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You ever lock thru ?

858 views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  jtrew 
#1 ·
i took my wife mabel to markland dam on the ohio river monday fishin , we launched above the dam at craigs creek on the kentucky side and i cast netted several shad there before heading down river to the dam . mabel had never locked thru and i thought she would enjoy it . other than waiting in the heat of the day for the lockmaster to open the gate she did , it took about twenty minutes to get in the lock .
when you aproach the dam from up river theres two locks one on the left or outside and one on the right or inside , the inside is for barge traffic and the outside is for pleasure or fishing boats , on the end of the wall of the outside lock is a chain with a sign that reads (pull chain for service ) this lets the lockmaster know you want to lock thru and he will prepare the lock for you if the water is at the lower pool stage you will have to wait for him to bring the water up to your level and open the gates to let any boats that are in out and you in , its always best to let them out so as you will have a place to tie off , once inside you will find several places to tie your boat but be forwarned tie off to the floating bouey's and not the wall :lol:
when mabel and i got in the lock i showed her where we were to tie off and why , id hate to see a boat hanging from the wall but im sure america's funniest video's would pay well :lol: any way my fish finder showed 54.6 feet the gates closed and the water started to drop , on the wall on either side of the bouey is steel bumpers to protect the wall from boat damage these bumpers are two feet apart as the boat went down with the water mabel counted the bumpers of course i just looked at the fish finder , at the bottom it read 14 foot she was shocked that the gates and dam were holding back that much water at 40 feet above us . below are pics of the bouey and bumpers and the gates from the inside of the lock i hope yall enjoy as much as mabel did .
 

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#3 ·
I have had the experience a time or two on the Mississippi...

Ol' Man
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The small steps you take will ultimately bring you great fortune.
 
#4 ·
like matt , ive seen boat go through on the kaskaskia
but ive never been through one myself.
the time i did visit this particular lock/dam the water level was extremely
below average and i was amazed they would still let one solo water craft through when ever they would ring the bell,
seems like they would wait a bit and get several at the same time before
wasteing the water in that situation.
thanks for heads up on the correct tie off point:embarassed:
gee that would be a bummer to goof that up.:eek:oooh:
 
#5 ·
Never locked through myself just to see what it was like. Always wanted to though. If we stay in this drought around here, they're going to put those pleasure lock restrictions back in place like they did a few years ago. I remember they would only open Meldahl twice a day for pleasure boats. Thanks for posting your expierence.
 
#7 ·
thanks for the story
 
#8 ·
Ive never been thru a lock and dam before. Seen the barges and larger boats go thru though. Truthfully, Im too chicken. It took years to finally get me to go down a boat ramp, I think I have come an extremely long way to go down the Tombigbee ramp on the lower end. Very steep. But I still freak out going down them at night in unfamiliar areas. I simply wont do it.
 
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