Boating up river near Bullhead

[Aaron]

I have some family coming in from out of town and we are looking in to renting a house up river near Bullhead. We do most of our boating around Needles and our house is in Needles but can not accommodate everyone.
If we rent this house we would probably come down river most days to Topack or Pirates.
My question is to those who have experience boating up river, how is it? I stay below the Palms due to rocks and lower river levels and have never tried to make it up that far.
Is it doable in a 25 ft boat?
TIA

 

[Classic Daycruiser]

I have some family coming in from out of town and we are looking in to renting a house up river near Bullhead. We do most of our boating around Needles and our house is in Needles but can not accommodate everyone.
If we rent this house we would probably come down river most days to Topack or Pirates.
My question is to those who have experience boating up river, how is it? I stay below the Palms due to rocks and lower river levels and have never tried to make it up that far.
Is it doable in a 25 ft boat?
TIA

I never hit bottom in the 35 years I've been boating Havasu. It got too busy on the weekends, so I do it in the middle of the week.

Easier to see the change in water color, correlating to how far off the channel you are, if the water is smooth..

 

[HOOTER SLED-]

Stick to boating near Needles.

 

[AZRiverRunner]

I have some family coming in from out of town and we are looking in to renting a house up river near Bullhead. We do most of our boating around Needles and our house is in Needles but can not accommodate everyone.
If we rent this house we would probably come down river most days to Topack or Pirates.
My question is to those who have experience boating up river, how is it? I stay below the Palms due to rocks and lower river levels and have never tried to make it up that far.
Is it doable in a 25 ft boat?
TIA

I don't recommend it if you're not very familiar with the river and the water release schedule and timing of the pulse as it flows down the river. It's much easier in the Spring when the water's relatively high most of the day.

For the ACTUAL water release by hour (by hour) you can use this website: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/hourly.html

For the FORECAST water release I use this website. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/DavisParkerSchedules.pdf It takes the water about 10 hours to get to Needles from Davis Dam.

You can go up to Mohave a launch there, it's not far from Bullhead, but the lines can be long on the weekends. Another alternative is to launch at Jack Smith in Needles. Beware if you boat up by Laughlin, it gets very congested on the weekends on the water. Lots of inexperienced PWC jockeys.

 

[Joker]

I wouldn't do it

 

[BHC Vic]

I won't do it till I'm with someone

 

[regor]

I won't do it till I'm with someone

Just got in. You going to make it?

 

[BHC Vic]

Just got in. You going to make it?

we just got in too. Long drive but yea I think we are in. Boys will be tired I'll see what time they get up.

 

[regor]

we just got in too. Long drive but yea I think we are in. Boys will be tired I'll see what time they get up.

It will be a noon launch for us. I'm not sure where the boat is. I may have to head to Havasu to pick it up. Either way, it will be around noon at the marina for us. I'll text you in the morning.

 

[Duck'ed_Up]

I have some family coming in from out of town and we are looking in to renting a house up river near Bullhead. We do most of our boating around Needles and our house is in Needles but can not accommodate everyone.
If we rent this house we would probably come down river most days to Topack or Pirates.
My question is to those who have experience boating up river, how is it? I stay below the Palms due to rocks and lower river levels and have never tried to make it up that far.
Is it doable in a 25 ft boat?
TIA

It all depends on the water level. I'm north of the palms on the az side in little community called willow Valley. I will say that this is one of the most treacherous spots north of needles.I religiously lunch my 240 from here but I know when not to do it because there is times it isn't worth it. My only advice would be to hug the az side from the bridge to north of willow after that your cool until you get just below the avi once you past that your clear for quite sometime.

 

[troostr]

Good timing on this thread, I was going to ask this morning as well. We'll be there up by Willow today, but probably won't launch until tomorrow. I know the launch at the house, and even our neighbor who has a bit more concrete, are too far out to launch so we'll drop in at JS.

 

[AZRiverRunner]

It all depends on the water level. I'm north of the palms on the az side in little community called willow Valley. I will say that this is one of the most treacherous spots north of needles.I religiously lunch my 240 from here but I know when not to do it because there is times it isn't worth it. My only advice would be to hug the az side from the bridge to north of willow after that your cool until you get just below the avi once you past that your clear for quite sometime.

