River Maps

[Musky Mike]

Anyone have any idea of how to get contour maps of miss. river no. of Clearwater.

[fonz58]

I struggled with this too! My final conclusion was to "just learn the river". If/when there is a severe drought and the water drops I'm getting in an airplane, helecopter, or ultralight and running up the river with a camera. Has someone else already done this for me? Perhaps, but where are they?

[Guest]

Don't quote me on this, but I would say that the reason there are no or few river maps, is because the river is always changing. Maps wouldn't be accurate after even a few seasons. Flooding and droughts and construction will affect the bottom of rivers. Sand bars and gravel bars move and log jams move also.

This was the case in the south when I lived there. I guess by the time the miss got down there though it was a lot faster and wider. It changed a lot.

If I wanted to get maps of rivers, i would try to get in touch with barge companies or people who do alot of work on the river. They need river maps quite often.

[Aquaman01]

I haven't found any info on any river areas that are void of shipping activity. There are maps for areas below Coon Rapids, but I've never used 'em. For that area search the heck out of the US Geological Survey/Army Corps of Engineers web sites.

I use Terraserver's aerial photos & a roadmap to find dams & rapids (they show up as white darts & slashes). The photos were shot in April/May, so I assume the water was high.

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Aquaman
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Peace and Fishes

[Kevin Turner]

I'll check when I get back to my camper, but I believe Dan Gapen has helped Lake Maps with that area. Not accurate enough for navigation, but gives some good info on depth and species location.

[EBass]

You can free maps from the DNR. I have the whole Miss and Croix. It's not the best, but shows you river miles, islands, camping, launches and some roads. Not to shabby for free. Took about a week or so to get. Just give them a call or go online. That's if you're intersted. My 02

[Royce Aardahl]

Fishing Hot Spots has a map with marked fishing areas on it. No depth but it's a nice map. I have one that goes from Monticello to the St. Cloud dam. I think I'll check out upstream from Clearwater this evning. Something new for me. I'll see if they have a web site.
http://www.fishinghotspots.com/fhsinet/
here it is.

[This message has been edited by eyeguy54 (edited 08-05-2003).]

[Musky Mike]

Thanks for the 411 guys. Had same map from hot spots at one time. Done a lot of fishing from Elk River to Monti over the last 10-12 yrs. Now mainly interested in Little Falls area. Again, thanks for the great response!

[Long Gray Line]

Just watch out for the river version of Mille Lacs' Flamingo Reef. Just north of Elk River, someone stuck a pink lawn flamingo on an exposed sand bar in the middle of the river! The river is really down and has changed from last year. Busted a prop blade off a short shaft 5hp in an area we normally just cruise through. The smallies are hitting tubes though!! Find the rocks and toss it in. You don't need to look for slack water, they're in the fast stuff in amongst the rocks too.

[Musky Mike]

I was up in Elk river 2 weeks ago. Went right up to just no> of monti. Caught lot's of smallies on chart. spinnerbaits and banging cranks off of mid-river humps. 2 weeks later the waters down too far to launch @ E.River. Thats the river. I hate FLAMINGOS.