4:00 AM Start to Peoria - Fish Lands in the Boat + Huge Rain and Thunderstorm


Sunday, August 11 2019
Day 3 on the Loop

We had a very early (4:00 am) start to be able to lock through the Starved Rock Lock.  We had called the night before to confirm what time we should arrive. 

The early morning start was an interesting experience.  As we pulled away from the dock I found the searchlight, that we needed to see our way out of the marina, would not turn on.  I had not wanted to turn it on to avoid disturbing the boat in front of us, but I really should have done so for safety!  Lesson learned!  Each day brings a new lesson.  We were able to see some aspects due to the marina lighting, and John used his headlamp to help get us out of marina; then we were able to get the searchlight operating.

Even with the searchlight, navigating in the dark and finding the unlit buoys that led down to the lock was a challenge.  We called the lock and the attendant let us know that they were expecting us (we had called the night before) and they were preparing the pool for us.  It took about 20 minutes and the lock attendant, Bryce, came down to warn us about rebar (metal bars) sticking out from the sides of the lock, so we needed to stay in the center of the lock until we came to the place where we would be tying off to the floating bollard.

After leaving Starved Rock Lock we continued south.  Our destination for the day was Peoria.  We went through a drenching rainstorm, complete with thunder and lightening.   It was quite the sight.  We slowed down due to the reduced visibility and had the chance to practice radar use and also were shining the searchlight forward to make us more visible to any oncoming boat traffic.  The good news was that it was extremely quiet on the water, being so early on a Sunday morning.

Pouring rain - Glad to be inside the warm and dry cabin!



Beached Riverboat, this was being broken up

While we were travelling through the downpour we heard this tremendous thump and looked back, into the cockpit area, to see a large fish foundering around.  John ran back and threw the fish back overboard.  John estimates the fish weighed 10 to 15 lbs.  I wish I had got a picture!

For a short while there were fish jumping everywhere behind the boat.  These are invasive Asian Carp, the ones that they are trying to keep out of Lake Michigan by using the electric barrier.  There are a number of accounts of people being knocked overboard by the fish jumping out of the water.

This YouTube Video shows what it was like, though we did not have it this bad!

The rest of our trip was relatively uneventful.  We did call a tug pushing 10 huge barges down the Illinois to ask which side we could overtake him on.  He graciously said either side and we went by on his port side, keeping an eye on the depth gauge as we went slightly outside of the channel.   We pulled into EastPort Marina, just outside of Peoria.

Comments

  1. WrenRaeAugust 12, 2019 at 10:22 PM

    That is quite a fish tale Gordon! Next time ..photos are worth a thousand words ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GordonAugust 12, 2019 at 10:29 PM

      I agree! I really wish I had grabbed my camera at to the opportune moment! :)

      Delete

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