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Duck, and Buffalo River - Boat size.

Creek

Creek

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Feb 24, 2007
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Location
Dickson County, TN
Sometime around 25 years ago before we had children my wife and I use to go fishing almost every weekend. Yes the good ol days.
Now we are thinking about getting back into it slowly. We remember going from a flat bottom boat to an Alumacraft V-hull and the difference in the smother ride and thats pretty important at this stage of the game. I wish we would have kept that old boat but I guess we can get another one someday soon.
I know we can navigate the big rivers like the Cumberland, and the TN River without any rock/sand bars or other obstructions for the most part.
My question; Is there anyone familiar with navigating the Duck and/or Buffalo River out in the I-40 TN River general area ?
Is so then can we easily get through most all main channel waters with a V-hull and an outboard motor ?
Or do we need to seriously need to consider a flat bottom ?
Any personal experience with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
A 14'-16' mod v or flat bottom with an outboard jet would be best. The jet will get you over 4"-6" deep water. You need 12" or so to make it over with a prop and there's a lot less to tear up if you hit with a jet.

You will be hard pressed to get over any shoals in the summer with a prop drive. Mud motors are no better and slow. You could always get out and drag the boat over the shallows or just float ramp to ramp otherwise.


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I've run in the duck up around Columbia and unless the water is several feet high I won't go. A jet motor would be more important than the size of the boat.


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Thanks for all the help.
Oh no !!! Here I am looking for a regular outboard prop.
I wonder if they sell conversion kits ??? Well yes they do. Great I found some but of course they arent cheap.
The smallest HP conversion kit for a Nissan for example is a 25 HP.
Is there more HP demand to power a jet when compared to a standard prop ?
This changes things for my searching but thanks again for the help.
 
Ever looked at a gheenoe? I've got one and that thing can go anywhere a canoe can. I had a little Nissan 9.8 on it but recently upgraded to a 4 stroke that a member here was selling. It's a great little boat.
 
from the mouth of the duck at Ky lake up to paint rock is fairly deep for the most part. we used to mussel dive years ago and put in at paint rock and run back towards the lake. the trouble with getting to the mouth from the lake, unless the water is up in summer, is the flats before you get there is shallow, maybe 2 ft deep for the most part. if you have a mod V and motor trim its not a problem. also keep in mind that some of the Duck on that side is in the TNWR and is closed to traffic from mid november to mid march.

i have a tracker 175 pro V and i have no problem with water 2ft deep. they told me it will run in water as low as 18" but i take it slow. my question is why mess with the duck or the buffalo when you can put in at Cuba landing, unless you are going after smallmouth? there is a lot of crappie, catfish, bass and sauger on both sides of the lake at Cuba all the way up to the mouth of the Duck and on up a little further to Eagle and Morgan creeks. there is more fishing structure on that stretch than one person can cover in a couple of years.

good luck and one word of warning, if you dont have a depth finder with gps maps but you have a smart phone, down load Navianics for 10 bucks a year. because even as big as KY lake is, when you come off the channel into those creeks and backwaters you need to hit the creek channels. if you dont you will go from 50ft of water to 4 ft or less in a second.
 
PRB":3lu7bs46 said:
Thanks for all the help.
Oh no !!! Here I am looking for a regular outboard prop.
I wonder if they sell conversion kits ??? Well yes they do. Great I found some but of course they arent cheap.
The smallest HP conversion kit for a Nissan for example is a 25 HP.
Is there more HP demand to power a jet when compared to a standard prop ?
This changes things for my searching but thanks again for the help.
Click to expand...
yes you lose HP with a jet, I've never owned one though. I chewed up a new prop on the duck river last summer.


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You'll need a flat bottom with a jet. I've got a 1652 alweld with a 60/40 jet and I've got several buddies with 14-15 footers with 20 jets. All on the duck
 
25 hp powerhead with a jet works fine for a light 14-48 flat bottom. I wouldn't go any smaller. This is at best a 2 man boat. You lose the shallow running if you aren't on plane running at least 3/4 wide open or the boat is overloaded and can't plane out.

For the boat, wider=shallower running. You also want a boat with hard chines ( no deep v or semi v) because jets tend to slide when you turn anyways.

And yes, jets are less efficient than props but you can get up the river all year with them. 25 hp us probably the minimum to be able to get up on plane and carry a load over the shallows.


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For the duck and buffalo a jet is the way to go. You will loose 30% of the power head hp at the foot.

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Again more great info.
There is no doubt that after doing more research and reading all the great advice Ive been given here on this site, that I would like to invest in a all welded flat bottom, with a min 25 HP jet prop.
However it will take us some time to do this as I now see that an average to slightly above average condition for one of these setups are not cheap when compared to our income.
Even if we have to buy this boat/motor setup separately through time, then at least we now know the right direction to invest, thanks to the help of everyone, especially from those who can say "been there, done that".
Thanks.
 
Watch Craig's list in semo, there is more jets there than anywhere

Also it looks like there is one in the nashville one showing a all welded boat with a jet in centerville
 
PRB":23q1jbl4 said:
Again more great info.
There is no doubt that after doing more research and reading all the great advice Ive been given here on this site, that I would like to invest in a all welded flat bottom, with a min 25 HP jet prop.
However it will take us some time to do this as I now see that an average to slightly above average condition for one of these setups are not cheap when compared to our income.
Even if we have to buy this boat/motor setup separately through time, then at least we now know the right direction to invest, thanks to the help of everyone, especially from those who can say "been there, done that".
Thanks.
Click to expand...


Here is another option, although I have never been in either river with a fishing boat.
Near the bottom of the replies in the thread below is an awesome boat / motor deal.
No clue if it is even still avaliable but I just happen to think about it.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=336283
 
Thanks for all the great leads on the boats for sale etc...
We have decided that because of the cost for now, we will be hopefully within the next month, be floating downstream in a particular area with our canoe (no trolling motor) and paddles just to get a feel of what we have to deal with in the future as far as obstructions, water depth in different areas and so on.
Truth is that we could purchase a nice setup if we wanted but that would definitely cut very deep into what we have saved and we dont want to put ourselves at risk until we acquire more funds in the hopefully near future.
Again we are thankful for the solid advice and are excited about saving more money, searching Craigslist, local auctions and other places and purchasing a setup someday soon.
 

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