LA CROSSE CO., WI (WXOW)—In La Crosse, the Mississippi River stage is low at 4.9 feet, causing some trouble for boaters who have grown accustomed to higher water over the last year.
Last year at this time the river stage was 7.28 feet.
"We got stuck in the mud but then we got out," Vincent Tooke, fisherman said.
Vincent Tooke and Eric Karbula spent the morning fishing out on the Mississippi.
They said they noticed the river was lower than usual.
"Wing dams show up a little bit better," Karbula said. "You can find them easier, it's easier to fish, don't need as much weight to keep the bait down."
They're not alone, Dean Dornack, Holmen Marine Head Mechanic said plenty of others are finding the wing dams too, only with their propellers.
"You can see this gentleman hit a lot of sand," Dornack said "But then what happens when they're hitting rock piles. This gentleman took his clean off."
He said to avoid accidents like this go slow when you're not familiar with the area.
"Folks have to remember when they're pulling into their favorite sandbar or backwater location always go off main channel at 90 degree angles," Dornack said.
Shallow water has also increased sales in mud motors because you can run right over stumps and rocks.
"It's kind of like the ATV of boating," Dornack said. "If it's buoyant being mud soup or whatever those things go right through."
For those without a mud motor, Dornack said Tuesday's are their biggest claim day.
"Because Monday they're still kind of discouraged from the damage that happened over the weekend so then what they do is finally decide I've got to get the boat fixed and things taken care of."
But for Tooke and Karbula it wasn't that bad, they didn't lose a propeller, but they are driving away without their catches of the day because their net broke.