If you don't know the river you're just lucky if you don't hit something, especially when the water is not flowing high. The level at my home fluctuates over 5ft per day this time of year. In July it was 7ft. It can change fast. If anyone tells you to just do it. That's irresponsible. Hitting something underwater can not just ruin you boat's prop, it can to a lot more damage and can throw occupants out of the boat and kill them! Look what just happened in the past 2 weeks at Lake Powell to a 7 year old thrown boat that hit a sandbar.

There's at least 4 hazards on the AZ side that I know of between Needles and the Avi.
1.Low water hazard, shallow small rocky bottom north of Needles Bridge on the AZ side to just beyond Dead Man's Float.
2.Abandoned natural gas pipeline about 150 yards north of the jetty at River Rat Drive(for reference) sometimes there's a buoy visible, but weeds usually drag it under water. You can see it on current Google Earth satellite imagery, as it currently shows a clear and low water condition.
3. Low water hazard, shallow small rocky bottom north of where Budweiser Rd crosses My Place dr. up to past Manor Ct.
4. Large tree trunks just past Willow Cove beaches. I usually don't see them until I'm on top of them. Fist time I flew by them, they were only 2 feet underwater, this past July, 2pm.

For those that say you can just see the shallow spots, depends on the time of day, sun location, wind chop, and water clarity. If there's a monsoon, and flash flood, usual this time of year, the water won't be clear. Beware.

 

[RCDave]

I mirror others cautions here. If you know the river, no worries.

I'd look for a rental further south or trailer down to jack smith.

We were just there renting a house just south of Bullhead. We waited until about 1230-1pm to make the run down river. But timing and volume release are critical, which varies each day

 

[Faceaz]

Stick to boating near Needles.

This.

Definitely don't expect to get on the water before noon. Water level will drop 3-4' overnight & gradually come up through the morning. Add in the 7mph current - swimming around docks can get a little risky. It's still boating, but not like you're used to.

 

[Abc123]

If you don't know the river you're just lucky if you don't hit something, especially when the water is not flowing high. The level at my home fluctuates over 5ft per day this time of year. In July it was 7ft. It can change fast. If anyone tells you to just do it. That's irresponsible. Hitting something underwater can not just ruin you boat's prop, it can to a lot more damage and can throw occupants out of the boat and kill them! Look what just happened in the past 2 weeks at Lake Powell to a 7 year old thrown boat that hit a sandbar.

There's at least 4 hazards on the AZ side that I know of between Needles and the Avi.
1.Low water hazard, shallow small rocky bottom north of Needles Bridge on the AZ side to just beyond Dead Man's Float.
2.Abandoned natural gas pipeline about 150 yards north of the jetty at River Rat Drive(for reference) sometimes there's a buoy visible, but weeds usually drag it under water. You can see it on current Google Earth satellite imagery, as it currently shows a clear and low water condition.
3. Low water hazard, shallow small rocky bottom north of where Budweiser Rd crosses My Place dr. up to past Manor Ct.
4. Large tree trunks just past Willow Cove beaches. I usually don't see them until I'm on top of them. Fist time I flew by them, they were only 2 feet underwater, this past July, 2pm.

For those that say you can just see the shallow spots, depends on the time of day, sun location, wind chop, and water clarity. If there's a monsoon, and flash flood, usual this time of year, the water won't be clear. Beware.

Agreed 100%. I consider myself an expert of that stretch of river. I've been navigating boats and jet skis through there since I was in elementary school. I was always told to go up river (from Willow Valley) in case something happened (I'd float back). I was never told how far north to go, so there were times I made it to Laughlin.

There are the usual spots to watch for, but it changes by the hour. You really have to know how to read that water. Drawling someone a map, or telling them to just stay to one side of the river is bad advice. Like you said, it all depends on the conditions. There's a reason why you see a lot less boats on the river north of Needles bridge and far less north of the Avi. By the way, the majority of these boats are jet propelled.


It's worth learning. The stretch from Needles to Davis Dam is awesome. You will not find better beaches anywhere else.