach back around when i was around 8-9th grade. I'm 23 now. It is a very small river so I'm thinking if there's any other traffic around it will be a no go. If I recall there's a 1-1.5 miles stretch tops of what should for sure be decent water. After that we'd have to throttle down to turn around.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=s0m...xscyUyNTIwbW4=

It would be this stretch starting by 8th street, by the beach, and running to the east.

I grew up there. I have never seen anything on that river but small outboard fishing boats or pontoons. Just didnt figure it was very favorable for water sports due to the depth

Neither have I to be honest. We use to kneeboard there years ago... And a guy I know says he's wakebaorded there a few times. Thats my only knowledge of watersports on that river. I just wasn't sure, he's been wanting me to go out. I guess ill just have to check the depths. I can't even say what they are... I haven't been on the river in a few years. When you're dumb, a teenager, and out screwing around, rivers depths weren't my first concern i guess

I'm sure it's just to small. I can't really picture in my head the size. Especially since i haven't been on it since I've got into wakeboarding the last few years. Just thought it'd be a good way to sneak in a few sets.

Watch for wingdams