High water closes St. Croix River boat launches; no-wake rule enforced

Boating has slow start on St. Croix due to high water

Boating season is off to a slow start on the St. Croix River after bouts of heavy rain in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The rain has high water levels in the river caused many boat launches to close.

HUDSON, Wis. (FOX 9) - After a wet, rainy month of May, several boat launches along the St. Croix River closed this weekend because of high water levels.

"With the water being high like this, there’s not much boats," See Lei Vang said. "Usually it’s really packed."

"The launches are closed," Cha Xiong added. "There’s not a lot of recreational boats, not a lot of fishing boats."

On Saturday, the St. Croix River at Stillwater was rated "very high," with a river level approaching 685 feet. Because of that, there is also a no-wake rule in effect along the 52-mile stretch of river, from Taylors Falls to Prescott.

Boaters say the conditions come with both pros and cons.

"Fishing is great," Vang explained. "With the water coming up high there’s a lot of fish that moved up shallow."

"People's docks are out in the middle of nowhere," he continued. "Usually they have their docks so the water comes right under, but now their dock, they can’t even reach the dock anymore."

"You see a lot of debris floating down the water," Xiong finished.